Chapter  9

Joy and Sadness gazed down over the edge of the cliff at the endless drop below. They couldn't believe it: a huge hollow space hung where Goofball Island used to be. The island had completely disappeared.

Sadness was immediately worried. "We lost Goofball Island. That means she can lose Friendship and Hockey and Honesty and Family," she said. She turned to Joy.

"You can fix this, right?"

"I… I don't know," admitted Joy, feeling lost.

Sadness's groan¹ of despair was enough to kick-start Joy's optimism. "But we have to try. Okay? Come on."

Joy's eyes fell on Friendship Island as the sky began to darken. "Riley's gone to sleep, which is a good thing. Nothing else bad can happen while she's asleep and we'll be back to Headquarters before she wakes up," Joy said. "We'll just go across Friendship Island."

When Sadness noticed there was no way to get there along the edge of the cliff, she moaned. "We'll never make it, oh… no…"

Joy reached for Sadness, knowing she was on the edge of collapse². "No, no, no, don't obsess³ over the weight of life's problems. Remember that funny movie where the dog dies?"

Sadness thought for a minute. Finally, she slumped⁵ down to the ground in a face-plant of despair.

"Sadness, we don't have time for this," Joy said.

Joy looked around, trying to figure out the best way back to Headquarters. She saw stacks of memory shelves winding⁶ off into the distance. "We'll have to go around. Take the scenic⁷ route," she said. She took a deep breath and set off.

"Wait! Joy, you could get lost in there!" Sadness shouted after her.

"Think positive!" Joy reminded her.

"Okay," Sadness said. "I'm positive you will get lost in there! That's Long-Term Memory. I read about it in the manual."

Joy's eyes popped wide open. "The manual?" she cried. "The manual! You read the manual!"

Sadness had had lots of time to read about Long-Term Memory while she was sitting in the "Circle of Sadness."

Joy ran back to Sadness. "So you know the way back to Headquarters?"

Sadness was confused. "I guess…"

"Congratulations," Joy beamed. "You are the official Mind Map."

Sadness didn't know how to respond. "Thank you?"

"Let's go! Lead on, Mind Map. Show me where we're going."

Sadness nodded, but she didn't move. "Okay! Only… I'm too sad to walk. Just give me a few hours."

Joy was not about to let Sadness's emotional slump⁴ slow them down. Determined⁸, she picked up one of Sadness's legs and dragged her into the labyrinth⁹. "Which way?" Joy asked. "Left?"

"Right," Sadness said. Joy turned right. "No, I mean, go left. I said left was right. Like ‘correct.'"

"Okay," Joy said, moving on.

"This actually feels kinda nice," Sadness said as Joy picked up the pace, pulling her through the maze¹⁰.

"This is working!" Joy said.

Out of breath and sweating, Joy continued to drag Sadness. They were lost. "This is not working. Are we getting close?"

"Just another right… and a left. Then another left, and a right… ," Sadness said.

Joy simply grunted¹¹ in frustration¹² and kept moving.

 

第 9 章

乐乐和忧忧从悬崖边往下看，底下是望不到尽头的深渊。她们不敢相信眼前的景象：耍宝岛曾所处的位置现在只剩下一个巨大的窟窿，整座岛屿完全消失了。

忧忧立即担心起来：“耍宝岛没了，那就意味着友情岛、冰球岛、诚实岛和家人岛都有可能消失。”她一边说一边转向乐乐。

“你能处理好的，对吗？”

“我……我不知道。”乐乐怅然若失地回答。

忧忧绝望的叹息足以促使乐乐重现积极乐观。“不管怎样，我们总得试一试，对吗？来吧。”

天空开始暗下来，乐乐的目光落在了友情岛上。“莱莉已经睡了，这是好事，她睡觉的时候不会再有糟糕的事情发生。我们可以在她醒来之前回到情绪总部，”乐乐说，“我们只需要越过友情岛。”

当忧忧发现悬崖边没有路去友情岛的时候，她再一次抱怨起来：“我们永远走不过去，噢……不……”

乐乐知道忧忧已经濒临奔溃，她伸出手去：“不，不，不，不要过于纠结生活中的烦恼。还记不记得那部搞笑电影，有条狗死掉的那部？”

忧忧想了一会儿，最后还是满脸绝望地跌坐在地上。

“忧忧，我们可没时间在这里悲伤。”乐乐说道。

乐乐看看四周，试着找到回情绪总部的最佳路线。她看到一排排记忆架向远处蜿蜒。“我们得四处走走，就选那条观光路线吧。”说完，她深吸一口气，出发了。

“乐乐，等等！你在里面会迷路的！”忧忧在后面叫道。

“乐观些！”乐乐提醒她。

“好吧，”忧忧说，“对于你会在里面迷路这点我很乐观！那可是长期记忆存储库，我在指南里面读到过。”

乐乐睁大了眼睛。“指南？”她叫了起来，“指南！你读过指南！”

忧忧之前待在乐乐给她画的“忧伤之圈”里，有的是时间去读那些关于长期记忆存储库的内容。

乐乐跑回忧忧身边：“这么说你知道回情绪总部的路？”

忧忧有些犹豫：“或许吧……”

“恭喜你，”乐乐开心地笑了，“你现在是我们的官方脑图了。”

忧忧不知道说什么好：“谢谢？”

“出发吧！脑图，请在前面带路。告诉我我们要去哪里。”

忧忧点点头，可是没有动。“好吧！不过……我太难过了，根本走不动。你给我几个小时就好。”

乐乐才不会让忧忧的悲伤情绪拖她们的后腿。打定主意后，她抬起忧忧的一条腿，拖着她往迷宫走去。“走哪一边？”乐乐问，“左边？”

“是这边。（right也有“右边”的意思，乐乐理解为忧忧让她走右边了。）”忧忧回答，乐乐转向右边。“不，我的意思是，走左边。我是说左边是对的，是‘正确的’。”

“好吧。”乐乐说着，继续往前走。

乐乐加快步伐，拖着忧忧在迷宫里穿行。“其实这感觉还不错。”忧忧说道。

“这方法可行！”乐乐说道。

乐乐继续拖着忧忧，气喘吁吁浑身冒汗。她们迷路了。“看来不行啊。我们快到了吗？”

“还要右转……然后左转，接着又是左转，再右转……”忧忧回答。

乐乐沮丧地嘟囔着继续向前走去。

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