Dump Trucks and Dogsleds: I'm on My Way, Mom! by Henry Winkler

Author:Henry Winkler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

CHAPTER 15

Emily sprang to her feet, pivoted like an NBA player, and took off into the snow, screaming, “Run for your life!”

When I looked over at the guy, he seemed to be smiling in a warm, friendly kind of way. And when Cheerio stuck his nose out of my parka and looked at him, his tail started to wag. Cheerio has a very good sense about people. When he likes you, you’re usually an okay kind of person. Except for our pizza delivery guy. I don’t know what it is about him, but every time we open the door for him, Cheerio takes his attack dog position and barks like a German shepherd. No offense to Cheerio, but he’s not too scary even when he’s trying his hardest.

“Wait up, Emily,” I called after her. “Maybe this guy can help us.” I looked over at my dad, who was checking the guy out pretty carefully.

“What do you say, Dad?”

“Let me speak to him,” my dad said. “I believe this man is some kind of stage performer.”

“Good afternoon, sir,” my dad said to the dragon guy. “We have an emergency here, and we’re in need of your assistance. We have to get to New York City. Are you, by any chance, going in that direction?”

“Ni hao,” the man said to my dad.

“I can’t believe this,” Emily said, coming out from behind the bus stop where she had been hiding. “We stopped the only person in all of Massachusetts who doesn’t speak English.” Then she did a very un-Emily like thing. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she started to yell.

“Help! Help!” she cried. “Is there a translator around who just happens to speak Chinese?”

“I do,” I said.

“This is no time to joke around, Hank.”

“I’m not joking. The guy said hello. Ni hao means ‘hello.’”

“You speak Chinese?” she asked, her mouth hanging open.

“Well not the whole language. Ashley taught me to say hello, and also wo hen gao xin, which means ‘I am happy.’”

When the dragon man heard me say that, he flashed me a really friendly smile and said, “Ni leng ma?”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t a phrase Ashley taught me, so I just smiled and nodded as if I understood. He smiled and nodded right back at me. He was a nice guy, and whatever it was I agreed to seemed to please him.

“Since this man doesn’t understand our language,” my dad said, “I am going to use the universal language of the body. Watch how this is done, kids. First I wave my hands in the air to get his attention.”

My dad stood by the window of the truck and waved his hands around like he was erasing an imaginary blackboard. The man must have thought this was fun, because he started doing exactly the same thing. Then he turned around and said something to someone in the back of the truck. All of a sudden, the two back doors of the van flew open and at least nine men and women in dragon makeup and colorful silk robes came flying out.

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