41 富兰克林遇到小貂 Franklin MEETS ERMINE

Franklin meets Ermine

1

—Franklin could count by twos and tie his shoes.

He had friends at school and friends in the village too.

Bat one day, Franklin learned that meeting new friends isn’t easy for everyone.

2

—This is really neat, Franklin.

—Thanks.

—Yeah, it can be a boat or it can be a hat.

—Hey?!

—Okey, fold these sides down, fold these sides up.

And…Tah Dah! The S.S. Franklin.

—Great!

—Come on, let’s go race!

—Hey, wait up!

— Wait for us.

—Okey, on the count of three.

—One. Two. Three. Go!

—Go pink, go!

—Come on, Green!

—Hurry Red!

—Go Purple!

—I’m passing you Bear!

—Faster Green, Faster!

—Awww, no!

—Hey, your boat’s stuck, Franklin.

—I know. I can’t reach it from here.

—You’ll have to go back to the bridge and cross over.

—Owhhhh…

3

—Ahhhhh! Oh no.

—Hey! What are you doing? Oohhhh, no.

—Mine came in first. I won!

—My boat was second!

—And Green takes third!

—And mine won’t be crossing the finish line at all. Look.

—Did your boat sink Franklin.

—No, somebody fell right on top of it.

—Who?

I don’t see anyone.

—It was a stranger.

He’s gone now.

—A stranger?

You didn’t talk to him, did you, Franklin?

—No, not a big stranger, a little stranger.

—How little?

—Like a leprechaun?

—No, no, not little like that.

He was the same size as me.

—How come we didn’t see him?

—Yeah.

—We were right over here.

—I don’t know.

I’m just glad he went somewhere else.

4

—Yay! Wooo! Yahoo!

—Look guys!

—Ooooo! Wow!

—Wouldn’t it be neat to be up there too, flying over the meadow?

—And hanging on tight to the end of the string. Woahoahohaoah!

—Wahoo! Yipee! Yayyyyy!

—The wind is perfect today for kite-flying!

—Uh, oh.

—You shouldn’t have said that.

—You’ll have to run with it.

—Run! Run like the wind!

—That’s the hard way to fly a kite!

The wind will come back!

You’ve just got to wait for it!

Whoa! See, I told you!

Hah?! Who’s like is that?

It’s him.

Where are those guys?

—Oh no!

—My kite. Ohheoh!

What? Where’d he go?

I don’t believe it.

He did it again.

—Awwww, too bad, Franklin.

—You should have run with it.

—Yeah, when the wind dies.

You’ve gotta’ run as fast as you can.

—No, it was flying just fine!

It was that kid again!

He was right over there!

He must have had some kind of war kite.

Didn’t you see it?

It swooped down and hit my kite!

What? …You don’t believe me, do you?

—Well, how come we didn’t see anybody?

—I don’t know…

He’s really sneaky.

He waits till you’re not around and then he just comes out a’ nowhere!

—I believe you Franklin.

—And I do too.

—Well, that’s good.

—Even if it is just your imagination.

5

—Run, Beaver!

—Get it Franklin!

—Got it.

—Safe. Yahooooo!

—Whew! That was a close one!

—I wish we had one more player.

It’s hard playing outfield and infield too.

—Hmmm…Hey, what about your invisible friend?

He could cover all the bases!

—Ha, ha, ha. Very funny!

I told you before, he’s not invisible and he’s not my friend.

—Sorry, Franklin.

I won’t talk about it anymore…

Hey, quit pulling me off the base invisible kid!

Go away!

—Okay, Beaver, get ready to run.

—Whoa! It’s going right out of the park!

—Yaaay! Woohoo! Awwwww…

6

—I’ll never find it in here.

Huh! It’s you!

Stay right there.

Don’t move!

Don’t go anywhere.

You guys, he’s in there!

The kid who wrecked my boat and crashed my kite!

He’s right over there, in the bushes!

He has our ball.

I saw him!

Come on! Hurry up!

—I hope he’s not invisible this time!

—I hope he is!

I’ve never seen anyone who’s invisible before!

—Ohh, Bear.

—Hah? Where’d he go?

He was standing right there.

—And I suppose he left this here beside your glove.

—Huh? Why dose he keep doing this to me?

—And why do you keep doing this to us?

7

—I don’t get it.

What’s he got against me?

There he is.

And he’s after my kite now!

This time it’s my turn to surprise him.

—Is it almost untangled Grandma?

—Yes, I-I’ve almost got it Ermine…

Ohh…Aha…there…

There’s quite a tangle in the string.

But I think I can straighten it out…

Here it comes.

—That’s okay Grandma.

I’ll fix it.

It’ll give me something to do.

I’ve given up on meeting new friends.

—Oooo…you’ll meet some friends. Ermine.

You’re just shy, so it takes you a little longer…

You’ll be here all summer, so there’s lots of time to meet new friends.

—Ermine. There you are!

And you rescued my kite. Thanks.

Hi, I’m Franklin.

And you’re Ermine’s Grandma, right?

—Yes, that’s right.

So a-a , you’ve met.

—Yes, he helped me find my baseball over at the park.

But he left before I could thank him.

I was telling my friends about you.

I’d like you to meet them.

—Well, isn’t that marvelous?

You’re going to meet some new friends Ermine.

—Meeting new friends?

But , I don’t even know them.

And , wull, I won’t know what to say…

—Oh, that’s all right.

Franklin will know what to say.

He’ll help introduce you.

—Yeah, just leave it to me Ermine.

By the end of the day, you’re going to have lost of friends!

8

—Weee!

—Hi guys!

—Hi Franklin.

—Hi Franklin.

—Hi, who’s your friend?

—Hah? Where?

Who are you looking at?

—Right there, Franklin.

—Beside you.

—What do you mean?

I don’t see anybody.

—Touch him Bear.

—I’m not touching him.

You touch him.

—I’m just kidding guys.

This is Ermine.

My invisible friend.

—Hi.

—Hi Ermine.

—Good one Franklin.

—Hi.

—Hello. Ermine.

So there really was someone following you.

Sorry Franklin.

—That’s okay.

Ermine was just looking for some friends to play with…

But when you’re new in the neighbourhood, sometimes you need a little help.

right?

—Thanks Franklin.

—Gee. Ermine, now that we can see you.

We’ll have all kinds of fun.

—Yeah. What do you want to play?

—Well…How about hide-and-seek?

I’m really good at that.