At lunch time, Shaun, Jeffrey and Nadia dined at a restaurant close to the university campus.
那天中午，孝恩、傑佛瑞和娜迪雅在大學校舍附近的餐廳共享午餐。
"I'm sorry, I don't think to have heard any news of your cat!" apologised Nadia. Suddenly Jeffrey exclaimed as he pointed to a figure by the door of the grocer's opposite the street: "Look! It's Madame Tigresse!"
「真抱歉，目前我都沒聽到任何有關你們遺失貓咪的消息！」娜迪雅說。突然，傑佛瑞指著對面雜貨店的入口說：「你瞧！是虎姑婆耶！」
"Fancy seeing her here!" said Shaun, "It's quite a distance from our place."
「咦？她怎麼會出現在這兒！」孝恩說。「這兒離我們住的地方有一段距離耶！」
"Do you know that old lady?" inquired Nadia, and after Shaun explained that she was their new neighbour, Nadia fell into a deep thought.
「你們認識她嗎？」娜迪雅問道。孝恩解釋了一下，說她是他們的新鄰居後，娜迪雅又陷入了沈思。
"OMG! She has so many cats in her house! Indeed, her entire house is packed with cats!" Jeffrey added.
「天啊，她家裏養了好多隻貓啊！可以說是滿屋子都是貓！」傑佛瑞說。
After a while, Nadia suddenly broke the silence and said solemnly. "I feel that now it's the time to explain something to you, whether you believe me or not, it's entirely up to you," she paused before continuing, "I know you two followed me when I was pursuing the little black cat out of the patisserie; and I know you must think that I've got a loose screw, and will probably think that I am completely mad after I tell you this: I can communicate with animals." Shaun and Jeffrey's eyes widened after hearing this shocking news.
一會兒後，娜迪雅突然嚴肅地說：「我覺得是時候告訴你們了！不管你們會不會相信，我還是說一下比較好！」她停頓了片刻後說。「我知道那天我從店門口跟著小黑貓時你們有跟蹤我。我想你們大概覺得我很奇怪，而且聽完我要跟你們說的事，可能會覺得我發瘋了。那件事情就是：我可以和動物溝通！」孝恩和傑佛瑞聽完後眼睛張得好大。
"That day," Nadia continued, "the black cat came to tell me that his son was stuck on a tree, and was afraid to come down by itself, so I quickly dashed to its rescue. I've always been a fan of animals and have had this ability from a very young age, which was why I chose to do animal science, a course which seemed to be very "easy", despite having obtained quite good grades at A Level. Animals are my passion. Oh yeah, what did you say the old lady was called?"
「那天，」娜迪雅繼續說。「黑貓來告訴我說他的兒子卡在樹上，不敢下來，所以我才趕著去解救牠。我從小就很喜歡小動物，而且與動物溝通的能力也是與生俱來的。因此，我才會選擇在大學讀『動物科學』系，雖然它常被認為很沒用。噢，對了，你們剛剛叫那個老太太叫什麼？」
"Madame Tigresse," replied Shaun after Jeffrey seemed to be absolutely speechless. "Yeah! This morning, she went to our shop, and bought some cat desserts," continued Nadia, "She had two cats in her cat basket, but they seemed to be very different to normal cats. Not only did they seem extremely sad and helpless; but also, surprisingly, I was unable to communicate with either of them. I'm not sure whether they've blocked me out or what....but their actions were very unlike ordinary cats. You said that she has many cats in her house, right? Well, she seems to be very fishy......she could be mistreating her cats or something....or else what could've made both cats so sad? If you ask me, perhaps she has something to do with your missing cat. You need to keep an eye on her." They thanked Nadia for her kind warnings, though both were still in doubt of their validity.
「虎姑婆啊！」孝恩看到傑佛瑞被嚇傻了後答道。「她今天早上有來我們店裏買貓咪吃的甜點，」娜迪雅繼續說。「她的貓籃裏裝著兩隻貓，可是，牠們非常不像普通的貓。牠們不僅似乎非常地憂愁和無助，還有，我居然無法跟牠們溝通。我不確定是不是牠們把我阻擋掉.....只是，牠們的行為不像正常的貓。你說她家有很多貓是吧？我覺得她很可疑.....可能是有虐貓的行為，不然為什麼貓咪會這麼憂鬱？我認為，她可能跟你們失蹤的貓咪脫離不了關係～得好好觀察她。」兩人向娜迪雅的溫馨提醒道謝，只是心裏都充滿了疑惑。
A few days later, Jeffrey was alone at home as he perceived some noise from next door, he peeped through the window only to discover that two children were heading into the house of Madame Tigresse, closing the door behind them.
幾天後，傑佛瑞一個人在家時聽到了隔壁有聲音。他從窗戶往外看，赫然發現兩個小朋友正走進虎姑婆的家中。
"Hmmm, that's weird," he thought to himself, "I thought she lived alone!" Although Jeffrey had quite forgotten about Nadia's warnings, he was overtaken by curiosity and eventually decided to find out.
「這就怪了！」他心想。「她不是一個人住嗎？」傑佛瑞雖然忘記了娜迪雅的提醒，可是，仍然禁不起好奇心的誘惑，決定前往一探究竟。
~To be Continued~
～待續～
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