Chapter  11

"Oh, look at you," the elephant figure cried as he grabbed one particular memory. "You're a keeper!"

Joy continued to watch him from a distance.

The figure was so intent on picking memories that he didn't see Joy until she stepped forward. "Hello!" When the elephant locked eyes with Joy, he froze—and then ran. He tried to get away, but Joy chased him until he reached a wall and began frantically to try to climb it. He was a strange-looking pink creature with a long trunk, whiskers, and a fluffy striped tail. He wore a checkered coat that was too small for his body and had a tiny hat perched on top of his head.

"Excuse me," Joy said, trying not to scare him more than he already was.

The creature jumped, startled, and screamed. "Ahh!" Feeling cornered, he grabbed a random memory off the wall and threw it at Joy. "Ha ha, so long, sucker!" But he ran right into a cart of memories and fell to the ground, taking the memories with him.

"Wait," said Joy, recognizing his face. "I know you."

"I get that a lot," he said nervously. "I look like a lot of people."

Joy gasped, finally placing his face. "You're Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend!"

"You do know me!" Bing Bong said, pleasantly surprised.

"Riley loved playing with you!" Joy exclaimed.

"Oh, you would know. We're trying to get back to Headquarters…"

"You guys are from Headquarters?" Bing Bong asked.

"Well, yeah. I'm Joy. This is Sadness."

"You're Joy? The Joy?" Bing Bong gasped. "Without you, Riley won't ever be happy. And we can't have that. We gotta get you back. I'll tell you what, follow me!"

Joy thanked Bing Bong for his help as the three of them walked down a long corridor of memory shelves. "It is so great to see you again," Joy said.

She remembered how Riley and Bing Bong had held concerts with pots and pans as their instruments; how they had raced each other, with Bing Bong on the ceiling and Riley on the floor; and how Bing Bong's red rocket ship wagon ran on song power.

Joy even remembered the theme song Riley made up that powered the rocket ship. Bing Bong and Joy sang the happy tune together as Sadness finally took a good look at him. "What exactly are you supposed to be?" she asked.

"You know, it's unclear," Bing Bong said. "I'm mostly cotton candy, but shape-wise, I'm part cat, part elephant, and part dolphin."

"Dolphin?" Joy asked. She didn't really see much evidence of a dolphin in Bing Bong.

Then he let out a high-pitched noise that sounded just like a dolphin!

Joy asked Bing Bong what he was doing in the memory shelves. Bing Bong explained that there wasn't much need for an imaginary friend in Riley's life lately. He thought maybe if he could find a really good memory, Riley would remember him and he could be part of her life again.

"Hey, hey, don't be sad," Joy told him. "When I get back to Headquarters, I'll make sure Riley remembers you."

Bing Bong was thrilled. He began to dance around in excitement, but ended up tripping over his own feet. "Dooooh!" he cried.

Joy and Sadness watched as pieces of candy fell out of his eyes. "What's going on?" Sadness asked.

"I cry candy," Bing Bong said, in tears. "Try the caramel, it's delicious."

Joy munched on one of his sweet candy tears as she shifted the core memories around in her arms. The spheres were heavy and slippery, and it was a challenge keeping them all together.

"Oh—here, use this," Bing Bong said, dumping the contents of his little bag onto the floor. Joy and Sadness watched with amazement as an insanely large pile of random stuff fell out—memories, three boots, a hissing cat, and even a kitchen sink! "What?" Bing Bong shrugged. "It's imaginary."

"This'll make it a lot easier to walk back to Headquarters," Joy said with relief, putting the core memories safely into the bag.

"We're not walking. We're taking the Train of Thought!" Bing Bong led them out onto a cliff edge and pointed at the train speedily chugging toward Headquarters in the distance.

"The train, of course!" Joy exclaimed. "That is so much faster!"

Bing Bong told them about a station in Imagination Land, another part of Riley's Memory World, where they could catch the train. He said he could take them there. "I know a shortcut," he said proudly. "Come on, this way!"

"I'm so glad we ran into you," said Joy.

Bing Bong led the way to a huge bunker—like building. They looked through a window and straight out another window on the opposite side of the building. There was the train station.

Bing Bong opened a large, sturdy hatch door. "After you."

Joy took her first step into the building but stopped when Sadness called her.

"I read about this place in the manual. We shouldn't go in there," Sadness said.

"Bing Bong says it's the quickest way to Headquarters."

"But, Joy, this is Abstract Thought," Sadness explained.

"What're you talking about?" asked Bing Bong. "I go in here all the time. It's a shortcut, you see?" Bing Bong pointed to a sign hanging above the door and spelled it aloud: "'D-A-N-G-E-R.' That spells 'SHORTCUT.' I'll prove it to you." Joy and Sadness watched as Bing Bong climbed through the hatch.

第 11 章

“噢，看看你，”那个像大象的家伙拿起一个特别的记忆球叫道，“你是记忆守护者啊。”

乐乐继续从远处看着他。

那家伙专心致志地挑着记忆球，没有发现乐乐，直到乐乐走到他面前。“你好！”大象盯着乐乐，僵住了——然后跑了起来。他想逃，但是乐乐追着他直到一堵墙边，他开始疯了似的想要爬上去。他是个长相奇怪的粉色物种，长着长长的鼻子和胡须，还有一条毛茸茸的条纹尾巴。他穿着一件格子外套，外套又窄又小，显然裹不住他的身躯。他头上还戴着一顶极小的帽子。

“不好意思。”乐乐试着尽量不吓到他，因为他看起来已经被吓得不轻。

那家伙还是吓了一跳，尖叫起来：“啊——！”发现自己无路可走之后，他随手从墙上抓起一个记忆球朝乐乐扔去。“哈哈，再见了，傻瓜！”但是他却正好撞上一辆装满记忆球的推车，倒在了地上，记忆球也散落一地。

“等等，”乐乐好像认出了他，“我认识你。”

“我经常听到这样的话，”他紧张地说，“我长了一张大众脸。”

乐乐总算想起来了，她倒抽一口气：“你是兵兵，莱莉想象中的朋友！”

“看来你是真的认识我！”兵兵虽然有些惊讶，但是挺高兴的。

“莱莉以前很喜欢和你玩耍！”乐乐大声说道。

“噢，你知道吗，我们努力想回情绪总部……”

“你们来自情绪总部？”兵兵问道。

“嗯，是的。我是乐乐，这位是忧忧。”

“乐乐？你就是那个乐乐？”兵兵喘着气，“没有你，莱莉肯定再也快乐不起来了，这可不行。得把你们送回去，我会告诉你们怎么走，跟我来！”

乐乐感谢兵兵的帮助，于是他们三人一起走下长长的记忆架通道。乐乐说道：“很高兴再见到你。”

她想起莱莉和兵兵曾经把锅碗瓢盆当乐器开演唱会；他们曾经一起奔跑嬉戏，兵兵在天花板上跑，莱莉在地板上跑；兵兵的红色火箭船可以依靠歌声的力量飞行。

乐乐甚至想起莱莉创作的那首驱动火箭船的主题曲，兵兵和乐乐一起唱起那首快乐的歌曲。忧忧总算有机会看清楚兵兵的样子，她问：“你到底是什么呢？”

“知道吗，其实我也不清楚。”兵兵答道，“我的主要形态是棉花糖，不过是有特定形状的棉花糖，有一部分是猫，一部分是大象，还有一部分是海豚。”

“海豚？”乐乐问道，因为她看不出兵兵身上哪一部分像海豚。

于是兵兵发出声调很高的声音，听起来就像海豚一样！

乐乐问兵兵他刚才在记忆架里做什么，兵兵解释说是因为莱莉最近已经不怎么需要他这位想象中的朋友了。他想着如果自己能够找到一个足够美好的记忆球，莱莉或许会记起他，而他可以重新回到莱莉的生活中。

“嘿，嘿，别难过，”乐乐告诉他，“等我回到情绪总部后，我保证会让莱莉记起你的。”

听到这话兵兵开心极了，他高兴得手舞足蹈，最后却被自己的双脚绊倒了。“痛——！”他哭了起来。

乐乐和忧忧看着他眼中掉落出了一颗颗的糖果。忧忧问道：“这是怎么回事？”

“只要我一哭，眼睛里就冒糖果。”兵兵含泪说道，“尝尝这种焦糖，味道不错。”

乐乐津津有味地嚼着甜滋滋的糖果“眼泪”，整理了一下怀里的核心记忆球。记忆球又重又滑，要把它们一起抱住很有挑战性。

“噢——这儿，用这个。”兵兵将自己小包里的东西一股脑地倒在地上，乐乐和忧忧惊讶地看着他倒出一大堆各式各样离奇的东西——有记忆球，三双靴子，一只嘶嘶叫的猫，甚至还有厨房洗碗池！“干吗？”兵兵耸耸肩，“都是想象出来的嘛。”

“这样走回情绪总部应该就简单多了。”乐乐松了一口气，小心地将核心记忆球放入包里。

“我们不走路，我们乘思想火车去！”兵兵带他们走到悬崖边，指着一辆正咔嚓咔嚓快速前行的火车，火车驶向远处的情绪总部。

“火车，对啊！”乐乐叫了起来，“坐火车可快多了！”

兵兵告诉她们想象之境有一个火车站，那也是莱莉记忆世界的一部分，她们可以从那儿乘上火车。他表示可以带她们过去。“我知道一条捷径，”他骄傲地说，“跟我来，这边走！”

“真高兴能遇到你。”乐乐说。

兵兵把她们带到一栋像巨大的地堡一样的建筑前，建筑前后各有一扇窗户，可以一望到底。那边有一个火车站。

兵兵打开一扇巨大而又坚固的舱门：“你们先走。”

乐乐跨进建筑，但是身后的忧忧叫住了她。

“我在指南里读到过这个地方，我们不应该进去。”忧忧说道。

“兵兵说这是回情绪总部最快的方式。”

“但是，乐乐，这里可是抽象思维之境。”忧忧解释道。

“你们在说什么？”兵兵问道，“我一直是走这里的。这是一条捷径，看到没？”兵兵指着门上的一块牌子，并且将上面的字大声拼了出来：“‘D-A-N-G-E-R’也就意味着‘捷径’，我这就证明给你们看。”乐乐和忧忧看着兵兵爬进舱口。