Russell poked¹ Carl in the face. Nothing happened. He poked him again—harder. This time, Carl's eyes snapped open.

"Whew." Russell breathed a deep sigh of relief. "I thought you were dead."

Carl got up. "Huh … wha … what happened?"

"I steered² us," Russell announced. "I did. I steered the house."

Carl felt his head. He was too groggy³ to understand what Russell was saying. "Steered us?"

"After you tied your stuff down, you took a nap, so I went ahead and steered us down here."

Carl went to the window and stuck his head out. For a moment, the light was too bright—he couldn't see anything.When his eyes adjusted, he realized that the house was floating over a blanket of thick fog. "Can't tell where we are," he mumbled⁴.

Russell held up a global positioning device. "Oh, we're in South America, all right. It was a cinch with my Wilderness⁵ Explorer GPS."

Carl pulled his head back in through the window and glared at the newfangled gadget⁶. "GP—what?"

"My dad gave it to me," Russell explained. "It shows exactly where we are on the planet." Russell made a few robot-style beeps, waving his GPS proudly."With this baby we'll never be lost!" He threw open his hands, and the GPS sailed out the window. Russell and Carl watched as the GPS fell through the clouds.

"Oops," said Russell.

Grumbling⁷, Carl kneeled by the fireplace to cut a few balloon strings⁸. "We'll get you down, find a bus stop," he said. "You just tell the man you want to go back to your mother."

Russell shrugged⁹. "Sure, but I don't think they have buses in Paradise Falls."

"There." Carl finished cutting the strings. He could feel the house begin to descend¹⁰ like a slow elevator. "That ought to do it. Here, I'll give you some change for bus fare."

Russell put on his backpack and the house lowered through the fog. "Nah, I'll just use my city bus pass. Whoa, that's going to be like a billion transfers to get back to my house." He and Carl headed out onto the porch. "Mr. Fredricksen, how much longer?"

"Well, we're up pretty high. Could take hours to get down." Carl caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, but it disappeared back into the fog. "Uh … that thing was … a building or something."

Suddenly, something came up through the clouds. It was headed straight for them! "What was that, Mr. Fredricksen?" Russell exclaimed. Carl didn't know. "We can't be close to the ground yet!"

But they were—there were rocks directly below them. Carl gasped¹¹ as the landscape came into view. It was a tepui!

Bam!

The house slammed against the rocky ground. Carl and Russell were knocked off the porch. They struggled to hold on as the house bumped and dragged across the tepui. Carl and Russell both lost their grip.

But the house kept going.

Carl chased a stray garden hose that was trailing behind the house like a tail. "Wait. Wait!" he shouted at the house. "Don't, don't. Stop!" He grabbed the hose, and it pulled him into the air. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Whoa!"

With a leap, Russell grabbed on to Carl's leg. The weight pulled the house closer to the ground.

"Russell, hang on!" Carl hollered.

"Whoa!"

The house dragged them along. They slid to the edge of the tepui and then stopped. Carl looked down. He was at the top of a steep cliff. It was thousands and thousands of feet to the bottom.

"Walk back!" Carl shouted. "Walk back!"

"Okay." Russell nodded and dug in.

"Come on, come on!"

The wind tried to carry the house over the edge. Russell pulled Carl's foot with all his strength, yanking him to safety.

Carl looked around, breathing hard. They were still surrounded by fog. All he could see was that the ground was rocky. "Where … where are we?"

"This doesn't look like the city or the jungle, Mr. Fredricksen," Russell said.

The wind picked up again. Russell and Carl struggled to keep hold of the house. "Don't worry, Ellie," Carl muttered. "I got it."

As the fog began to clear, Carl could see where they were. He and Russell were standing¹² at the top of a tall, flat-topped mountain. They were surrounded by more tepuis. And across from them, less than ten miles away, was Paradise Falls.

Carl gasped in disbelief. "There it is," he whispered. "Ellie, it's so beautiful." He pulled out Ellie's old drawing—the one with the house sitting beside the waterfall. "We made it. We made it!" Carl whooped¹³. "Russell! We could float right over there. Climb up. Climb up!"

"You mean assist you?" Russell asked hopefully.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"Okay. I'll climb up!" Russell climbed over Carl, stepping on his arms and face to get to the house.

"Watch it," Carl growled¹⁴.

"Sorry." Russell smiled apologetically. He'd been so eager to assist an elderly person that he'd forgotten he shouldn't step on Carl to do it.

"Now, when you get up there," Carl called, "go ahead and hoist¹⁵ me up! Got it? You on the porch yet?"

But Russell had barely climbed six inches. He slid down the hose, exhausted¹⁶, and landed on Carl's head.

"Oh, great," Carl grumbled¹⁷.

"Hey, if I could assist you over there, would you sign off on my badge?" Russell asked.

"What are you talking about?" Carl snapped.

"We could walk your house to the falls."

"Walk it?" Carl snorted. The boy was talking nonsense again.

"Yeah," Russell said. "After all, we weigh it down. We could walk it right over there. Like a parade balloon!"

Carl started to scowl¹⁸, but then stopped. He looked up. A light breeze blew, and the house swayed slightly. He was still holding on to the hose. The house pulled him forward … toward the falls.

Walk to the falls. It was totally crazy … crazy enough to work.

Soon Carl and Russell were ready to go.They had made harnesses out of the garden hose, which they tied across their chests.

As they hiked, Carl tried to make Russell understand the seriousness of their situation. "Now, we're going to walk to the falls quickly and quietly, with no rap music or flash dancing," he explained."We have three days, at best, before the helium leaks out of those balloons, and if we're not at the falls when that happens, we're not getting to the falls!"

But Russell was barely listening. There were so many new and interesting sights on the tepui, it was difficult to concentrate on Carl's words.

Carl looked over at the falls, then up at his house. "Don't you worry, Ellie," he muttered. "We'll get our house over there."

Dragging the house behind them was difficult work. But Russell didn't mind it. "This is fun already, isn't it?" he asked happily. "By the time we get there, you're gonna feel so assisted."

Suddenly, he had an idea. "Oh, Mr. Fredricksen. If we happen to get separated, use the Wilderness Explorer call: Caw-caw! Rarr!"

Carl winced¹⁹ as the call set off his hearing aid once more.

"Wait," Russell said. "Why are we going to Paradise Falls again?"

"Hey, let's play a game," Carl suggested. "It's called See Who Can Be Quiet the Longest."

Russell smiled—he knew how to play this one. "Cool! My mom loves that game!"

 

小罗戳了一下卡尔的脸，卡尔没有任何反应。小罗又用力戳了一下。这一次，卡尔突然睁开了眼睛。

“喔——”小罗松了一口气，“我还以为你死了呢。”

卡尔坐了起来：“嘿……啊……发生什么事了？”

“我会‘开’房子了，”小罗宣布道，“我做到了。我会‘开’房子了。”

卡尔挠了挠后脑勺，他还晕晕乎乎的，并不明白小罗在说些什么，于是问道：“‘开’房子？”

“你把自己的东西收拾好以后，就睡着了，然后我就接手，把房子‘开’到这里来了。”

卡尔奔向窗口，探出头，向外望去。一瞬间，光线太刺眼了，他什么都看不清。过了一会儿，他的眼睛适应了强光，他看到房子还在飘浮着，下面是厚厚的雾层。“搞不清我们到哪里了。”他咕哝着。

这时，小罗举起一个全球定位装置：“哦，我们到南美洲了。有了我这个野外探险家GPS，这都不是事儿。”

卡尔把头从窗外缩回来，盯着那个新奇的玩意儿问道：“GP——什么？”

“我爸爸给我的，”小罗解释说，“它能显示我们在地球上所处的确切位置。”然后，小罗模仿了几声机器人式的“哔哔”声，自豪地挥舞着他的GPS。“有了这个宝贝，我们再也不怕走丢了！”他张开双手，却不小心把这个GPS从窗户中丢了出去，两人眼睁睁地看着它穿过云层掉了下去。

“哎呀！”小罗遗憾地说。

卡尔不开心地咕哝着，跪在壁炉旁用钥匙划断了一些连着气球的绳线，说道：“我现在放你下去，然后你找个车站，跟司机说你要回家就行了。”

小罗耸耸肩说：“好吧，但是我觉得天堂瀑布里没有公交车呢。”

“得啦。”卡尔把要截断的绳线都划断了，明显地感觉到房子像电梯一样在缓慢降落。“应该会有的。待会儿我给你点零钱 坐公交车。”

小罗背上了背包，房子在云层中继续降落。“不用，我有城市公交卡。哇，这估计得转十亿次车才能回到家吧。”他与卡尔走到门廊上。小罗问道：“费迪逊先生，还要多久？”

“嗯，我们飞得很高，还要几个小时才能降落呢。”正说着，卡尔用余光似乎瞥见了什么，但那东西很快被雾气遮住了。“嗯……那是……高楼还是什么。”

突然，有什么东西出现在云层中。这东西正朝他们这边过来！“那是什么，费迪逊先生？”小罗惊呼道。卡尔也不知道，于是说：“我们还不能靠近地面！”

但他们已经到了——大块的岩石就在他们正下方。卡尔倒吸了一口气，看着映入眼帘的风景——是特普伊山！

嘭！

房子猛地撞到了岩石地面上，卡尔和小罗从门廊上掉了下来。在房子继续颠簸着横穿特普伊山时，他们俩极尽全力地去抓住它。不一会儿，卡尔和小罗便抓不住了。

但房子仍在向前飘移。

卡尔追上了一根垂下来的花园软管，它垂在房子后面就像一条尾巴。“等等，等等！”卡尔冲着房子喊道，“别，别，快停下！”他抓住了花园软管，被拉到了空中。“等等！等等！等一等！哇哦！”

情急之下，小罗纵身一跃，抱住了卡尔的腿。他们两人的重量把房子拉得离地面近了一些。

“小罗，抓紧了！” 卡尔大呼。

“哇哦！”

房子一直拖着他们向前走，直到他们滑到特普伊山的边缘，才停了下来。卡尔向下张望，发现自己正站在一座陡峭的悬崖顶部，脚下的深渊有数千英尺深。

“往回走！”卡尔喊道，“往回走！”

“好的。”小罗点了点头，用力往后拽。

“加油，加油！”

风把房子往悬崖边上吹。小罗使出吃奶的劲儿才把卡尔的脚拉回来，卡尔暂时安全了。

卡尔气喘吁吁地环顾着四周，发现他们两人仍然被大雾包围着，眼前只有岩石地面。“这……我们这是在哪儿啊？”

“看起来既不像城市，也不像丛林，费迪逊先生。”小罗说。

风变得越来越猛烈了。小罗和卡尔竭力扯住花园软管，不让房子被风吹走。“艾莉，别担心，”卡尔喃喃地说，“我会保住咱们的房子。”

随着雾气慢慢消散，卡尔可以清楚地看到他们周围的环境了。他和小罗正站在一座高高的平顶山上。周围还有许许多多的平顶山。而他们对面不到十英里的地方，就是天堂瀑布。

卡尔感到难以置信，倒吸一口气：“就是这儿，”他低声说，“艾莉，这里好漂亮啊。”他拿出艾莉以前画的那幅画——一条洁白美丽的瀑布旁，有一座房子。“我们做到了。我们做到了！”卡尔欢呼道，“小罗！我们可以飞到那儿去。爬上去。快爬上去！”

“你是说让我协助你？”小罗满怀希望地问道。

“是的，算是啦。无所谓啦。”

“好呀。我这就上去！”小罗爬到卡尔身上，踩着他的胳膊和脸朝房子爬去。

卡尔咆哮道：“你注意点儿啊。”

“对不起。”小罗满怀歉意地笑了笑。他一直那么渴望着帮助一位老人，竟忘记了自己不应该靠踩着卡尔来完成。

“听好了，等你到房子里以后，”卡尔喊道，“继续走，把我拉上去！明白了吗？你到门廊了吗？”

然而小罗才勉强爬了六英寸。他筋疲力尽，从软管上滑了下来，一屁股坐在了卡尔的头顶上。

“哦，天哪。”卡尔抱怨道。

“嘿，如果我有办法让你到那儿，你能在我的徽章上签字吗？”小罗问。

“你到底在说什么？”卡尔厉声问道。

“我们可以拉着你的房子，走到瀑布那边去。”

“拉着它走过去？”卡尔哼了一声，心想这个小男孩又在胡说八道了。

“是啊，”小罗说，“毕竟，我们的重量可以把它拉下来。我们也可以像拖气球一样拖着房子走过去！”

卡尔生气地看着他，然后停了下来。他抬起头。微风轻轻地吹拂，房子微微地摇曳。他仍紧紧拉着软管。房子把他拉向了前方……拉向瀑布。

走到瀑布去。这实在是太疯狂了……太疯狂了。

很快，卡尔和小罗都做好了出发的准备。他们用花园软管做成了背带，绕在胸前。

两人徒步行走着，卡尔努力让小罗意识到当前情况的严重性，他说：“现在，我们要快速而安静地走向瀑布，没有那些动感的音乐和舞蹈了，”他又解释道，“在气球里的氦气完全漏掉之前，我们顶多有三天的时间。如果到那时我们还没有到达瀑布，那么我们就永远也到不了了！”

但小罗几乎没有在听。特普伊山上有太多新奇有趣的风景，这让他很难集中精力去听卡尔在讲什么。

卡尔望了望瀑布，然后又抬头看了看自己的房子：“艾莉，你别担心，”他喃喃地说，“我们这就把房子带到瀑布那儿去。”

拖着身后的房子行走是一项异常艰苦的工作，但小罗并不介意。“太有趣了，不是吗？”他高兴地说着，“等我们到了瀑布，你就会知道我帮了你多大忙了。”

突然，他灵光一闪，计上心头。“哦，费迪逊先生，如果我们不巧分开了，就用野外探险家的口号进行呼叫：嘎—嘎！喔呜！”

口号声又一次传到卡尔的助听器里时，卡尔不由得畏缩成一团。

“等等，”小罗说，“我们为什么还要去天堂瀑布呢？”

“嘿，我们来玩个游戏吧，”卡尔建议道，“游戏叫作‘我们都是木头人’。”

小罗笑了，他会玩这个游戏。“酷！我妈妈喜欢这个游戏！”

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