"Ow!" Carl laughed as the baby bird pecked at his head, grooming¹ him. He was holding another little bird in his hand.

"Look at you," Russell cooed at the babies, "you're so soft."

Kevin called out. She was at the entrance to the labyrinth²—her home, where she would be safe.

Carl and Russell groaned³. It was time to say goodbye. They set Kevin's babies gently on the ground and watched as they streaked⁴ toward their mother.

"I wish I could keep one," Russell said sadly.

One of the babies hissed⁵ at Dug. But Dug wasn't offended. He had finally accepted that these birds simply didn't want to be his prisoners.

Kevin cuddled her babies for a moment. Then she led them into the labyrinth. She turned back and squawked.

"Bye, Kevin." Russell waved.

Then he and Carl headed back to the blimp.

"Ready?" Russell asked as he sat at the controls.

"Ready!" Carl grinned at his copilot as they took off into the sky.

Muntz's dogs hung their heads through the open windows, enjoying the breeze. It turned out that they weren't nearly as ferocious⁶ as Muntz had wanted them to be. Now that Carl was their master, they were just regular dogs.

 

They were all on their way home.

"And by receiving their badges, the following Explorers will graduate to Senior Explorers," the campmaster announced. He stood at the front of the auditorium⁸, along with the Wilderness⁹ Explorers and their fathers. "For Extreme Mountaineering Lore⁷. Congratulations, Jimmy." He handed the badge to Jimmy's father, who beamed proudly.

"For Assisting the Elderly …" The campmaster looked up to find Russell and blinked.

Russell's uniform was beat up, and his skin was tan from his time in South America. Unlike the other Wilderness Explorers at the ceremony, Russell had been on a real adventure.

"Russell, is your dad here for you?" the campmaster asked.

Russell peered out into the audience, where someone was making his way forward.

"Excuse me. Old man coming through." Carl climbed onto the stage. "I'm here for him," he told the campmaster.

The campmaster handed Carl the badge. "Congratulations, Russell," he said. He moved on to the other Explorers.

Carl leaned down to pin something to Russell's sash. "Russell, for assisting the elderly, and for performing above and beyond the call of duty, I would like to award you the highest honor I can bestow¹⁰: the Ellie Badge."

Russell looked down. Carl had given him Ellie's grape-soda pin. "Wow."

They saluted¹¹ each other. Then Russell gave Carl a hug.

"All right, I think that covers everybody. So, let's give a big Explorer Call to our brand-new Senior Wilderness Explorers!" the campmaster said.

The audience let out a wild "Caw-caw, rarr! Caw-caw, rarr!"

Dug and the other dogs howled in approval. And Carl grinned, knowing that he and his friends would have many more adventures together.

Russell and Carl sat on a curb¹² outside Fenton's. They were licking chocolate ice cream cones¹³ and watching cars go by.

"Blue one," Russell said.

Carl squinted¹⁴. "Red one."

"Blue one."

"Red one."

"That's a bike," Russell protested.

"It's red, isn't it?" Carl demanded.

"Mr. Fredricksen, you're cheating."

"No, I'm not," Carl insisted. "Red one."

"That's a fire hydrant."

Carl licked his ice cream, chuckling¹⁵. "Maybe I need new glasses."

Russell looked up. The blimp was parked overhead. A single blue balloon floated up and away from them. "Another blue one," he said.

Carl nodded. He wasn't about to argue. After all, it was simply a game. And it was the simple things that he and Russell liked best.

(The End)

 

“嗷！”卡尔大笑着，一只小鸟正啄着他的脑袋，为他梳理头发。而他手里还托着另一只小鸟。

“瞧瞧你们，”小罗温柔地对小鸟说，“你们摸起来真软。”

凯文鸣叫了一声。她站在迷宫入口，那里是她的家，是她安全的港湾。

卡尔和小罗叹息一声，是时候说再见了。他们把凯文的孩子轻轻地放到地上，看着他们向自己的妈妈奔去。

“我要是能养一只就好了。”小罗失落地说。

一只小鸟冲道格嘶叫了一声，但道格并没有生气，他终于接受了这些鸟不想做他的俘虏这一事实。

凯文抱了抱自己的孩子，然后带着他们走进迷宫，进去之前，她转过头叫了一声。

“再见，凯文。”小罗挥了挥手。

然后，他和卡尔返回了飞船。

“准备好了吗？”小罗坐在操控台前问。

“好了！”卡尔对他的飞行员笑着，他们慢慢向天空飞去。

蒙兹的那群狗把头伸出窗户，享受着微风。其实，它们并没有那么凶猛，都是蒙兹让他们表现成之前那样的，卡尔成为他们的主人后，他们又变回普通的狗了。

现在他们都在回家的路上。

“以下获得徽章的探险家，将成为高级探险家。”野营主办者宣布道。他正站在礼堂前方，旁边是野外探险家们和他们的父亲。“这是极限攀登知识徽章，恭喜你，吉米。”他把徽章交到吉米父亲的手上，吉米的父亲自豪地笑着。

“下面是助老徽章……”野营主办者抬头看到小罗，眨了 眨眼。

小罗的制服上沾满了灰尘，他的皮肤也在去南美洲期间晒黑了。与授奖仪式上的其他野外探险家不同，小罗经历了一场真正的探险。

“小罗，你爸爸来了吗？”野营主办者问道。

小罗向观众席张望，发现有个人正朝主席台赶来。

“抱歉，请给老头子让让路。”卡尔爬上舞台，对野营主办者说，“我是他的家长。”

野营主办者将徽章交给卡尔，又转头说道：“恭喜你，小罗。”说完便走向下一位探险家。

卡尔俯身把一样东西戴在了小罗的肩带上。“小罗，帮助老人，尽职尽责，表现优异，现授予你我所能颁发的最高荣誉：艾莉徽章。”

小罗低头看了看，卡尔给他戴的竟然是艾莉的葡萄汽水瓶盖徽章。他惊呼一声：“哇！”

他们互相敬礼，随后小罗给了卡尔一个大大的拥抱。

“好了，徽章已全部颁发完毕。现在，让我们为新一批高级野外探险家欢呼吧！”野营主办者说。

观众热烈地喊着，“嘎—嘎，喔呜！嘎—嘎，喔呜！”

道格和其他的狗也都发出支持的嗥叫。卡尔笑了，他知道自己和朋友们今后还会一同经历更多的探险。

小罗和卡尔坐在“芬顿”冰激凌店外的马路边，他们一边舔着巧克力冰激凌蛋筒，一边看着来来往往的车辆。

“蓝色的。”小罗说。

卡尔眯起眼睛说：“红色的。”

“蓝色的。”

“红色的。”

“那是辆自行车。”小罗抗议道。

“但它是红色的，不是吗？”卡尔为自己辩解。

“费迪逊先生，你耍赖。”

“我可没有。”卡尔坚持道，“又一个红色的。”

“那是消火栓。”

卡尔舔了舔冰激凌，笑着说：“也许我要配副新眼镜了。”

小罗抬起头，看见一艘飞船停在他们头顶。一只蓝色气球飘起来，飞离了他们，他说：“又一个蓝色的。”

卡尔点点头，他不想争论。毕竟，这只是个游戏，而且，这些简单的事情就是他和小罗的最爱。

（完）

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