Читать книгу The Grinch: The Story of the Movie: Movie tie-in - Коллектив авторов, Ю. Д. Земенков, Koostaja: Ajakiri New Scientist - Страница 5

Far past any place you’ve ever been, surrounded by snowy mountains and deep forests, was a beautiful, wonderful town – a town like no other.

Who-ville.

Who-ville was a happy, friendly place full of happy, friendly Whos. But there was one time of year when Who-ville became even happier, with festive decorations and music everywhere. In the weeks before Christmas, the Whos rushed around Who-ville buying presents, bows, glitter, wrapping paper and delicious food for their family feasts. On street corners, Whos handed out green wreaths and striped candy canes, made fresh right on the spot.

Lots of fresh, sparkling white snow fell on Who-ville all through the wintertime, and the Whos loved it! They rode snow-bikes to work. They skied. They sledged. They skated. They made snowmen. A special machine even cranked out snowballs by the dozens for snowball fights.

Yes, the Whos down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot.

But the Grinch, in his cave north of Who-ville, did NOT!

The Grinch’s cave towered high above Who-ville, up on Mt. Crumpit. A winding trail towards it was crowded with signs that read:

The Grinch did NOT like visitors.

Through twisted iron gates stood a door carved into the side of the mountain. Through that door, in a well-furnished cave with a maze of rooms and chambers, lived the grumpy green Grinch and his faithful little dog, Max.

On the snowy winter morning of 20 December, the Grinch lay in bed under a pile of thick blankets, snoring. It was five days before Christmas – a fact that the Grinch had been doing his very best to ignore.

The clock radio on the Grinch’s chest of drawers clicked from 6:59 to 7:00. The radio began to play a loud and jolly song.

The Grinch’s eyes popped open. Groaning, he stretched his furry green hand out from underneath the blankets and found a stack of books on his bedside table. He picked one up and threw it across the room at the radio. WHOMP!

But the radio just kept playing. Now a different, even jollier, even LOUDER Christmas tune was playing.

The Grinch threw a tennis racquet at the radio. WHACK! The station changed to one playing yet another Christmas song.

Enraged, the Grinch finally threw a lamp at the clock radio, knocking it off the drawers and into a deep crevice in the rock. “Humph,” said the Grinch. But just as he gave a satisfied little smile …

… the tinny notes of a festive tune drifted up from the rocky depths. It was still playing.

The Grinch sighed. “MAX!” he yelled. He yanked a rope next to his bed. Bells rang out through the cave. DING-A-LING-A-LING!

Max woke up right away. His master needed him! Tail wagging, he got to work making the Grinch’s morning cup of coffee.

Max did ALL the household chores, and the cave was full of pulleys and levers to help him. He now ran up some steps to a small platform, pushing the plunger down into a coffee pot to fill a cup. With a measuring jug gripped tightly between his teeth, Max poured steamed milk to draw a frowny face on top of the Grinch’s coffee. Just how the boss liked it!

With the coffee carefully balanced on a tray on top of his head Max backed into a mini-lift. He pulled down on a handle, and the creaky old lift slowly carried him up to the Grinch’s bedroom.

DING! The lift door swung open and Max stepped out, careful not to spill a drop of the coffee.

Groaning and grunting, the Grinch took the hot drink, stood up and slid his feet into his slippers. He slowly walked to the bathroom, accompanied by the distant sound of Christmas songs playing from the bottom of the dark cavern. He grimaced.

“A shower’s just the thing to drown out that racket,” he growled.

The Grinch lingered a while in the shower, trying to forget about Christmas. When he stepped out, a blow-dryer turned on automatically, fluffing him up like a dandelion clock. He walked through a frame lined with bristles which brushed his fur and smoothed it down.

Meanwhile, Max scurried into the Grinch’s wardrobe to fetch his master’s outfit for the day. Using his mouth, he tugged the cord to turn on the wardrobe light. Then he flipped through all the pairs of green trousers on labelled hangers. The labels read:

BAD DAY

DISGRUNTLED

GRUMPY

MISERABLE

NASTY

VERY MISERABLE

WRETCHED

Max pondered the selection. With Christmas so near, the choice was obvious: VERY MISERABLE. Max pulled the trousers off the hanger and handed them to the Grinch, who snapped them on. SNAP!

Looking in the mirror, the Grinch used a finger to swirl up the curly tuft of green fur on the top of his head, saying, “Boop!” He swirled Max’s tuft up, too. “Boop!” Max wagged his tail.

Now he looked his very best (or indeed, worst), the Grinch was ready for the day ahead. But first, breakfast!

The Grinch crossed his bedroom and plopped down into a big red chair under an opening in the ceiling. His weight triggered a spring that lifted the chair up through the hole and into the dining room. He arrived right at his place at the table.

Max, who had already hurried up to the dining room, yanked another rope. This rope snaked through a system of pulleys that lifted the cover off the Grinch’s plate.

“Ooh, I am starving!” the Grinch said, leaning forward to see what delicious dish Max had prepared for his breakfast. He blinked.

Sitting on the plate was a single bean.