Written by Clare Azzopardi and translated by Albert Gatt
1
There was once a little boy called Max. Every Saturday, Max went to the sweet shop to buy chocolate coins, the kind you find in pirate treasure.
2
One day, he noticed that the shop was looking glum.
“Oy, you, why the long face?” said Max.
“No one comes to visit anymore. I’ll be past my sell-by soon,” the sweet shop answered.
3
“What about me? Don’t I count?” asked Max.
“But what about all these sweets?” the shop asked sadly. “What am I going to do with all of it?”
4
“Tell you what. Let’s go for a ride,” said Max.
“What do you mean, a ride?”
5.
“You know, a ride. Through streets broad and narrow, past trees tall and green, along the
coast and then … we’ll make it to the moon, perhaps.”
6.
“The moon?” the sweet shop said, amazed. “And how in the world do we get to the moon?”
“Just joking. Off we go,” Max hollered.
“Far away we’ll go, far, far away.”
7.
And that’s just what they did. They went walkies.
8.
First stop: the big big school.
The shop honked once or twice. No sound, no children, boys or girls.
“What is this place? There’s no one here.”
9.
“It’s Saturday. School’s out,” said Max a little vexed. “It slipped my mind.”
“Don’t you worry. Look, there’s loads of houses. We’ll honk and they’ll come out, you’ll see.”
Beeeep beeep beeep
10.
All of a sudden, children started pouring out from all directions. They charged and tried to get their hands on everything in sigh.
“Hey there! You, boy, pass me a jellybaby.”
“Coke bottle for me.”
“Those purple ones for me.”
“And me … I’ll take some of the pink ones.”

11
Before too long, their parents came baring their fangs.
“Who do you think you are? Where are you from? This is a sweet-free neighbourhood. Away with you, now. Shoo!”
12.
“There’s nothing to be done! We’ll have to go somewhere else,” said Max.
And as they went along the streets, they saw the playground.
“That’s it! That’s where we’ll go! The playground,” hollered Max.
13.
But all the children in the playground sucked on dummies, while their mummies and their daddies chewed on words.
“How sad,” the sweetshop said, “nobody loves me, nobody seems to need me.”
14
“Never mind,” said Max, “let’s give the roundabout a spin.” Soon after they were swooshing
down the slide. The shop cheered up a bit.
15.
“We should go somewhere else, there’s loads of stuff left to give away.”
Vroooom.
16.
They stopped in front of a large house.
It looked ramshackle and rundown.
And the people there just stared. Their mouths dropped open. Since when did lovely shops like this one care to visit? This was unheard of. They edged a little closer. Some limped, some toddled on a cane.
17.
“I’m Granny Roża”
“And me, I’m Pepp, I’m Grandpa Pepp.”
“Vjola, that’s me.”
“I’m Grandpa Grezz. Who’re you, then?”
“I’m just the sweetshop.”
“And me, I’m Max.”
“Is this for us?” asked Roża.
“Well duh! Of course. What kind would you prefer?” asked Max.
18.
Some of them helped themselves to pirate coins. They were delicious.
Some of them preferred boiled sweets, the stripy kind. They brought such memories!
And there were those, poor fellows, with no teeth, who had no choice. They only took the soft and tender kind and sucked on them for ages. But still, they’re yummy too!
19.
They smiled and danced, the grannies. Even the ones who didn’t partake because they
didn’t like sweets.
“There’s plenty left, Max,” said the sweetshop. “Why don’t you take me to a place where I can meet some kids who’ve never seen me in their lives?”
20.
They wandered far from the town centre. Dusk had nearly fallen on the streets at the edges of town.
21.
“What is this place? These streets? Where have you brought me?They’re all deserted, empty, no one here except grey laundry on the lines, like grizzled
ghosts.” The shop was flabbergasted.
Doors stood ajar, windows creaked on hinges. The walls sagged.
“Let’s get away from here. It’s scary, little Max, and I don’t want to stay.”
22.
But suddenly, Max thought he spied a little girl.
“Hang on, we can’t just leave. Let’s wait a bit. Be patient.”
The girl behind the wall peeped out again. Yes, she was there. He’d been right all along.
“D’you want some sweets?” Max hollered. “Girl, what’s your name? I’m Max. Care for a jellybaby?”
23.
She dashed across. She grabbed a sweet. Stared at it. Smiled. Bit off a piece … and then
another … then she stopped.
“That tastes so gooooood,” she shouted.
24.
And when they heard her, they all came pouring out. A crowd of children came from alldirections .. through cracks and windows, out of bins, from underneath the corrugated metal sheets or blankets … some standing stunned while others sang, some cutting through and
tripping up their friends.
25.
The sweets came in every shape and size.
In paper wrapping, out of tins and jars and packets.
26.
Once the kids had had their fill, the shop began to honk to get the grownups out.
27.
Beeep beeep
And there they were. You see, they did come out… some looked a little worried, frightened,
even…
28.
… but only until they’d had a bite of chocolate, wine gum, almond sweet, those jellybabies, red, purple and black … or maybe a coke bottle. They put on candy necklaces and bracelets, then they ate them, every last one.
29.
They even ate those funny, wormy black ones, the ones that taste a little sweet… or sour.
30.
Once the shelves had emptied, the shop and little Max made their way back.
“We gave away so many sweets today.”
“And you don’t so glum now.”
“We should come back, what do you reckon, child?”
“Any time,” said Max, who was half-snoring by this time, and dreaming
31.
…of a shop… a large one… who gave away its wares when it felt sad. And not just sweets,
but toys and books, clean clothes and food in cans…
32.
… to those who can’t get everything they need.

作者：克莱尔.阿佐帕尔迪
英文译者：阿尔伯特.盖特

1
从前有个小男孩叫麦克斯，他每周六都去糖果店买金币巧克力，海盗宝藏里的那种金币巧克力。
2.
有一天，麦克斯发现糖果店看起来有点忧郁。
“嘿，伙计，为什么拉着个脸？”麦克斯问。
“没客人再来，我很快要卖掉这家店了。”糖果店回答。
3.
“我呢，难道我不算数？”麦克斯继续问。
“这么多糖果呢，拿它们怎么办？“糖果店伤心地回答。
4.
“来，兄弟，我们骑车兜一圈，”麦克斯提议。
“什么意思？兜一圈？”
“兜风，你懂的。穿过大街小巷，穿过高山草地，沿着海岸线走啊走，接下来……或许我们能登上月球。”
6.
“登月？”店主讶异的咕哝，“我们怎么能登上月球？”
“玩笑啦，我们出发吧，”麦克斯喊了起来。
“走走走，有多远走多远。”
7.
他们开始兜风了，一直走啊走。
8.
第一站：大大的学校
糖果店吹了一两次喇叭。其余时间，没有声音，没有孩子，男孩女孩都没影。
“这是什么地方，人都没有。”
9.
“今天是礼拜六，学校放假了，”麦克斯有点沮丧，“我忘了这事。”
“别着急，看，这儿这么多房子。我们按喇叭，他们总会出来，等着瞧。”

哔哔哔
10.
突然间，孩子们从四面八方涌了出来，他们充斥在每个角落，气喘吁吁，想把手放在所有东西上。
“嘿，老兄，给我一个娃娃软糖。”
“给我个可乐瓶。“
“我要那些紫色的。”
“我要那些粉色的。”
11.
没多久，孩子们的家长来了，张牙舞爪得阻止着他们。
“你以为你们是谁？从哪儿来的？这里社区不欢迎糖果店，赶紧走，嘘！”
12.
“没办法啦，我们得去别的地方，”麦克斯说。
穿过街巷，他们看到了操场。
“来对了！操场，我们的地盘！”麦克斯嚷起来。
13.
但是操场上的孩子们沉浸在模型中，他们的父母深思熟虑地叮嘱着他们。
“真伤心，”糖果店说，“没有人爱我，没有人需要我。”
14.
“别瞎琢磨了，”麦克斯说，“我们接着兜风，”很快他们开始飞速前进，糖果店心情稍微好了点。
15.
“我们去个新地方，那里有许多东西等着处理。”
呜噜噜，加速……
16.
他们停在一栋大房子面前。
它看起来摇摇欲坠，要倒塌。
房子里的人盯着外面，嘴巴张的大大的，什么时候有这么可爱的糖果店到访？他们听都没听过。他们靠近了一点点，有的人一瘸一拐，有的人杵着拐杖摇摇晃晃。
17.
“我是罗莎奶奶。”
“我是派皮，派皮爷爷。”
“我是薇欧拉。”
“我是格瑞兹爷爷，你又是谁？”
“我只是家糖果店。”
“还有我，我是麦克斯。”
“这是给我们的吗？”罗莎奶奶问。
“当然啦，你们想要哪种糖果？”麦克斯问到。

18.
有些人选了海盗金币，金币真好吃。
一些人喜欢带条纹的硬糖。啊，如此美妙的回忆！
但还有些牙齿掉光的人好可怜，没有这么多选择，只能选择软糖，不停的吮吸。但是，这些软糖也美味！
19.
奶奶们边笑边跳舞，即使那些不喜欢糖果没有吃的奶奶们也加入了舞蹈大军。
“还有好多糖果呢，麦克斯，”糖果店说，“带我去个当地人从来没见过我的地方吧。”
20
他们已经离市中心好远好远。夕阳余晖落在镇上的每条街巷。

21.
“这是哪儿？你带我来了什么地方，这么空旷，这么荒凉，一个人都没有，就有灰扑扑的洗衣店，像灰幽灵一样。”糖果店目瞪口呆。
门半开，窗户嘎吱作响，墙壁摇摇欲坠。
“我们赶紧离开这儿吧，太吓人了，小麦克斯，我可不想在这呆着。”
22
但是突然，麦克斯发现了一个小女孩。
“等等，我们不能这么就走了。等一下，耐心点。”
墙后的女孩又探出头看了一眼。对的，她在那儿，印证了他的预感。
“你想要点糖果吗？”麦克斯冲小女孩喊，“小姑娘，你叫什么？我是麦克斯，要不要娃娃软糖？”
23.
她冲了过来，抓住一颗糖盯着看，露出了微笑。咬掉一小块又一小块，接下来她停止了。
“太好吃了！”她快乐得叫起来。
24.
听到小女孩兴奋的喊声，大帮人马从四面八方涌了过来，从嘎吱作响的窗户跳出来，从箱子里爬出来，从波浪纹床单和金属毯子下面走出来……有些呆呆站着，有些唱起歌，有一些在抄近路的时候绊倒了他们的朋友。
25.
各种大小形状的糖果出现了。
包着糖果纸的糖果从罐子和袋子里跑了出来。
26.
孩子们吃饭糖果，糖果店开始鸣喇叭，把成年人叫了出来。
27
哔哔哔
他们来了，你看，他们终于来了，他们看着有些着急，有些害怕，有些……
28.
……他们嚼着巧克力，酒胶糖，甜杏仁糖，还有那些娃娃软糖，红色的，紫色的，黑色的……还有可乐瓶子形状的。他们戴上糖果项链，糖果手链，把所有糖果吃了个精光。
29.
他们甚至吃光了那些黑色长得像虫子的糖果，有点酸又有点甜。
30.
货架空了，糖果店和小麦克斯打道回府。
“今天我们送出去好多糖果呀。”
“你看起来也不那么沮丧了。”
“我们该回去了，你想什么呢，孩子？”
“随时，”麦克斯嘟哝着，半打着呼噜，昏昏沉沉进入了梦乡。
31.
一家店……一家很大的糖果店……伤心的时候分发出了货物，不仅仅是糖果，还有玩具，书籍，干净衣服，罐装食物……
32.
……送给无法得到自己所需的人。