| The front door opened. Pipkin stepped out. | Kućna su se vrata otvorila. Kroz njih je iskoračio Pipkin. |
| Not flew. Not banged. Not exploded. | Nije izletio. Nije prasnuo. Nije eksplodirao. |
| Stepped out. | Iskoračio je. |
| And came down the walk to meet his friends. Not running. And not wearing a mask! No mask! But moving along like an old man, almost. | I krenuo nogostupom ususret prijateljima. Nije potrčao. I bio je bez maske! Bez maske! No hodao je kao starac, zamalo. |
| “Pipkin!” they shouted, to scare away their uneasiness. “Hi, gang,” said Pipkin. | "Pipkin!" uskliknuli su da prestraše vlastitu zebnju. "Bok, društvo", rekao je Pipkin. |
| His face was pale. He tried to smile, but his eyes looked funny. He was holding his right side with one hand as if he had a boil there. They all looked at his hand. He took his hand away from his side. | Lice mu je bilo bijelo. Pokušao se nasmiješiti, ali su mu oči bile nekako čudne. Rukom se držao za desnu stranu, i na njoj je bio čir. Svi su mu pogledali ruku. On ju je maknuo s obraza. |
| “Well,” he said with faint enthusiasm. “We ready to go?” | "Dobro", rekao je s nekakvim blijedim oduševljenjem. "Spremni za pokret?" |
| “Yeah, but you don’t look ready,” said Tom. “You sick?” | "Da, ali ti, čini mi se, nisi spreman", odgovorio je Tom. "Nije ti dobro?" |
| “On Halloween?” said Pipkin. “You kidding?” | "Na Noć vještica?" odgovorio je Pipkin. "Zezaš se?" |
| “Where’s your costume—?” | "Gdje ti je kostim..?" |
| “You go on ahead, I’ll catch up.” | "Samo vi idite, stignem ja vas." |
| “No, Pipkin, we’ll wait for you to—” | "Ne, Pipkin, nego ćemo pričekati dok..." |
| “Go on,” said Pipkin, saying it slowly, his face deathly pale now. His hand was back on his side. | "Samo vi idite", odgovorio je Pipkin. Izgovorio je to polako, a lice mu je u međuvremenu samrtnički problijedilo. Ruka mu se vratila na bok. |
| “You got a stomachache?” asked Tom. “You told your folks?” | "Boli te želudac?" upitao je Tom. "Rekao si starcima?" |
| “No, no, I can’t! They’d—” Tears burst from Pipkin’s eyes. “It’s nothing, I tell you. Look. Go straight on toward the ravine. Head for the House, okay? The place of the Haunts, yeah? Meet you there.” | "Ne, ne, ne smijem! Oni bi..." Na oči su mu izbile suze. "Nije to ništa, velim vam. Vidi. Idete ravno do klanca. I pravac Kuća, dobro? Sastajalište duhova, dobro? Vidimo se tamo." |
| “You swear?” | "Kuneš se?" |
| “Swear. Wait’ll you see my costume!” | "Kunem se. Čekaj dok vidiš moj kostim!" |
| The boys began to back off. On the way, they touched his elbow, or knocked him gently in the chest, or ran their knuckles along his chin in a fake fight. “Okay, Pipkin. As long as you’re sure—” | Dječaci su se počeli povlačiti. Pritom bi mu dotakli lakat, ili ga nježno kucnuli u prsa, ili bi mu, hineći udarac, zglavcima šake prešli preko brade. "Sve u redu, Pipkin. Ako si siguran..." |
| “I’m sure.” He took his hand away from his side. His face colored for a moment as if the pain were gone. “On your marks. Get set. Go!” | "Siguran sam." Maknuo je ruku s boka. Lice mu se na trenutak obojilo, kao da je bol nestao. "Na svoja mjesta. Priprema. Pozor. Kreći!" |
| When Joe Pipkin said “Go,” they Went. | I kad je Joe Pipkin rekao "Kreći", oni su i krenuli. |
| They ran. | Potrčali. |
| They ran backward halfway down the block, so they could see Pipkin standing there, waving at them. “Hurry up, Pipkin!” | Pretrčali su natraške pola bloka, svo vrijeme gledajući Pipkina koji je stajao i mahao im. "Požuri, Pipkine!" |
| “I’ll catch you!” he shouted, a long way off. The night swallowed him. | "Stignem vas!" otkliknuo im je on iz velike daljine. Onda ga je progutala noć. |
| They ran. When they looked back again, he was gone. | Potrčali su. Kad su se ponovno osvrnuli, nije ga više bilo. |
| They banged doors, they shouted Trick or Treat and their brown paper bags began to fill with incredible sweets. They galloped with their teeth glued shut with pink gum. They ran with red wax lips bedazzling their faces. | Lupali su po vratima, uzvikivali "Dar il' kvar", a njihove vrećice od smeđega papira počele su se puniti nevjerojatnim slatkišima. Galopirali su zubiju slijepljenih ružičastim desnima. Trčali su dok su im lica zasljepljivale usnice od crvenoga voska. |
| But all the people who met them at doors looked like candy factory duplicates of their own mothers and fathers. It was like never leaving home. Too much kindness flashed from every window and every portal. What they wanted was to hear dragons belch in basements and banged castle doors. | Pa ipak, svi ljudi što bi se pojavljivali na vratima izgledali su kao tvorničke marcipanske replike vlastitih majki i očeva. Bilo je to kao da i nisu otišli od kuće. Iz svakog prozora, iz svakih vrata, bljesnulo bi na njih i previše prijaznosti. A oni su htjeli čuti zmajeve kako se podriguju u podrumima i mlate o dveri zamka. |
| And so, still looking back for Pipkin, they reached the edge of town and the place where civilization fell away in darkness. | I tako su, i dalje se ovrćući u iščekivanju Pipkina, stigli do ruba grada i mjesta gdje se civilizacija ruši u tminu. |
| The Ravine. | Klanac. |
| The ravine, filled with varieties of night sounds, lurkings of black-ink stream and creek, lingerings of autumns that rolled over in fire and bronze and died a thousand years ago. From this deep place sprang mushroom and toadstool and cold stone frog and crawdad and spider. There was a long tunnel down there under the earth in which poisoned waters dripped and the echoes never ceased calling Come Come Come and if you do you’ll stay forever, forever, drip, forever, rustle, run, rush, whisper, and never go, never go go go … | Klanac ispunjen mnoštvom noćnih zvukova, iz kojega proviruje potok od crne tinte, i skriveni zaostaci jeseni što su se prevaljale u ognju i bronci i pomrle pred tisuću godina. Iz tog dubokog mjesta nicali su vrganji i ludare i kameno hladne žabe i potočni rakovi i pauci. A dolje, pod zemljom, bio je dugačak tunel kroz koji su curkale otrovne vode a odjeci nisu nikad prestali zazivati Dođi Dođi Dođi, a tko bi se odazvao, zauvijek bi i ostao, zauvijek, curkanje, zauvijek, šuštanje, trčanje, jurenje, šaptanje, i nikad ne pođi, ne pođi, ne pođi... |
