Jean，his wife，turned around from the sink“Who else does？”she asked
“Your raccoonraccoon.”said John“He caught a big fish in the brookBut it slipped right through his paws！”
“Good！”said Jean“Maybe he will learn he can’t have everything he wants！”
Mask，the bandit raccoon，was Jean’s petShe had hound him in the woods，hungry，cold and aloneJean had fed the baby raccoon from a bottleHow the little fellow had liked the warm milk！
Now Mask was grown and ran freeBut he stayed near the houseHe seemed to like people very much
Mask also liked to stealOne night John heard a noise in the kitchenYes，it was Mask—in the sugar can！
Another night，Jean found him in the dining roomHe was trying to pull paper off the walls
On still another night，John and Jean found him sleeping in their bedJust his black face showed above the coversUnder him they found bits of crackers he had stolen
Mask not only looked like a banditHe really was a bandit！
John and Jean were both writers of stories and booksBut one day John did not write as usualHe had other things to do
“I’m going over to see Fred Thompson.”he said to Jean“Do you know where the car keys are？”
“On the porch table，I think.”Jean answered“I am not sure”
John went out on the porchMask was on the table，holding the car keys in his teeth
“Give me the keys，Mask.”said John
Mask gave John one quick lookThen the raccoon jumped down from the tableHe ran off the porchporch and up a tall tree！From the top，he looked down，dangling the car keys from one paw
“Come down，you little banditbandit！”called John“You can’t eat those keysWhat do you want with them？Come down！”
But Mask did not come downHe seemed to like it where he was
Jean came out of the houseShe was laughing at Mask
“Don’t laugh.”said John“It isn’t funnyI need those keys”
Then he had a thought“Bring the dishpandishpan with some water in it.”he said
“Why？”asked Jean
“Wait and see.”John answered
Jean brought the dishpan，half full of waterJohn put the pan on the porch tableHe splashed the water with his handsHigh up，Mask watched and listenedJohn splashed the water againThen he took Jean’s arm“Let’s go inside，”he said
John and Jean watched from a windowMask began slowly climbing down the treeThen he came faster and fasterHe ran across the grass and jumped up on the tableInto the water he dunked the keys—up and down，up and down！
“You knew he would do that，didn’t you？”asked Jean
“Of course.”said John“Raccoons always wash their food in waterThey also dunk anything else they find”
John slipped up behind Mask and took the keys from himMask ran off to the woods
“You know，”John said，“I don’t think I’ll go to see Fred after allI’m going to write a story”
“About what？”asked Jean
“About what？”said John“Why，about Mask，your bandit raccoon！”
小土匪“鬼脸”
约翰·乔治走进厨房。
他哈哈大笑着说，“我还不是惟一让大鱼逃脱的人。”
他的妻子琼从洗涤槽旁转过身来。她问，“还有谁会这么干呢？”
“你的浣熊。”约翰说。“他在小河里抓到一条大鱼，可鱼就从他的爪子下溜掉了！”
“好啊。”琼说。“这可能会让他懂得，他不能想有什么就有什么！”
小土匪浣熊“鬼脸”是琼的宠物。她是在森林中发现他的，他饥寒交迫，独自一个在那里。琼用奶瓶喂养了这只浣熊崽子。这小家伙多么喜欢热牛奶啊！
现在“鬼脸”已经长大，自由自在地来往。但他老待在房子附近。他看起来很喜欢人。
“鬼脸”还喜欢偷东西。一天夜里，约翰听到厨房里有响动。是啊，是“鬼脸”——在糖罐里！
又一天晚上，琼发现他在餐室里。他正想撕掉墙上的壁纸。
又有一天晚上，约翰和琼发现他睡在他们的床上，只有他的黑脸露出在被子外面，在他的身下，他们发现了一些他偷来的薄脆饼干的碎渣。
“鬼脸”不只是看上去像个土匪，他真的是个匪徒！
约翰和琼都是写故事、写书的作家。但是，有那么一天，约翰却没有像通常那样写作。他有别的事情要做。
“我要去看望弗雷德·汤普森。”他对琼说。“你知道汽车钥匙在哪儿吗？”
“我想，在门廊的桌子上。”琼答。“我不敢肯定。”
约翰走出去到门廊上，“鬼脸”正在桌子上，用牙叼着车钥匙。
“把钥匙给我，鬼脸。”约翰说。
“鬼脸”瞥了约翰一眼，然后，这浣熊从桌子上跳下来，跑下门廊，爬上一棵高树！他从树顶向下望着，一只爪子上提着那串车钥匙。
“你这小土匪，下来！”约翰叫着。“那些钥匙不能吃，你要它们有什么用呢？下来！”
但是，“鬼脸”并没有下来。看起来他挺喜欢他待着的地方。
琼从房子里出来。她对着“鬼脸”大笑。
“别笑。”约翰说。“这没什么可笑的。我需要那些钥匙。”
然后，他产生了一个想法。他说，“把浅盆装上一些水拿来。”
琼问，“为什么？”
约翰答，“等一会儿就明白了。”
琼拿来浅盆，装上半盆水。约翰把浅盆放在门廊桌上，用手溅水。“鬼脸”在树上看着，听着。约翰再次溅水。然后，他拉着琼的胳膊，他说，“我们进里边去吧。”
约翰和琼从窗子里望着。“鬼脸”开始慢慢地从树上往下爬。而后，他爬得越来越快。他跑过草坪，跳上桌子，把钥匙浸进水里——提起来，放下去，又提起来，再放下去！
“你早就知道他会这么干的，是吗？”琼问。
“当然了。”约翰说。“浣熊总是在水里洗食物。他们还把找到的任何东西都泡在水里。”
约翰溜到“鬼脸”背后，从他那里抓过钥匙来。“鬼脸”向林中去了。
“你知道，”约翰说，“在发生这件事之后，我不想去看弗雷德了。我要写个故事。”
琼问，“关于什么的故事？”
“关于什么的故事？”约翰说。“啊，那还用说吗，是关于‘鬼脸’的，你的小土匪浣熊！”
GreatGranddad’s Last
I will never forget the Saturday I took my greatgrandfather to his first movieI was nineGranddad was over 90years old
The movie was a Wild West showAnd that Saturday afternoon in 1920turned out to be a wild one，too！
We were a little late when we got to the movieThe lights were already turned lowThe girl at the piano had started to playIn those days，the movies had no soundThe only sounds that went with them came from a piano
I helped Granddad find a seat in the first rowHe sat back just as Hoot Gibson came riding across the screen on his horseI looked at GranddadHis eyes were fixed on the screen and his lips were movingI saw that he was riding right along with Hoot Gibson！
Hoot was running away from outlawsFaster and faster the horses ranThe girl at the piano played louder and louder
Suddenly Granddad jumped to his feet and yelled at Hoot“Look out！”he cried“Run for it，Hoot！They’re getting closer！”
The girl at the piano turned aroundRight behind her she saw a tall old man with arms stretched wideIt was my granddadShe thought he had gone crazyWith a scream，she climbed to the top of the pianoThen she jumped through the movie screen，making a big hole in itShe ran out the back door of the movie，yelling
There were about 40people at the movie that afternoonGranddad was the only one there over 12years oldAll the excitement made us boys feel we should do somethingBut what？Hoothoot showed us！He was shot from his horse right into the hole in the screen！
A friend of mine named Sammy climbed up to see what had become of HootThree or four others followed SammySoon about 12yelling boys were crowded around the screenWhat noise！
The tickettaker came running“Stop the show！”he yelled“Turn on the lights！”But no one seemed to hear him
At that moment，Sammy shot his cap gunSomeone saw the smoke from the cap gun and screamed “Fire！”
Granddad was still standingHe called out，“Get the firemen！Where’s the fire？”
Just then several men came in through the back doorThe girl who played the piano had told them about the crazy manThey were coming to get Granddad！
Before they got to him，a fireman came in the front doorHe was carrying a hose“Water！”he shouted to the firemen behind himThen he turned his hose on the screen，full forceThe hole in the screen became larger and largerNow we could see only the top of Hoot’s head and his horse’s tail