Not Your Business

Bridge Street is dark and wet. There is a light in Priya’s shop and a light at the bus stop. A cat sits under a car. But there are no people. Nobody is in the street.

Bridge Street又黑又湿。Priya的店里有光。公共汽车站那儿也有光。一只猫坐在车下面。可是街上没有人。一个人也没有。

Ana comes back in. She closes the door. In the kitchen, Walter has the two pieces of the card in his hands. He puts them in the pocket of his shirt, carefully.

Ana走回屋里。她关门。在厨房里，Walter手里拿着两块卡片。他把卡片放进他的衬衫口袋里。他很小心。

“Thank you for the cake,” he says. “Good night, everybody.” And he goes upstairs. The party is over.

“谢谢你的蛋糕，”他说。“大家晚安。”他走上楼去。聚会开完了。

Priya puts on her coat. At the door, she looks at Ana. “Be kind to him tonight, my dear,” she says. Then she goes across the road to her shop.

Priya穿上大衣。在门口，她看Ana。“亲爱的，今天晚上对他好一点儿，”她说。然后她过马路，去她的店。

Daniel takes his mug from the table. “Ana,” he says quietly. “Don’t look for M. OK? It’s a sad story.” And he goes too.

Daniel从桌子上拿走他的大杯子。“Ana，”他小声说。“不要找M，好吗？那是一个难过的故事。”他也走了。

Ana is alone in the kitchen with the cake and Crumb. She thinks. A bag of bread every night. A neat paper square. A burnt sign. A card with no stamp. And everybody says: don’t ask.

厨房里只有Ana、蛋糕和Crumb。她在想。每天晚上有一袋面包。一张整齐的小方纸。一个烧坏的牌子。一张没有邮票的卡片。大家都说：不要问。

“OK, Crumb,” she says. “I don’t ask. I look.”

“好，Crumb，”她说。“我不问。我看。”

That night, at three o’clock, Walter puts the bag on the back step. Then he starts work. Ana makes the dough with him. She doesn’t say anything about the bag.

那天晚上三点，Walter把袋子放在后门的台阶上。然后他开始做工。Ana和他一起做面团。关于那个袋子，她什么也没有说。

At half past three, Walter is busy at the oven. Ana goes into the store room. It is dark there. In the store room, there is a small window. From the window, she can see the back step.

三点半，Walter在烤炉前很忙。Ana走进储物室。那里很黑。储物室里有一个小窗户。从窗户，她能看见后门的台阶。

She doesn’t turn on the light. She stands at the window and waits. The bag is still there, on the step. The river is black. Nothing moves.

她不开灯。她站在窗户前等。那个袋子还在那儿，在台阶上。河水很黑。什么都不动。

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Then the light goes on behind her.

五分钟。十分钟。然后，她后面的灯亮了。

Walter is at the door of the store room. His face is red. “What are you doing?”

Walter在储物室门口。他的脸很红。“你在做什么？”

“I… I want to see,” Ana says. “Who takes the bread?”

“我……我想看，”Ana说。“谁拿走了面包？”

“That is not your business!” Walter’s voice is very loud. Crumb goes under the table. “The bag is not your business. The card is not your business. You’re here for the bread. Only the bread. Do you understand?”

“那不关你的事！”Walter大声叫。Crumb跑到桌子下面。“袋子不关你的事。卡片不关你的事。你来这里做面包。只做面包。你懂吗？”