Leave Me Alone

Ana looked down at the dough. She couldn’t look at Walter. “No,” she said. “I saw it on a video. On my phone. A baker in France does it like that.”

安娜低头看着面团。她不敢看沃尔特。“不是，”她说。“我是在视频里看到的。用手机看的。法国的一个面包师傅就是这么做的。”

It was her second lie to Walter. This one was bigger than the first.

这是她对沃尔特说的第二个谎。这个谎比第一个还要大。

Walter looked at her for a long time. The radio played. Crumb moved in his sleep by the oven. Then Walter sat back in his chair.

沃尔特看了她很久。收音机在响着。克拉姆在烤箱旁睡着，动了动身子。然后沃尔特靠在椅子上坐好。

“A video,” he said. “Of course. Everything is on the phone now.” He closed his eyes. “Put them in the oven. Twenty-five minutes.”

“视频啊，”他说。“当然了。现在手机上什么都有。”他闭上了眼睛。“放进烤箱吧。二十五分钟。”

But he didn’t open his eyes again for a long time, and Ana knew that he didn’t believe her.

但他过了很久也没有再睁开眼睛，安娜知道他不相信她。

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Ana walked to the canal. It was raining again. She didn’t stop at the red boat or the blue boat. She went straight to the Second Chance and knocked hard on the door.

下午两点，安娜走到运河边。天又下起雨来。她没有在红船或者蓝船前停下。她直接走到“二次机会号”（Second Chance）前，用力敲了敲门。

“Mick! I know you’re there. Please. I need to talk to you.”

“米克！我知道你在里面。求你了。我想跟你谈谈。”

After a minute, the door opened. Mick was wearing his old blue jumper. His eyes were red, and he looked like he didn’t sleep. “I start work in fourteen hours,” he said. “What do you want?”

过了一分钟，门开了。米克穿着他那件旧蓝色毛衣。他眼睛发红，看起来没睡好。“我再过十四个小时就要上班了，”他说。“你想要什么？”

Ana didn’t go in. She stood on the path in the rain. “Walter burned his hand last week. He can’t hold a tray now. His hands shake all the time. The doctor wants him to go to the hospital for tests, and he won’t go.”

安娜没有进去。她站在雨中的小路上。“沃尔特上周烫伤了手。他现在端不住盘子了。他的手一直在发抖。医生想让他去医院做检查，但他不肯去。”

Mick’s face didn’t move. But his hand was holding the door very hard.

米克脸上没有表情。但是他的手紧紧地抓着门。

“And last night,” Ana said, “he talked about his son. He said: I have a son, somewhere. Every day I think, today I’m going to look for him. And every day I don’t.”

“还有昨晚，”安娜说，“他谈起了他的儿子。他说：在某个地方，我有一个儿子。每一天我都想，今天我要去找他。但每一天我都没有去。”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“你为什么要跟我说这些？”

“Because I turned a loaf the way you showed me. Two fast turns at the end. And Walter saw it. He said only one person in the world turns a loaf like that.”

“因为我按照你教的方法转了面包。最后转了两下，转得很快。沃尔特看到了。他说世界上只有一个人会那样转面包。”

For a second, Mick closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were hard and cold.

有那么一秒钟，米克闭上了眼睛。当他睁开眼时，眼神变得冷漠而严厉。