Drawing Boats

Ana looked at him for a long time. The river moved past them, black and quiet. She thought about Jess on the train to Leeds, singing four lines of a song she did not know the end of. She thought about Daniel saying it isn’t your story. Then she thought about a father who had never once talked to his daughter, standing two kilometres away from her for two months.

安娜看了他好久。河水从他们身边流过，又黑又静。她想起了去利兹的火车上的杰丝，嘴里唱着一首歌里的四句，却不知道结尾。她想起了丹尼尔说的那句“这不是你的故事”。然后，她想到了一个从来没跟女儿说过一次话的父亲，两个月来就站在离女儿两公里的地方。

“Once,” she said at last. “I’ll tell her about the boats. I won’t lie about anything else. If she asks me a direct question, I’ll answer it. Do you understand?”

“就这一次，”她最后说。“我会跟她说船的事。别的事情我不会撒谎。如果她直接问我问题，我会回答的。你明白吗？”

“I understand,” Michael said. He looked very tired, and very grateful, and a little afraid. “Thank you, Ana.” She did not answer. She went back into the kitchen and shut the door, and she did not feel that she had done a good thing. She only felt that she had done something.

“我明白，”迈克尔说。他看起来非常累，非常感激，又有一点害怕。“谢谢你，安娜。”她没有回答。她回到厨房，关上了门，并且不觉得自己做了一件好事。她只觉得，自己做了一件事。

On Saturday morning, Jess was at the kitchen table with her portfolio open in front of her. She was in a bad mood. She had not spoken to Walter properly since the night of the letter, and the university in London wanted ten new drawings by the end of the month. “I need something different,” she said. “Not buildings. Everyone draws buildings.”

周六早上，杰丝坐在厨房的桌子旁，面前摊开着她的作品集。她的心情很不好。自从收到信的那个晚上之后，她就没怎么好好跟沃尔特说过话，而伦敦的大学要求在月底前交出十幅新画。“我需要一些不一样的东西，”她说。“不要建筑物。每个人都在画建筑物。”

Ana dried her hands slowly on a cloth. “What about boats?” she said. “The narrowboats on the canal. They’re like small houses that move. And there’s the old bridge over the canal, the one with the round arch.” She tried to make her voice sound normal. “You could draw both.”

安娜慢慢用布擦干了手。“船怎么样？”她说。“运河上的狭长木船。它们就像会移动的小房子。而且运河上还有那座老桥，就是带圆拱的那座。”她努力让自己的声音听起来很平常。“你可以把这两个都画下来。”

Jess looked up. For the first time that day, she almost smiled. “Houses that move. That’s actually not bad.” She closed her portfolio. “Will you come with me? I hate drawing outside alone. People always want to look over your shoulder.”

杰丝抬起头来。那天她第一次几乎露出了笑容。“会移动的房子。这其实挺不错的。”她合上了作品集。“你能跟我一起去吗？我讨厌一个人在外面画画。大家总是想凑到你肩膀后面看。”

They walked along the river path in the cold sunshine. Jess carried her sketchbook and a bag of pencils. Ana carried a flask of tea and a heavy feeling in her stomach. At the canal, the boats were bright in the sun. The woman on the blue boat was painting again. The old man was fishing, as always, and caught nothing, as always.

她们在清冷的阳光下沿着河边的小路走着。杰丝拿着速写本和一袋铅笔。安娜拿着一保温瓶茶，心里沉甸甸的。到了运河边，船只在阳光下显得很鲜亮。蓝船上的女人又在画画了。老头照常在钓鱼，也照常什么都没钓到。

Jess sat down on a bench near the old bridge and started to draw. Ana watched her hand move quickly over the paper. In a few minutes there was a boat on the page, then the water, then the curve of the bridge behind it. Ana had seen Jess’s drawings before, but she had never watched her make one. It was like watching Walter shape bread.

杰丝在老桥附近的一张长椅上坐下，开始画画。安娜看着她的手在纸上飞快地移动。几分钟后，纸上就出现了一艘船，接着是水，然后是船背后桥的弧线。安娜以前看过杰丝的画，但从来没看她画过。这就像看着沃尔特揉面包一样。

Further along the canal, the Second Chance was moored in its usual place. Michael was sitting on the roof with a mug of tea, reading an old paperback. He did not look up. But Ana could see that he was not turning the pages.

再沿着运河往前走，“第二次机会”号像往常一样停靠在老地方。迈克尔坐在船顶上，端着一大杯茶，正在读一本旧平装书。他没有抬头。但是安娜看得出来，他根本没有翻页。