Above the Launderette

Daniel did not ask what had happened. He looked at her bag, then at the lit window of the bakery behind her, where Walter was still sitting at the kitchen table with his head bowed. Then he jerked his thumb towards the seats. “Get on,” he said quietly. “It’s warm in here, and the coffee’s terrible. You’ll feel right at home.”

丹尼尔没有问发生了什么事。他看了看她的包，又看了看她身后亮着灯的面包店窗户，沃尔特还低着头坐在厨房桌旁。然后，他用大拇指指了指座位。“上车吧，”他轻声说，“车里很暖和，咖啡也很难喝。你会觉得像在自己家一样。”

She got on. He closed the doors, and the bus pulled away from Bridge Street, past the dark windows of Shah’s and the empty houses at numbers three and five. Ana did not look back. She sat in the front seat with her bag on her knees and watched the town go past, grey and half asleep, while the sky slowly turned from black to dark blue.

她上了车。他关上车门，公交车驶离了Bridge Street，经过了Shah’s漆黑的窗户，以及三号和五号的空房子。安娜没有回头看。她坐在前排座位上，把包放在膝盖上，看着灰蒙蒙且半睡半醒的小镇退去，天空慢慢由黑变暗蓝。

It was the last round of his shift. There were three passengers: two cleaners going to the hospital and a man in a suit who had obviously not been home at all. Nobody paid any attention to the young woman in the front seat who was telling the driver, in a low voice, the worst night of her life.

这是他当班的最后一班车。车上有三名乘客：两名去医院的清洁工，还有一个穿西装的男人，显然根本没回过家。没有人注意前排座位上的年轻女人，她正低声向司机讲述着她人生中最糟糕的一夜。

She told him everything: the song, the window, the photo, Jess running past her in the dark, the keys on the table. Daniel drove and listened. He did not say I told you so, although he had every right to. When she had finished, he was quiet for two whole stops.

她把一切都告诉了他：那首歌、窗户、照片、杰丝在黑暗中跑过她身旁，还有桌上的钥匙。丹尼尔一边开车一边听着。他并没有说‘我早就告诉过你了’，尽管他完全有理由这么说。当她说完整件事时，他整整安静了两个车站。

“Right,” he said finally. “Here’s what’s going to happen. When my shift finishes, you’re coming back to my place. I’ve got a sofa bed. It’s not a good sofa bed, it’s actually quite a bad one, but it’s yours for as long as you need it. Grace only stays at the weekend.”

“好，”他最后说道，“接下来这样办。等我下班后，你跟我回家。我有一张沙发床。它不是什么好的沙发床，其实挺差的，但你想睡多久就睡多久。格蕾丝只在周末过来住。”

“Daniel, I can’t…”

“丹尼尔，我不能……”

“You can, and you will. The alternative is the bench at the station, and I’ve seen that bench. It’s worse than my sofa.” He glanced at her in the mirror. “Besides, I need somebody to lose at chess to me. Grace has started winning. It’s bad for my confidence.”

“你可以，而且必须这样。另一个选择是车站的长椅，我见过那张长椅。它比我的沙发更糟糕。”他在后视镜里看了她一眼，“再说，我需要有个人下棋输给我。格蕾丝已经开始赢我了。这很伤我的自信心。”

Daniel’s flat was above the launderette on Mill Road, two streets from the bus depot. It was small and warm and smelled of washing powder from the machines downstairs. There were children’s drawings all over the fridge: a purple bus, a cat with six legs, a man with a beard who was clearly Daniel. A chessboard stood on the windowsill, in the middle of a game.

丹尼尔的公寓在Mill Road的洗衣店楼上，离公交车场有两条街。房间小而温暖，散发着楼下洗衣机的洗衣粉味。冰箱上贴满了孩子的画：一辆紫色的公交车、一只六条腿的猫，还有一个留着胡子的男人，显然那是丹尼尔。窗台上摆着一副国际象棋，棋局下到了一半。

He pulled out the sofa bed, which made a noise like a dying animal, and gave her two blankets and a pillow with a cartoon rabbit on it. Then he went to sleep in his own room, because he had to drive again that night. Ana lay down in her clothes. She thought she would never sleep. She slept for nine hours.

他拉开沙发床，那床发出像垂死动物一般的声响，他给了她两条毯子和一个印着卡通兔子的枕头。然后他回自己的房间睡觉了，因为那天晚上他还要开车。安娜没脱衣服就躺下了。她以为自己绝睡不着。结果她睡了九个小时。