The Shoebox

On Monday Diane Price stood at the door of Hamid’s shop with a pile of letters. Every child got one at the end of the rehearsal. “For your parents,” she said. She gave me one too.

星期一,Diane Price拿着一叠信,站在Hamid的店门口。排练结束的时候,每个孩子都拿到一封。“给你们的父母,”她说。她也给了我一封。

Dear parents, I am sorry to tell you this. The person who took the things from the church crib is the carpenter, Mr Marco Russo. He has not said no. The police will visit his workshop tomorrow morning. Diane Price, Parish Council

亲爱的家长:很抱歉告诉你们这件事。从教堂马槽里拿走东西的人,是木匠Marco Russo先生。他没有说不是。警察明天早上要去他的工作间。Diane Price,教区委员会

I read it twice. Then I looked up. Inês stood by the rice with the letter open in her hands. I saw the moment when she understood. Her face didn’t move. Only her hands did.

我读了两遍。然后我抬起头。Inês站在米的旁边,手里拿着打开的信。我看见了她明白的那一刻。她的脸没有动。只有她的手在动。

She didn’t come to me. She went to Amara.

她没有来找我。她去找Amara。

They stood at the back of the shop, behind the shelf of tins. Inês talked fast. Amara shook her head. Inês took her arm. Amara shook her head again, harder, and pulled her arm away.

她们站在店的后面,在罐头货架的后边。Inês说得很快。Amara摇头。Inês拉住她的手臂。Amara又摇头,摇得更用力,把手臂拉开了。

Then Inês came to me. Her face was wet.

然后Inês来找我。她的脸是湿的。

“Miss Novak. It wasn’t Papa.”

“Novak小姐。不是爸爸。”

“Inês...”

“Inês……”

“It wasn’t him. Never. I broke the angel.” The words came out all at once. “After the rehearsal, when Sophie said the line again and again. I pulled the angel off the crib and the wing broke. I hid it in my bag. He found it, I think. He mended it. For me.”

“不是他。从来不是。是我弄坏了天使。”这些话一下子都出来了。“排练以后,Sophie一遍又一遍地说那句话。我把天使从马槽上拉下来,翅膀断了。我把它藏在我的包里。我想他找到了。他把它修好了。为了我。”

“And the other things?”

“那别的东西呢?”

She looked back at Amara. Amara cried now, without a sound.

她回头看Amara。Amara现在在哭,没有一点声音。

“I promised,” said Inês. “I promised her. But it’s Papa, and the police are going tomorrow, and he isn’t saying anything because of me.” She took a breath. “It was Amara. For her dad. He can’t come to the play, so she’s making the play for him. In a box. At the hospital. She climbs in by the little window at the back. It doesn’t close. I kept watch for her once, on the Saturday. Only once.”

“我答应了,”Inês说。“我答应了她。可是这是爸爸的事,警察明天就去,他什么也不说,都是因为我。”她吸了一口气。“是Amara。为了她的爸爸。他不能来看戏,所以她为他做一场戏。在一个盒子里。在医院里。她从后面的小窗户爬进去。那个窗户关不上。有一次,在星期六,我给她看着人。只有一次。”

The little high window. Mr Doyle’s small footprints. Edith: watch the children, not the keys.

那个高高的小窗户。Doyle先生的小脚印。Edith说过:要看孩子,不要看钥匙。

I took out my list. I looked at it for one second. Then I tore it in half, and in half again, and put it in Hamid’s bin.

我拿出我的单子。我看了它一秒钟。然后我把它撕成两半,又撕成两半,放进Hamid的垃圾桶。