Yaw has worked at the cemetery for exactly nine days, and in that time he has learned three things. The lawns need cutting twice a week, and the paths need raking every morning. Nobody expects him to understand the head gardener's English the first time.
亚乌在这座公墓工作刚好九天，这段时间里他学到了三件事：草坪每周要修剪两次，小路每天早上都要耙一遍，还有，没人指望他第一次就听懂园丁长的英语。
Today the head gardener is away at a supplier, and Yaw has the place to himself. He eats his lunch in the tool shed, where it smells of cut grass and oil. A radio on the shelf plays quietly, and the only other sound is the rustle of a plastic bag in the corner.
今天园丁长去供应商那儿了，只有亚乌一个人守着这个地方。他在工具棚里吃午饭，棚里有割过的草和机油的气味。架子上的收音机轻轻地放着，除此之外只有角落里塑料袋的沙沙声。
He is halfway through his second helping of rice when someone knocks on the open door. A man stands there with a cardboard box in one hand and a small yellow toy truck in the other. He looks like someone who has been apologising for most of the day.
他吃到第二碗米饭的一半时，有人敲了敲敞开的门。门口站着一个男人，一只手拿着一个纸板箱，另一只手拿着一辆黄色的小玩具卡车。他看上去像是一整天都在向人道歉。
"Excuse me," the man says. "I am looking for the office. A woman at the gate said it was behind the chapel, but I think I walked in a circle."
“打扰一下，”男人说，“我在找办公室。大门那儿的一位女士说在礼拜堂后面，可我觉得我走了一圈又绕回来了。”
"The main office is closed today," Yaw says slowly, choosing each word. "Only me. I am the gardener. New gardener."
“主办公室今天关门，”亚乌慢慢地说，每个词都斟酌过，“只有我。我是园丁。新园丁。”
The man lets out a long breath and sits down on an upturned bucket, as if his legs have made the decision for him. His name is Madu, and he delivers flowers and stone samples for a company across the city. He has a van parked at the gate and a customer waiting in the chapel office. He also has a problem that has nothing to do with either of them.
男人长长地呼了一口气，在一只倒扣的水桶上坐下，仿佛是他的腿替他做了决定。他叫马杜，替城那头的一家公司送花和石材样品。他的货车停在大门口，礼拜堂办公室里还有一位客户在等他。他还有一个跟这两件事都无关的麻烦。
"It is my daughter's truck," Madu explains. He turns the toy over, and Yaw sees that one of the back wheels is missing. "She is four. She gave it to me this morning and said, 'Look after him, Papa.' Then, on the gravel path, the wheel just jumped off. I heard it roll away, and I could not find it anywhere."
“是我女儿的卡车，”马杜解释道。他把玩具翻过来，亚乌看见后面一个轮子不见了。“她四岁。今天早上她把它给了我，说：‘爸爸，照顾好他。’结果在碎石路上，那个轮子就这么蹦了出去。我听见它滚走了，可到处都找不到。”
Yaw leans closer. The truck is old, painted a cheerful yellow, with a small tipping bed at the back and a name scratched into the roof: BIG TOM. The axle is a thin steel rod, bent slightly at the end where the wheel used to sit.
亚乌凑近了看。那辆卡车很旧，漆成欢快的黄色，后面有个小小的翻斗，车顶上刻着一个名字：大汤姆。车轴是一根细钢棒，原本装轮子的那一头微微弯了。
"She will ask for him tonight," Madu continues. "If I come home with a broken truck, I will have to explain that her father is a man who loses things. She already thinks I forget everything."
“今晚她会要它的，”马杜接着说，“如果我拿一辆坏卡车回家，就得解释她爸爸是个会弄丢东西的人。她本来就觉得我什么都忘。”
"Do you forget everything?" Yaw asks, and then worries that the question sounds rude.
“你什么都忘吗？”亚乌问，问完又担心这个问题听起来很不礼貌。
Madu laughs, a short surprised laugh. "Only the important things."
马杜短促而意外地笑了一声。“只忘重要的事。”
For a moment neither of them speaks. Yaw looks at the truck, then at the shelves behind him. They are crowded with the odds and ends of a place that repairs everything itself. There are jars of screws, coils of wire, rubber washers, and a battered metal box labelled SPARES. Back home, he fixed bicycles for his cousins every holiday. He has not touched a toy in years, but his hands remember the work better than his English does.
两个人有一会儿都没说话。亚乌看着卡车，又看看身后的架子。架子上堆满了一个凡事自己动手修理的地方才会有的各种零碎：一罐罐螺丝，一卷卷电线，橡胶垫圈，还有一只破旧的、标着“备件”的金属盒。在老家，每逢假期他都给表兄弟们修自行车。他已经好多年没碰过玩具了，可他的双手对这活儿的记忆，比他的英语还要好。
"Wait," he says. "I think I can help."
“等等，”他说，“我想我能帮上忙。”
Madu looks up, doubtful but hopeful. "You can fix a truck?"
马杜抬起头，半信半疑，又满怀希望。“你能修卡车？”
"I can try. Maybe."
“我可以试试。也许。”
Yaw clears a corner of the workbench and switches on the lamp. First he straightens the bent end of the axle with a pair of pliers. He taps it gently against the vice so that the metal does not crack. Then he searches the jars for a wheel. He finds a wooden button, a bottle cap, and the lid of a spray can, but none of them is the right size.
亚乌清出工作台的一角，打开台灯。他先用钳子把车轴弯掉的那头掰直，又轻轻在台钳上敲了敲，免得金属裂开。然后他在罐子里翻找轮子。他找到一颗木头纽扣、一个瓶盖，还有一个喷雾罐的盖子，但没有一个大小合适。
"This is more difficult than I thought," Yaw admits.
“这比我想的难。”亚乌承认。
"Every repair is," says Madu, who has begun to watch with real interest. "My father was a carpenter. He always said that the first fix is only a rehearsal."
“修东西哪次不是这样，”马杜说，他已经开始真心地观看了，“我父亲是木匠。他总说，第一次修只是排练。”
Yaw almost smiles at that. He picks up the SPARES box and tips it onto the bench. Among the rusty nails there is a small rubber wheel from a seed trolley. It is about the same width as the other three, though a little greyer and a little newer. It is not a perfect match, but it spins smoothly when he flicks it with a finger.
亚乌差点笑了。他拿起那只备件盒，把里面的东西倒在工作台上。在生锈的钉子中间，有一个来自育苗推车的小橡胶轮子。它和另外三个轮子差不多宽，只是更灰一点，也更新一点。虽然不完全一样，但他用手指一拨，它转得很顺滑。
"This one," he says. "It is not yellow."
“就这个，”他说，“它不是黄的。”
"It does not need to be yellow," Madu says. "It needs to roll."
“它不用是黄的，”马杜说，“它得会滚。”
The hole in the middle of the wheel is too wide for the thin axle. Yaw cuts a short piece from an old garden hose. He slides it inside as a sleeve. He presses the wheel on, adds a washer, and bends the tip of the axle over with the pliers so that nothing can slip off. The whole job takes twelve minutes, and by the end he has forgotten that he is supposed to be on his lunch break.
轮子中间的孔对那根细车轴来说太大了。亚乌从一截旧花园水管上剪下一小段，把它当作套筒塞进去，再把轮子按上去，加一个垫圈，用钳子把车轴尖端弯过来，免得东西滑脱。整个活儿用了十二分钟，做完时，他已经忘了自己本该在午休。
He sets the truck on the bench and gives it a push. It rolls straight and true all the way to the edge, and Madu catches it before it falls.
他把卡车放在工作台上，推了一把。它笔直稳当地一路滚到边缘，马杜在它掉下去之前接住了它。
"Incredible," Madu whispers. He turns the truck over, checks the new wheel, and tests it once more across his palm. "It runs better than before. She will not believe this."
“太神了，”马杜小声说。他把卡车翻过来，检查新轮子，又在手掌上试了一次。“它比以前跑得更好了。她一定不会相信的。”
"One wheel is grey," Yaw warns him. "She will see."
“有一个轮子是灰色的，”亚乌提醒他，“她会看见的。”
"Of course she will see. She sees everything." Madu pauses, thinking. "I will tell her that Big Tom had an accident and a doctor fixed him. Children understand that kind of story. The scar will be a good detail."
“当然会看见。她什么都看得见。”马杜想了想。“我会告诉她，大汤姆出了意外，医生把他治好了。孩子们懂这种故事。那块疤痕会是个很好的细节。”
Yaw feels a strange warmth in his chest, and it takes him a moment to recognise it. For nine days he has been the person who asks for help. He nods at instructions he only half understands, and he writes new words on the back of his hand. Now a stranger is thanking him, and the words are simple enough that he understands every one.
亚乌胸口涌起一股奇怪的暖意，他过了好一会儿才认出那是什么。这九天来，他一直是那个需要求助的人。他对着只听懂一半的指示点头，把新学的词写在手背上。如今一个陌生人在向他道谢，而那些话简单得让他每个字都听懂了。
Madu stands up, tucks the truck carefully into his jacket pocket, and picks up his box. At the door he stops.
马杜站起来，小心翼翼地把卡车塞进外套口袋，拿起他的箱子。走到门口，他停住了。
"Please, tell me how I can pay you."
“请告诉我，我该怎么付你钱。”
"No payment," Yaw says. "It was a small job. Just show me the office."
“不用付钱，”亚乌说，“这是小活。只要告诉我办公室在哪儿。”
"I will do better than that. I will walk you there myself, so that the next person who asks you can say, 'Yaw knows the way.'"
“我要做得更好。我亲自带你去，这样下一个问路的人就能说：‘亚乌认得路。’”
They leave the shed together and cross the lawn, where the grass is damp from the sprinkler. The paths are marked by neat lines from Yaw's rake. Madu points out a group of tall trees. His daughter likes to count them when he drives past on the main road. Yaw tells him their names in the language of his home, and Madu repeats them badly, and both of them laugh.
他们一起走出棚子，穿过草坪，草被洒水器弄得湿漉漉的。小路上留着亚乌耙出的整齐线条。马杜指着一片高大的树，他女儿喜欢在他开车经过大路时数它们。亚乌用家乡话告诉他这些树的名字，马杜蹩脚地重复，两个人都笑了。
At the chapel, Madu delivers his box to the woman in the chapel office, who signs without looking up. Then he turns back to the doorway where Yaw is waiting with his hands in his pockets.
到了礼拜堂，马杜把箱子交给礼拜堂办公室里的那位女士，她头也不抬地签了字。然后他转身回到门口，亚乌正双手插在口袋里等着。
"One last question," Madu says. "If the wheel breaks again, where do I bring him?"
“最后一个问题，”马杜说，“如果轮子再坏了，我该把他送到哪儿？”
Yaw considers this seriously, with the full weight of his nine days of experience.
亚乌认真地考虑着这个问题，带着他九天经验的全部分量。
"Here," he says at last. "We are the best workshop in the city. Our customers never complain."
“这里，”他终于说，“我们是城里最好的修理铺。我们的顾客从不抱怨。”
