Koji stands in the changing hut at the swimming lake. He holds a heavy reel of orange cord. The hut smells of wet towels and old wood. Along one wall there is a bench, and behind the bench there is a single socket.
浩二站在游泳湖的更衣小屋里，手里拿着一大卷沉甸甸的橙色电线。小屋里有湿毛巾和旧木头的味道。靠墙放着一条长凳，长凳后面有一个插座。
It is the only socket within a hundred metres. Koji has checked three times.
这是方圆一百米内唯一的插座。浩二已经查了三遍。
"Right," he says to the empty room. "You can do this."
“好了，”他对着空荡荡的屋子说，“你能行的。”
Tonight is the first open-air film night of the summer. Forty people have promised to come with blankets and folding chairs. Koji has borrowed a projector and a big white screen. He has even brought a bag of snacks for the children. The only thing missing is electricity, and the socket in the changing hut is the answer.
今晚是夏天的第一场露天电影之夜。四十个人答应过要带着毯子和折叠椅来。浩二借来了一台投影仪和一块白色大幕布，甚至还给孩子们带了一袋零食。唯一缺的就是电，而更衣小屋里的这个插座就是答案。
The problem is distance. The best place for the screen is a flat piece of grass beside the water. Everyone can see from there. That is nearly fifty metres from the hut. Koji's cord is forty.
问题在于距离。放幕布最好的地方，是水边一块平坦的草地，从那里大家都能看得清楚。那里离小屋差不多有五十米，而浩二的电线只有四十米。
He plugs one end into the socket and walks outside, unrolling the cord as he goes. The path is narrow, with a fence on one side and a row of bushes on the other. Twice the cord catches on a branch, and twice he goes back to free it. By the time he reaches the grass, his arms ache and his shirt sticks to his back.
他把电线的一头插进插座，走到外面，一路放着线。小路很窄，一边是围栏，另一边是一排灌木。电线有两次被树枝挂住，他两次都回去把它解开。等他走到草地上时，胳膊发酸，衬衫黏在了背上。
He holds up the end. It stops a long way short of the screen.
他举起线头，离幕布还差好长一段。
"Of course," he says.
“果然，”他说。
He is still looking at the cord when a voice shouts from the jetty. "Hey! What are you doing?"
他还在看着电线，栈桥那边忽然有人喊起来：“喂！你在干什么？”
A woman in a yellow lifeguard jacket is running towards him. She is about thirty, and she has a whistle around her neck and a very worried face. This is Elan, who looks after the lake. Koji met her once, last week, when he asked about hiring the grass. She said it was fine.
一个穿黄色救生员外套的女人正朝他跑来。她三十岁上下，脖子上挂着哨子，脸上一副十分担忧的神情。她是伊兰，负责照看这片湖。浩二上周见过她一次，当时他来问能不能租用这块草地，她说可以。
"Hello, Elan," he says cheerfully. "I am setting up for tonight."
“你好，伊兰，”他高兴地说，“我在为今晚做准备。”
"I can see that." She points at the cord with a shaking finger. "That is a mains cable. It is running from the hut to the water's edge. Please tell me you are joking."
“我看得出来。”她用颤抖的手指指着电线。“那是市电线，从小屋一直拉到了水边。你该不是在开玩笑吧。”
"The water's edge?" says Koji. "Well, near it. The screen is going to be just over there."
“水边？”浩二说，“嗯，是靠近水边。幕布就放在那边。”
"A screen?" Elan looks even more alarmed. "In the water?"
“幕布？”伊兰看上去更惊慌了。“放在水里？”
"Not in the water," he says. "Beside it."
“不是在水里，”他说，“是在水旁边。”
"You told me you wanted to put something electric into the lake," says Elan. "You said it in your message."
“你说过你想把带电的东西放进湖里，”伊兰说，“你在消息里写的。”
Koji frowns. He takes out his phone and scrolls to the message he sent on Monday. He reads it aloud. "I need power right at the water for the film."
浩二皱起眉头，拿出手机，翻到他周一发的那条消息，大声念了出来：“我需要在水边通电，用来放电影。”
Elan stares at him. Then she takes the phone and reads it herself. Her shoulders slowly drop.
伊兰盯着他看，然后拿过手机自己读了一遍。她的肩膀慢慢放松了下来。
"Right at the water," she says. "I thought you meant right in the water. I thought you wanted to light the lake from underneath. Last year a man tried to hang coloured lamps from the jetty. I had to throw him out."
“在水边，”她说，“我还以为你是说在水里。我以为你想从水底下给整个湖打灯。去年有个男人想把彩色的灯挂在栈桥上，我只好把他请走了。”
"Coloured lamps?" says Koji. He starts to laugh. "I only want a projector."
“彩色的灯？”浩二说。他笑了起来。“我只想放电影。”
"I am so sorry." She puts her hand over her mouth. "I have been awake since five, and my brain has gone to sleep. I was ready to take your cord and throw it in the bin."
“实在对不起。”她用手捂住了嘴。“我从五点起就没睡，脑子已经转不动了。我本来都准备把你的电线抢过来扔进垃圾桶了。”
"I would have helped you," says Koji. "It is very heavy."
“我会帮你的，”浩二说，“它很重。”
For a moment they both stand in the evening light, laughing like people who have survived something dangerous. A duck watches them from the shore with great interest.
两人站在傍晚的光线里，像两个刚逃过一场危险的人一样笑着。一只鸭子在岸边饶有兴趣地看着他们。
Then Elan gets serious again. "Safety first," she says. "If we put a cable across a path, someone will fall over it. If a child pulls the plug, the film stops. And if we have any water on the ground, I do not want a plug anywhere near it."
接着伊兰又严肃起来。“安全第一，”她说，“要是把电线横在小路上，会有人被绊倒。要是有小孩拉掉插头，电影就停了。而且地上要是有水，我可不想让插头靠近那里。”
"Then tell me what to do," says Koji. "I am not an electrician."
“那你告诉我该怎么办，”浩二说，“我不是电工。”
"Neither am I," says Elan. "But I must explain everything to the insurance company." She wipes her forehead. "Come with me."
“我也不是，”伊兰说，“但我得向保险公司解释清楚一切。”她擦了擦额头。“跟我来。”
She leads him to the boat shed behind the hut. Inside, between a pile of orange life jackets and a broken oar, hangs a second reel of cord. It is old, but the plug and the wire both look sound. Elan tests the plug with a small meter that she keeps on a hook.
她带他来到小屋后面的船棚。里面，在一堆橙色救生衣和一支断桨之间，挂着另一卷电线。它很旧，但插头和电线看起来都完好。伊兰用挂在钩子上的一个小仪表检查了插头。
"This one is dry and clean," she says. "It is twenty metres. If we join the two, we have more than enough."
“这根又干又干净，”她说，“长二十米。把两根接起来，就绰绰有余了。”
"But the join," says Koji. "It will be on the grass. What if somebody spills a drink?"
“可是接头的地方，”浩二说，“会在草地上。要是有人把饮料洒上去怎么办？”
"Good question." Elan looks around the shed, then lifts a plastic box from a shelf. "We put the join inside this. It is a waterproof box we use for lifeguard radios. And we raise it on two bricks."
“问得好。”伊兰环顾船棚，从架子上拿下一个塑料盒。“我们把接头放进这个里面。这是装救生员对讲机用的防水盒。再把它垫高，放在两块砖上。”
Koji clicks his fingers. "And I can fix the cord to the fence with tape, so nobody trips."
浩二打了个响指。“我还可以用胶带把电线固定在围栏上，这样就没人会被绊倒了。”
"And we lay the part by the path under the rubber mats from the changing hut," says Elan. "I will bring them."
“小路上的那一段，我们铺在更衣小屋的橡胶垫下面，”伊兰说，“我去拿。”
It takes them half an hour. Koji runs the first cord along the fence line, pressing it flat with his palm. Elan carries the mats, and she kneels at every corner to check the cable lies safely underneath. They fit the join into the waterproof box, close the lid and set it on the two bricks. Then they walk back along the whole line and test it with Elan's meter.
他们花了半个小时。浩二沿着围栏铺好第一根线，用手掌把它压平。伊兰搬来垫子，在每个拐角都跪下来，检查电线是否安全地压在下面。他们把接头装进防水盒，盖上盖子，放到两块砖上。然后他们沿着整条线走了一遍，用伊兰的仪表做了检测。
"Everything is dry," she says. "Nothing is touching the water."
“全是干的，”她说，“没有任何东西碰到水。”
"Not even a little?" asks Koji.
“一点也没有吗？”浩二问。
"Not even a duck."
“连一只鸭子都没有。”
By seven o'clock, the first families arrive with blankets and baskets. Children run along the shore and shout at each other. Koji plugs the projector into the long cord, and the white screen glows with a small blue square. A cheer goes up from the grass.
七点钟，第一批带着毯子和篮子的家庭到了。孩子们在岸边奔跑，互相喊叫。浩二把投影仪插到长电线上，白色的幕布上亮起一个蓝色的小方块。草地上响起一阵欢呼。
Elan stands at the back with her arms folded, still watching the cable. When nobody trips over it for ten minutes, she finally relaxes and sits down on the bank.
伊兰抱着手臂站在后面，仍然盯着那根电线。十分钟过去，没有人被它绊倒，她终于放松下来，在岸边坐下。
Koji comes over and sits beside her. "Thank you," he says. "Without you, I would still be standing there with a very short cord."
浩二走过去，坐在她旁边。“谢谢你，”他说，“没有你，我现在还站在那儿，对着一根太短的电线发愁呢。”
"And without you, I would have thrown away something good," says Elan. "Next time, please say 'beside the water' in your message."
“没有你，我就要扔掉一件好东西了，”伊兰说，“下次发消息，请写‘在水旁边’。”
"Next time, please read to the end before you panic," says Koji.
“下次请你读完再慌张，”浩二说。
"Fair," she says. She nods towards the screen, where the opening music has started. "What is the film tonight?"
“有道理，”她说。她朝幕布点了点头，片头音乐已经响了起来。“今晚放什么电影？”
Koji smiles. "It is a story about a giant shark."
浩二笑了。“讲一条巨型鲨鱼的故事。”
Elan looks at the dark lake. She looks at forty people on blankets and at the cable lying safely on the land. "Good," she says. "Then I am very glad that everybody is staying out of the water."
伊兰望着漆黑的湖面，又看看毯子上的四十个人，还有安全地躺在陆地上的那根电线。“很好，”她说，“那我真高兴大家都待在水外面。”
