The Barrel That Rolled Downhill

The cabin stood alone at the edge of a pine forest. A gravel track that nobody had mended in years led up to it. Sade and Eira arrived on a Friday afternoon. They brought two bags of food and a plan to do nothing at all.

小木屋孤零零地立在松林边上。一条多年没人修过的碎石小路通向它。莎德和艾拉在一个星期五的下午到了。她们带来了两袋食物，还有一个什么都不做的计划。

It was the first holiday they had taken together in almost a year. Eira had picked the cabin from a website because of one photograph. It showed a wooden porch, a stone chimney and a hammock hanging between two trees.

这是她们将近一年来第一次一起度假。艾拉是因为一张照片，才在网站上挑中了这座木屋。照片上有一个木头门廊、一个石头烟囱，还有一张挂在两棵树之间的吊床。

"It is smaller than the picture," Sade said, standing in the doorway with her bag.

“比照片上小多了。”莎德背着包站在门口说。

"Everything is smaller than the picture," Eira said. "That is why they call it a picture."

“什么都比照片上小，”艾拉说，“所以才叫照片嘛。”

Inside, the cabin smelled of wood smoke and old books. A narrow bed stood under the roof window, and a woodstove sat in one corner. On the table lay a note from the owner, held down by a small brass bell.

屋里有一股柴火烟和旧书的味道。窄窄的床摆在天窗下面，一角放着一个木柴炉。桌上有一张屋主留的字条，压在一只小小的黄铜铃铛下面。

Welcome! Please take the apples from the barrel on the porch. They are from our own trees, and they are better eaten than wasted. Mind the slope.

欢迎！请随意取用门廊上木桶里的苹果。它们是我们自家树上结的，与其浪费，不如吃掉。小心坡度。

They found the barrel by the porch steps. It was a fat oak barrel, as tall as Eira's waist, filled to the top with green apples. The smell was sweet and sharp, like a cold morning in a garden.

她们在门廊台阶旁找到了那只木桶。那是一只胖胖的橡木桶，有艾拉的腰那么高，里面装满了青苹果，一直堆到桶口。苹果的气味又甜又清冽，像花园里一个寒冷的早晨。

For two days they were happy, and nothing went wrong. They walked in the forest and swam in a cold, clear pool. They read in the hammock until their arms went numb. In the evenings they cooked on the woodstove. They ate on the porch with a blanket over their knees.

接下来两天，她们过得很开心，什么事也没出。她们在林子里散步，在清澈冰凉的水潭里游泳。她们躺在吊床上看书，直到胳膊发麻。晚上她们在木柴炉上做饭，在门廊上吃，膝盖上盖着毯子。

Still, something sat between them, quiet and heavy, like a stone at the bottom of a bag.

可是，她们之间还是横着一样东西，安静而沉重，像袋子底下的一块石头。

Sade knew exactly what it was. Three weeks earlier, a company in another country had offered her a job. It was a good one, with a big salary and a project she had wanted for years. She had read the email four times and told nobody. Then, one evening, she had left her laptop open on the kitchen table.

莎德很清楚那是什么。三个星期前，另一个国家的一家公司向她发来了工作邀请。那是份好工作，薪水很高，还有一个她盼了好多年的项目。她把那封邮件读了四遍，却没有告诉任何人。后来有一天晚上，她把笔记本电脑敞开着，忘在了厨房的桌子上。

Eira knew exactly what it was too. She had seen the email, and she had said nothing. She had closed the laptop gently, as if it might wake up and bite her.

艾拉也很清楚那是什么。她看到了那封邮件，却什么也没说。她轻轻合上了电脑，好像它会醒过来咬她一口似的。

Now each of them was waiting for the other to speak first, and neither could do it. They talked about the forest, the stove and the price of coffee. They talked about the light in the pine needles. They talked about everything except the one thing that mattered.

现在，两个人都在等对方先开口，可谁也开不了口。她们聊森林，聊木柴炉，聊咖啡的价钱。她们聊阳光照在松针上的样子。她们什么都聊，唯独不聊那件最要紧的事。

On Sunday morning, Eira woke early and went out to the porch with her coffee. The sun had just come over the hill. The barrel stood where they had left it, with a single apple lying on the step beside it.

星期天早上，艾拉起得很早，端着咖啡走到门廊上。太阳刚刚爬过山头。木桶还在她们放着的地方，旁边的台阶上躺着一个苹果。

She decided to move the barrel, because it was blocking the top stair. She pushed it with her knee, then with her shoulder, and it moved a little. Then it moved a little more.

她想把木桶挪开，因为它挡住了最上面一级台阶。她先用膝盖顶它，又用肩膀推它，它动了一点。接着又动了一点。

"Sade!" she shouted. "Come quickly!"

“莎德！”她喊道，“快来！”

The barrel tipped over the edge of the porch. For one long second it balanced, almost thoughtful. Then it fell down the steps, hit the grass, and began to roll.

木桶翻过了门廊的边缘。有那么漫长的一秒钟，它悬在那里，几乎像在沉思。然后它顺着台阶滚下去，砸在草地上，开始滚动起来。

Sade ran out in her socks, with her hair standing up in every direction. The barrel gathered speed down the slope. It bounced over a tree root and lost its lid. The apples poured out behind it in a bright, bouncing river.

莎德只穿着袜子就冲了出来，头发东倒西歪地竖着。木桶顺着山坡越滚越快。它从一条树根上弹过去，桶盖也掉了。苹果在它身后倾泻而出，像一条明亮的、蹦蹦跳跳的河。

"Do something!" Eira cried.

“你想想办法啊！”艾拉叫道。

"What am I supposed to do?" Sade shouted back. "Argue with it?"

“我能有什么办法？”莎德也喊回去，“跟它讲道理吗？”

They ran after it together, slipping on the dewy grass, snatching apples as they went. Sade caught three in her arms and dropped two. Eira fell on her knees and rolled up again, laughing so hard that she could hardly breathe. The barrel rolled all the way to the bottom of the hill and crashed gently into a stream.

她们一起追了上去，在带着露水的草地上直打滑，一路抓着苹果。莎德用胳膊抱住三个，又掉了两个。艾拉摔跪在地上，又爬起来，笑得几乎喘不过气。木桶一路滚到山脚，轻轻地撞进了一条小溪。

It lay there on its side, with the water running through it, almost proud of itself.

它侧躺在那里，溪水从里面流过，样子几乎有点得意。

For a while they only stood and laughed, bent over, holding their sides. Apples bobbed in the stream like small green boats. Others had come to rest in the ferns and in the tall grass.

好一阵子，她们只是站在那里笑，弯着腰，捂着肚子。苹果在溪水里漂浮着，像一只只小小的绿色小船。还有一些停在了蕨草丛和高高的草里。

Then, slowly, they began to pick them up.

然后，她们慢慢地开始把苹果一个个捡起来。

They worked in silence at first. The sun climbed higher, and the clean smell of apples rose all around them. Sade stood knee-deep in the stream, filling the barrel again. Eira crouched at the bank and passed her the fruit, one apple at a time.

起初她们默默地干活。太阳越爬越高，苹果干净的气味在四周升起。莎德站在没过膝盖的溪水里，把木桶重新装满。艾拉蹲在岸边，一个一个地把苹果递给她。

After a long while, Eira said, "I read the email."

过了很久，艾拉说：“我看了那封邮件。”

Sade stopped with an apple in her hand.

莎德手里拿着苹果，停住了。

"I know," she said. "I left the laptop open. I think I wanted you to."

“我知道，”她说，“是我把电脑开着的。我想，我大概就是想让你看到。”

"Then why did you not say something?"

“那你为什么不说呢？”

"Why did you not?" Sade asked.

“你又为什么不说呢？”莎德反问。

Eira looked at the water for a moment. A leaf floated past her boot. She felt her heart beating in her ears. It beat like that on the day she met Sade.

艾拉盯着水面看了一会儿。一片叶子从她的靴子旁漂过。她感到心跳声在耳朵里咚咚作响。她遇见莎德的那天，心也是这样跳的。

"Because I was afraid of the answer," she said. "I did not want to be the person who asked you to stay. And I did not want to hear you say you were going."

“因为我怕听到答案，”她说，“我不想做那个要你留下来的人。我也不想听你说你要走了。”

"I have not said yes," Sade said gently. "I have not said anything. I have carried that offer for three weeks. Every day I thought, she will ask me tonight."

“我还没有答应，”莎德温和地说，“我什么也没说。这份邀请我扛了三个星期。每一天我都在想，她今晚会问我的。”

"I am asking now." Eira stood up, and her knees were green with grass. "Are you going to take the job?"

“我现在就问。”艾拉站了起来，膝盖上沾满了草的绿渍，“你会接受这份工作吗？”

Sade put the apple in the barrel. She took her time. She wiped her wet hands on her shirt, and her face was serious, but her eyes were bright.

莎德把苹果放进木桶。她不慌不忙。她在衬衫上擦了擦湿漉漉的手，脸色很严肃，眼睛却亮亮的。

"I would only go if you came with me," she said. "That is the part I could not write in any email. I have spent three weeks working up the courage to ask you."

“只有你跟我一起去，我才会去，”她说，“这是我没法写进任何一封邮件里的部分。我花了三个星期，才鼓起勇气来问你。”

"Then ask," Eira said.

“那就问吧。”艾拉说。

"Will you come?"

“你愿意一起去吗？”

Eira did not answer at once. She looked up the hill, at the small cabin with its chimney and its crooked porch. She looked back at the stream and the barrel lying in the water. The apples glowed in the grass.

艾拉没有马上回答。她抬头望向山坡，望着那间有烟囱和歪歪斜斜门廊的小木屋。她又回头看看小溪和躺在水里的木桶。苹果在草丛里闪着光。

"I will need a lot of time to think about it," she said. Then her mouth twitched, and the smile broke through. "About two minutes. Maybe less."

“这件事我需要好好想很久，”她说。接着她的嘴角抽动了一下，笑意绽开了，“大概两分钟吧。也许更短。”

Sade laughed and threw an apple at her. Eira caught it with one hand.

莎德笑着朝她扔了一个苹果。艾拉单手接住了。

They carried the barrel back up the slope together, one on each side, stopping twice to rest. When they reached the porch, Sade put her end down and wiped her forehead.

她们一人抬一边，把木桶抬回坡上，中途歇了两次。到了门廊，莎德放下她那一头，擦了擦额头。

"Do you think they grow apples where we are going?" Sade asked.

“你说，我们要去的地方也种苹果吗？”莎德问。

"Does it matter?" Eira said. "We know where to find a barrel."

“有关系吗？”艾拉说，“我们知道去哪儿找木桶。”