The bicycle bell sits on the break room table, next to a pile of old timetables. Hedy notices it at six in the morning, when she sits down with her study book.
自行车铃放在休息室的桌子上，旁边是一摞旧时刻表。海蒂早上六点坐下来看复习书时注意到了它。
She is nineteen, and she is a trainee at the bus depot. Tomorrow she takes her theory test, and she has not slept well for three nights. The break room is the only quiet place she knows. It has a coffee machine and a sofa with a broken spring. Its window looks onto the washing bay.
她十九岁，是公交车场的实习生。明天她要参加理论考试，已经三个晚上没睡好了。休息室是她所知道的唯一安静的地方。里面有一台咖啡机和一张弹簧坏了的沙发。窗户正对着洗车区。
The bell is small and silver. A thin scratch runs around it like a spiral. Hedy picks it up and presses the lever with her thumb.
这只铃又小又银亮。一道细细的划痕像螺旋一样绕着它。海蒂拿起它，用拇指按了按拨杆。
Ring.
叮铃。
Every head in the room turns. A driver with a newspaper frowns at her.
房间里每个人都转过头来。一个拿着报纸的司机朝她皱起眉头。
"Sorry," Hedy says. "I found it here. Does anyone know whose it is?"
“对不起，”海蒂说，“这是我在这儿发现的。有人知道是谁的吗？”
"Not mine," the driver says. "I don't even own a bicycle."
“不是我的，”司机说，“我连自行车都没有。”
She waits, but nobody else speaks. A rule on the notice board says that found things go to the cleaner on the morning shift. Hedy decides to follow it. She puts the bell in her pocket and goes to look for her.
她等着，但没有人再开口。布告栏上有一条规定，说捡到的东西要交给早班的清洁工。海蒂决定照办。她把铃放进口袋，去找她。
The cleaner is in the corridor, pushing a cart full of bottles and cloths. She stops and takes the bell between two fingers.
清洁工在走廊里，推着一辆装满瓶子和抹布的小车。她停下来，用两根手指拈起铃。
"Pretty," she says. "But it belongs to a driver, I think. Those people always lose small things. Ask the early shift."
“真漂亮，”她说，“不过我想是哪个司机的。这些人总是丢小东西。去问问早班的人。”
"The early shift left an hour ago," says Hedy.
“早班的人一个小时前就走了。”海蒂说。
"Then ask the night shift. They are just coming in." The cleaner puts the bell back into Hedy's hand and returns to her cart. "I cannot keep it. My cart already has too many bits and pieces."
“那就去问夜班的人。他们刚好进来。”清洁工把铃放回海蒂的手里，回到她的小车边，“我不能留着它。我的车上零零碎碎的东西已经太多了。”
Hedy looks at the bell. It is not her problem. She has a test tomorrow, and she has read only half of the chapter on road signs. Still, she cannot put the bell back on the table. It feels wrong, like leaving a lost glove on a wall.
海蒂看着铃。这不是她的问题。她明天有考试，而关于道路标志的那一章她才读了一半。可是她没法把铃放回桌上。那感觉不对，就像把丢失的手套搁在墙头上不管一样。
At seven o'clock the night drivers come through the door, tired and slow. Hedy steps in front of the first one, a tall man with a large bag.
七点，夜班司机们走进门来，疲惫又迟缓。海蒂挡在第一个人面前，那是个背着大包的高个子男人。
"Excuse me. Is this yours?"
“打扰一下。这是您的吗？”
He holds it up to the light. "I wish it were. I like a good bell." He thinks for a moment. "Try the dispatch office. Someone there knows everything."
他把它举到光下。“我倒希望是。我喜欢好铃铛。”他想了一会儿，“去调度室问问。那儿有人什么都知道。”
The dispatch office is small and warm, and it smells of paper. The dispatcher has a headset on one ear and a pen behind the other. He listens to Hedy with one eye on his screen.
调度室小小的，很暖和，有一股纸张的气味。调度员一只耳朵上戴着耳机，另一只耳朵后面夹着笔。他一边听海蒂说话，一边用一只眼睛盯着屏幕。
"Bicycle bell," he says. "I have never seen it before. Why do you ask me? I do not own a bicycle either."
“自行车铃，”他说，“我从来没见过。你为什么来问我？我也没有自行车。”
"Everyone says to ask someone else," Hedy says.
“大家都叫我去问别人。”海蒂说。
"That is how a depot works." He smiles, then looks at the clock. "Go and talk to Elif. If anybody knows, she does. She has been here since before the roof was fixed."
“车场就是这样运转的。”他笑了笑，然后看了看钟，“去找艾莉芙谈谈。要是有谁知道，那就是她。她在这儿的时间比屋顶修好的时间还长。”
Hedy hesitates. Elif is the driver who is training her. She is a quiet woman of fifty with short grey hair. She says very little, and when she speaks, it is usually to correct something. Hedy would prefer not to show her a problem that is not about buses.
海蒂犹豫了。艾莉芙是带她的司机。她是个安静的五十岁女人，留着灰色短发。她话很少，开口通常是为了纠正什么。海蒂不太想把一个和公交车无关的麻烦拿给她看。
But Elif is in the break room now, pouring coffee into a thick white mug. Hedy walks over and holds out the bell.
可是艾莉芙现在就在休息室里，往一只厚厚的白马克杯里倒咖啡。海蒂走过去，把铃递给她。
"I am sorry to bother you. I found this, and I cannot find the owner."
“很抱歉打扰您。我捡到了这个，找不到失主。”
Elif looks at the bell for a long moment. She does not take it. Instead she says, "Where did you find it?"
艾莉芙看了铃很久。她没有接。她反而问：“你在哪儿发现的？”
"On the table. By the timetables."
“在桌上。时刻表旁边。”
"What time?"
“什么时候？”
"About six. It was there when I came in."
“大约六点。我进来的时候它就在那儿。”
"Who sat there before you?"
“在你之前谁坐在那儿？”
Hedy opens her mouth, and then she closes it again. She has not asked anyone this question. She has asked only "Is it yours?" and every answer has been no.
海蒂张开嘴，然后又闭上了。她没有问过任何人这个问题。她只问过“这是你的吗？”，而每一个回答都是否定的。
"I do not know," she admits.
“我不知道。”她承认。
"Then you have been asking the wrong people," Elif says gently. "Driving is mostly noticing. You look at the mirror, the road, the face of the person at the stop. A bell is the same. Look at it again."
“那你问错人了，”艾莉芙温和地说，“开车主要靠留意。你看后视镜，看路，看站台上人的脸。铃也一样。再看看它。”
Hedy turns the bell in her hand. It has a small green sticker on the back, so faded that she nearly misses it. The sticker shows a frog with one eye closed.
海蒂在手里转动着铃。背面有一个小小的绿色贴纸，褪色得很厉害，她差点没看到。贴纸上是一只闭着一只眼的青蛙。
"I have seen this frog," she says slowly.
“我见过这只青蛙。”她缓缓地说。
"Where?"
“在哪儿？”
She thinks about the washing bay window, and the road beyond it. Every morning, around half past six, a girl on a bicycle crosses the depot yard. She delivers parcels to the office. She rides a white bike with a basket, and on the basket there is a green frog.
她想到了洗车区的窗户，和窗外的那条路。每天早上六点半左右，都有一个骑自行车的女孩穿过车场的院子。她给办公室送包裹。她骑着一辆带篮子的白色自行车，篮子上有一只绿青蛙。
"The courier," Hedy says. "She comes every day with the post. She sits in here sometimes, to warm her hands."
“快递员，”海蒂说，“她每天都来送信。她有时会坐在这里暖手。”
"Does she have a bell?"
“她有铃吗？”
Hedy tries to remember. She sees the girl's bike in her mind, bright against the grey yard. The handlebars are bare, with a tiny hole where something used to be.
海蒂努力回忆。她在脑海里看到了那个女孩的自行车，在灰色的院子里显得很明亮。车把是光秃秃的，有一个小小的孔，原来大概装过什么东西。
"No," she says. "She does not have one now."
“没有，”她说，“她现在没有了。”
Elif lifts her mug and drinks, as if the matter is closed. Hedy looks at the clock. It is nearly eight, and the courier has already come and gone. She will not return until tomorrow morning. By then Hedy will be sitting in a test room with her hands wet from worry.
艾莉芙端起杯子喝了一口，好像这件事已经了结。海蒂看了看钟。快八点了，快递员早已来过又走了。她要到明天早上才会回来。到那时，海蒂会坐在考场里，手心因为担心而湿透。
She could leave the bell with the dispatcher. That would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
她可以把铃交给调度员。那是完全合理的做法。
"I think I will wait by the gate," she says. "Maybe the courier comes back for something."
“我想我还是在大门口等一等，”她说，“也许快递员会回来找东西。”
"Maybe," Elif says. Her face stays calm, but one corner of her mouth moves.
“也许吧。”艾莉芙说。她的脸依然平静，可嘴角的一侧动了一下。
Hedy takes her study book and sits on the low wall by the depot gate. She reads about road signs and keeps one eye on the road. The page about priority at crossings is difficult. Outside, with the sound of engines and the smell of oil, she holds it in her head better. She reads the page twice. Then she reads it a third time with her eyes closed.
海蒂拿着复习书，坐在车场大门边的矮墙上。她读着道路标志，一只眼睛留意着马路。关于路口优先通行的那一页很难。在外面，伴着引擎声和机油味，她反而记得更牢。她读了两遍。然后闭着眼睛读了第三遍。
At a quarter past nine she hears a bicycle. It comes fast around the corner, and the rider is standing on the pedals. It is the girl, and she looks upset. She stops by the gate and checks the ground, the wall and the gutter with a worried frown.
九点一刻，她听到了自行车的声音。它飞快地拐过街角，骑车的人站在踏板上。是那个女孩，她看上去很难过。她在大门边停下，皱着眉头焦急地查看地面、墙边和排水沟。
"Are you looking for this?" Hedy asks.
“你是在找这个吗？”海蒂问。
She holds up the bell. The girl's face changes in a single second. She jumps off her bike and takes the bell with both hands.
她举起了铃。女孩的脸在一秒钟里变了。她跳下自行车，双手接过了铃。
"Where was it?" she says. "I have looked everywhere. I came back twice."
“它在哪儿？”她说，“我到处找过了。我回来找了两次。”
"In the break room. You must have left it on the table this morning."
“在休息室。你今天早上肯定是把它落在桌上了。”
The girl presses the lever. Ring. The bell sounds clear and bright across the yard, and a pigeon flies off the roof. She laughs and covers her mouth.
女孩按下拨杆。叮铃。铃声清脆明亮地传遍院子，一只鸽子从屋顶上飞走了。她笑了起来，用手捂住嘴。
"Thank you," she says. "You do not understand. It is the only thing I have from my brother."
“谢谢你，”她说，“你不明白。这是我哥哥留给我的唯一的东西。”
She turns the bell over. Something small rattles inside it, a tiny sound like a seed in a shell. She looks up at Hedy as if she wants to say more.
她把铃翻过来。里面有什么小东西发出轻响，一个很小的声音，像贝壳里的一粒种子。她抬头看着海蒂，好像还想说更多。
Then she closes her fingers around it and says nothing. Behind Hedy, the depot gate hums as it opens. A bus is coming in, and Elif is at the wheel.
然后她合拢手指握住它，什么也没说。在海蒂身后，车场的大门嗡嗡地打开了。一辆公交车正驶进来，艾莉芙坐在方向盘后面。
