On Monday morning, Yasmin finds a blue thumbprint on the tap in the garden shed.
星期一早晨，雅斯敏在花园工具棚的水龙头上发现了一个蓝色的拇指印。
It is a clear print, as neat as a stamp. She looks at it for a while with a cup of coffee in her hand. Then she washes it away and starts her day.
那个指印很清晰，整齐得像盖的章。她手里端着一杯咖啡，看了它好一会儿。然后她把它洗掉，开始了一天的工作。
Yasmin is the head gardener at Larkfield Cemetery. Her shed stands behind the chapel, between the compost heap and the old fig tree. It smells of soil and cut grass. Inside are rakes, shears, seed trays, and a tap over a deep stone sink. The shed is hers. She never locks it, because nobody else ever comes in.
雅斯敏是拉克菲尔德公墓的园艺主管。她的工具棚在小礼拜堂后面，介于堆肥堆和那棵老无花果树之间。棚里有泥土和刚割下的草的气味。里面放着耙子、大剪刀、育苗盘，还有一个装在深石槽上方的水龙头。这间棚子是她一个人的。她从不上锁，因为从来没有别人进来。
That is why the thumbprint worries her a little.
所以那个拇指印让她有些不安。
On Tuesday, she finds a second print on the same tap. On Wednesday, there is a third. By Thursday, it is a real puzzle, and she decides to treat it like one.
星期二，她在同一个水龙头上发现了第二个指印。星期三，出现了第三个。到了星期四，这已经成了一个真正的谜，她决定当作谜来对待。
"Someone is visiting my shed at night," she tells the groundsman, who is cutting a hedge nearby.
“有人夜里来我的棚子，”她对附近正在修剪树篱的园丁说。
"A ghost with ink on his fingers?" he says. "I like that. It is a polite ghost."
“一个手指沾着墨水的幽灵？”他说，“我喜欢。是个有礼貌的幽灵。”
"It is not funny."
“一点也不好笑。”
"It is a little funny," he says, and he goes on cutting.
“是有一点好笑的，”他说着，继续修剪。
Yasmin takes a notebook from her pocket. She does not feel like a detective, but she likes lists. At the top of the page, she writes, "What do I know?"
雅斯敏从口袋里掏出笔记本。她并不觉得自己像个侦探，但她喜欢列清单。她在页面最上方写下：“我知道什么？”
The first clue is the ink itself. It is deep blue and a little shiny, the kind that comes from an old fountain pen. The prints appear only on the tap, never on the door or the shelves. So the visitor comes in, turns on the water, and leaves.
第一条线索是墨水本身。它是深蓝色的，微微发亮，是旧钢笔里才有的那种。指印只出现在水龙头上，从没出现在门上或架子上。也就是说，访客进来，打开水，然后离开。
On Friday, she finds the second clue, and it is stranger than the first.
星期五，她发现了第二条线索，比第一条更奇怪。
On her work table, beside the seed trays, lie twenty small wooden plant labels. She had left them there on Thursday evening with their old names almost gone. Now every label is rewritten. The letters are tall and careful, and the ink is blue. Lavender. Rosemary. Sweet pea. Foxglove. Nothing is spelled wrong. Even the Latin names are correct.
她的工作台上，育苗盘旁边，放着二十个小木头植物标签。那是她星期四傍晚放在那里的，上面的旧名字几乎已经褪光。现在每个标签都被重新写过了。字母修长而工整，墨水是蓝色的。薰衣草。迷迭香。香豌豆。毛地黄。没有一个拼错。连拉丁学名都是对的。
She sits down on her stool and reads them twice.
她在凳子上坐下，把标签读了两遍。
"A thief who corrects my labels," she says aloud. "That is new."
“一个会纠正我标签的贼，”她大声说，“这可是头一回。”
She puts the labels in a neat row, and for the first time all week, she smiles. Whoever this is, they are kind. And they have beautiful handwriting.
她把标签整整齐齐地摆成一排，这一周里第一次笑了。不管这人是谁，他都很善良。而且他的字写得真漂亮。
On Saturday, the third clue arrives, and it is the smallest one.
星期六，第三条线索出现了，也是最小的一条。
The towel on the hook behind the door has two long blue marks on it. Beside the sink, the soap is wet. Someone has washed their hands for a long time. A fresh bar lies on the shelf, still wrapped. It is not her brand.
门后挂钩上的毛巾上有两道长长的蓝色印子。水槽旁边，肥皂是湿的。有人洗了很长时间的手。架子上放着一块新肥皂，还没拆包装。不是她用的牌子。
Yasmin writes it all in her notebook. One: ink on the tap. Two: labels rewritten. Three: wet soap, blue towel, a new bar.
雅斯敏把这一切都写进笔记本。一：水龙头上的墨水。二：被重写的标签。三：湿肥皂、蓝毛巾、一块新肥皂。
She taps her pencil against her chin. A person who writes with a pen like that has a job with paper. A person who has ink on their hands every day must wash them often. A person who leaves a gift of soap is polite, and probably shy. And a shy person would never knock on the door of a gardener who talks to plants.
她用铅笔敲着下巴。用那种笔写字的人，工作和纸张打交道。每天手上都沾墨水的人，一定常常要洗手。留下一块肥皂当礼物的人，很有礼貌，大概也很害羞。而一个害羞的人，绝不会去敲一个会跟植物说话的园丁的门。
She looks out of the window toward the white office building at the far side of the lawn. The records office. It has a very small kitchen and a very old sink.
她望向窗外，望向草坪另一头那栋白色的办公楼。档案室。那里有一间很小的厨房和一个很旧的水槽。
"Aha," she says. "Maybe."
“啊哈，”她说，“也许吧。”
On Sunday, the cemetery is closed to visitors. On Monday, Yasmin forgets her gloves at home. She has to come back to the shed an hour early. She walks across the lawn with her keys in one hand. The sun is just rising behind the chapel.
星期天，公墓不对游客开放。星期一，雅斯敏把手套忘在了家里，不得不提前一小时回到棚子来。她一手拿着钥匙，穿过草坪。太阳刚刚从小礼拜堂后面升起。
She opens the door and stops.
她打开门，愣住了。
A man stands in front of her sink with both hands under the tap. He is tall, with round glasses and a brown cardigan. A pen lies on the edge of the stone basin. His fingers are blue to the wrists. A blue line runs up one cheek where he touched his face.
一个男人站在她的水槽前，双手伸在水龙头下。他个子很高，戴着圆眼镜，穿着一件棕色开衫。石槽边上放着一支钢笔。他的手指蓝到了手腕。他的一边脸颊上有一道蓝线，是摸脸时蹭上的。
He turns around slowly, and his eyes grow very wide.
他慢慢转过身来，眼睛瞪得老大。
"Good morning," says Yasmin.
“早上好，”雅斯敏说。
"Hello," the man says. He gives a small, miserable cough. "I can explain."
“你好，”男人说。他可怜巴巴地轻咳了一声。“我可以解释。”
"I hope so."
“但愿如此。”
"My name is Orson. I work in the records office, on the other side of the lawn." He lifts his blue hands, as if to show proof. "My pen leaks. It has leaked for two years. I carry it in my shirt pocket, and by eight o'clock my whole hand is blue."
“我叫奥尔森。我在草坪另一头的档案室工作。”他举起蓝色的双手，像是要出示证据。“我的钢笔漏墨。已经漏了两年了。我把它插在衬衫口袋里，到八点钟，我整只手都是蓝的。”
"I see."
“我明白了。”
"The sink in our office broke last week. The pipe makes a noise like an angry cat, and the manager says we must not use it. So I looked for another tap." He looks at the floor. "Yours was the nearest one. The door is never locked, and I knew there was a sink inside. I only wanted to wash my hands."
“我们办公室的水槽上星期坏了。水管发出的声音像一只发怒的猫，经理说我们不许再用。所以我就找别的水龙头。”他低头看着地面。“你这儿离得最近。门从来不锁，我也知道里面有个水槽。我只是想洗洗手。”
"Every morning," says Yasmin.
“每天早上，”雅斯敏说。
"Every morning," he agrees. "And again at lunch."
“每天早上，”他承认，“中午再来一次。”
"And you never knocked."
“你一次也没敲过门。”
"You always seemed busy. You were talking to a rose bush, and I did not want to interrupt." He pauses. "I thought you might be annoyed."
“你总是看起来很忙。你在跟一丛玫瑰说话，我不想打扰你。”他顿了顿。“我怕你会生气。”
Yasmin looks at the blue hands, the blue cheek and the sad face above them. Then she laughs. It is a real laugh, loud and warm. She has to hold the door to stay up.
雅斯敏看着那双蓝手、那张蓝脸颊，和脸上那副难过的表情。然后她笑了。那是真正的笑，又响亮又温暖。她得扶着门才能站稳。
"I thought I had a ghost," she says. "I made notes."
“我还以为闹鬼呢，”她说，“我还做了笔记。”
"I am so sorry."
“真对不起。”
"Don't be. It is the best week I have had in years." She wipes her eyes and points at the table. "Did you write all those labels?"
“别这么说。这是我多年来过得最好的一个星期。”她擦了擦眼睛，指着桌子。“那些标签都是你写的吗？”
Orson looks at his boots. "Some of them were fading. I have a lot of time at lunch, and my writing is the only thing I do well. I did not want to leave your shed worse than I found it."
奥尔森低头看着自己的靴子。“有些已经褪色了。我中午有很多空闲时间，而我唯一做得好的事就是写字。我不想让你的棚子比我来之前更糟。”
"And the soap?"
“那肥皂呢？”
"To say thank you. Your soap was almost finished." He looks hopeful. "Is it a good brand?"
“为了道谢。你的肥皂快用完了。”他满怀希望地看着她。“那个牌子好吗？”
"It is perfect." She takes the pen from the basin and holds it up to the light. The blue ink runs down her finger, and she wipes it on her trousers. "You know, there are better pens in the world."
“好极了。”她从水槽边拿起钢笔，举到光下。蓝墨水顺着她的手指流下来，她在裤子上擦了擦。“你知道，世上有更好的钢笔。”
"I love this one," Orson says, with great dignity. "My father gave it to me."
“我就爱这一支，”奥尔森说，神情十分庄重，“这是我父亲给我的。”
"Then we must fix it, not throw it away." She opens a drawer and takes out a small roll of tape and a little jar of wax. "Come here. Gardeners can mend almost anything."
“那我们就得把它修好，而不是扔掉。”她拉开抽屉，拿出一小卷胶带和一小罐蜡。“过来。园丁几乎什么都能修。”
They work together for twenty minutes, at the table, while the light grows stronger over the lawn. When the pen finally holds, Orson writes his name on the back of her hand to test it. The letters are dark and clean.
他们在桌边一起忙了二十分钟，草坪上的光线越来越强。钢笔终于不漏了，奥尔森在她的手背上写下自己的名字来试笔。字迹深沉而干净。
"No more thumbprints on the tap," he says.
“水龙头上再也不会有拇指印了，”他说。
"Leave one," says Yasmin. "Just so I remember."
“留一个吧，”雅斯敏说，“好让我记住。”
When he goes back across the grass, she turns on the water to wash her hands. On the metal tap, a single clear thumbprint shines in the early light. It is small, blue and a little crooked, like a flower that has just opened.
他穿过草地回去后，她打开水龙头洗手。金属的水龙头上，一个清晰的拇指印在清晨的光里闪着光。它小小的，蓝蓝的，有点歪，像一朵刚刚绽放的花。
