Every Saturday, Karolina opens the print shop at eight. The shop smells of ink and warm paper. She turns on the big press and listens to it hum.
每个星期六，卡罗利娜八点开印刷店的门。店里弥漫着油墨和温热纸张的味道。她打开大印刷机，听它嗡嗡运转。
She has a list. First, she cleans the press. Then she loads the paper. Then she prints whatever the owner writes on the board that week.
她有一张清单。先清洁印刷机，再装纸，然后印老板那周写在黑板上的东西。
Today the board says, "Lost cat. Garden sale. Bike repair. Choir night." Karolina prints the same kinds of posters all year. She is good at it. She never makes a mistake.
今天黑板上写着：“寻猫启事。庭院义卖。修自行车。合唱团之夜。”卡罗利娜一年到头印的都是这几类海报。她干得很好，从不出错。
Behind the press, there is a dark corner with the ink shelf. The lamp there is broken. Karolina keeps a small flashlight in her pocket for that corner. The beam is weak and yellow. It makes a circle the size of a coin.
印刷机后面有一个黑暗的角落，放着油墨架。那里的灯是坏的。卡罗利娜口袋里装着一支小手电筒，专给这个角落用。光束微弱发黄，只能照出一枚硬币大小的圆圈。
"One day I will buy you new batteries," she tells the flashlight.
“总有一天我会给你买新电池，”她对手电筒说。
By noon, the first three jobs are done. The posters hang on the drying rack like white flags. The owner comes out of the office with his coat on.
到中午，前三项活儿做完了。海报挂在晾架上，像一面面白旗。老板穿着外套从办公室出来。
"The folding machine is broken again," he says. "I need a part from the other side of town. It will take all afternoon. Watch the shop."
“折页机又坏了，”他说，“我得去城那头买个零件。整个下午都要用。你看着店。”
"Can I use the press?" Karolina asks.
“我可以用印刷机吗？”卡罗利娜问。
"Only the small jobs," he says. "Nothing new. Nothing difficult."
“只做小活儿，”他说，“不要新的，不要难的。”
He leaves. The door bell rings behind him. Karolina sits on her stool and looks at the quiet shop. This is her favorite part of the day. It is also the most boring.
他走了。门铃在他身后响了一声。卡罗利娜坐在凳子上，望着安静的店。这是一天里她最喜欢的时刻，也是最无聊的时刻。
Then the bell rings again.
这时，门铃又响了。
A girl rushes in. She has paint on her sleeves. A paper roll is under her arm. Her hair is tied with a shoelace. She looks around the shop fast.
一个女孩冲了进来。她的袖子上沾着颜料，腋下夹着一卷纸，头发用一根鞋带扎着。她飞快地环顾了一圈店里。
"Hi. I'm Anika," she says. "Are you the printer?"
“嗨，我叫阿妮卡，”她说，“你是印刷工吗？”
"I am one of them," Karolina says. "What do you need?"
“我是其中一个，”卡罗利娜说，“你需要什么？”
"Fifty posters, by four o'clock," says Anika. "My band plays tonight at the youth hall. The other shop says no. They say it is too late."
“五十张海报，四点以前要，”阿妮卡说，“我的乐队今晚在青年会堂演出。另一家店说不行，说太晚了。”
Karolina looks at the clock. It is twelve past twelve. She thinks about the owner and the rule about nothing new.
卡罗利娜看了看钟。十二点十二分。她想到老板，想到那条“不要新的”的规矩。
"Show me the picture," she says.
“给我看看画，”她说。
Anika opens the roll on the counter. It is a hand drawing of a huge fish with a guitar. Every line is thick and brave. Under the fish, big letters say, "THE SALT KIDS. TONIGHT. SEVEN O'CLOCK."
阿妮卡把纸卷在柜台上展开。那是一幅手绘的画，画着一条巨大的鱼，抱着一把吉他。每一条线都粗犷而大胆。鱼的下面用大字写着：“盐孩子乐队。今晚。晚上七点。”
"I want it in blue and gold," says Anika. "Deep blue, like the sea at night. And a gold fish."
“我想要蓝色和金色，”阿妮卡说，“深蓝色，像夜里的大海。还有一条金色的鱼。”
"We have gold," says Karolina. "Let me check the blue."
“我们有金色，”卡罗利娜说，“我去看看蓝色。”
She walks to the dark corner. She takes out her flashlight and turns it on. The weak circle moves along the shelf. She finds a can marked "Sky Blue" and lifts it. It is light. She opens it. Only a thin line of ink lies at the bottom.
她走向黑暗的角落，掏出手电筒打开。微弱的光圈沿着架子移动。她找到一罐标着“天蓝”的，拿了起来。很轻。她打开，罐底只有薄薄的一层油墨。
"There is not enough blue," she calls.
“蓝色不够了，”她喊道。
Anika's face goes sad. "Is there nothing?"
阿妮卡的脸沉了下来。“一点也没有了吗？”
Karolina looks at the shelf again. There is some green and some black. There is also half a can of pale gray. The yellow beam shakes in her hand. She cannot read the small labels. She cannot tell the true colors at all.
卡罗利娜又看了看架子。有一些绿色和一些黑色。还有半罐浅灰色。黄色的光束在她手里发抖。她看不清小标签，根本分辨不出真正的颜色。
She thinks of the owner. She thinks of the word "difficult."
她想到老板，想到“难的”这个词。
Then she thinks of the fish with the guitar.
然后她想到了抱着吉他的鱼。
"I can mix something," she says. "But I cannot promise the color."
“我可以调一个出来，”她说，“可是我不能保证颜色。”
"I trust you," says Anika. "I have no other shop."
“我相信你，”阿妮卡说，“我没有别的店可去了。”
Karolina carries three cans to the big table under the lamp. She pours a little pale gray into a clean tin. She adds the thin blue from the bottom of the empty can. She adds a spoon of green, because it looks dark and sea-like. Last, she adds one tiny drop from a can in the corner. In the poor light, she thinks it is black.
卡罗利娜把三个罐子搬到灯下的大桌子上。她往一只干净的铁盒里倒了一点浅灰色。她加进空罐底的那点蓝色。她又加了一勺绿色，因为它看起来又暗又像海。最后，她从角落的一个罐子里滴入极小的一滴。在昏暗的光线里，她以为那是黑色。
She stirs. The ink turns a deep, strange color between green and blue. It looks like water at night. It looks like nothing in the shop.
她搅了搅。油墨变成一种深沉而奇特的颜色，介于绿与蓝之间。它看起来像夜里的水。店里没有任何东西像它。
"Teal," Anika says softly. "Is that teal?"
“蓝绿色，”阿妮卡轻声说，“这是蓝绿色吗？”
"It is something," Karolina says.
“反正是某种颜色，”卡罗利娜说。
She tests the ink on a small piece of paper. She lets it dry for a minute and then holds it up. The paper is beautiful.
她在一小张纸上试了试油墨。让它干了一分钟，然后举起来。纸上的颜色很美。
"Okay," says Karolina. "Let's do it."
“好，”卡罗利娜说，“开工吧。”
They work fast. Karolina loads the paper and Anika watches the first sheet go through. Gold goes down first. The fish shines. The press hums, then clunks, then stops. Karolina changes the plate and starts the second color.
他们干得很快。卡罗利娜装纸，阿妮卡看着第一张纸滚过去。先印的是金色。鱼闪闪发亮。印刷机嗡嗡响，然后咔哒一声，停了。卡罗利娜换上印版，开始印第二种颜色。
When the sheet comes out, they both stand very still.
纸出来的时候，两个人都一动不动地站着。
The fish is gold and bright. The sea around it is the strange deep teal. The letters look like they float above the water.
鱼是金色的，明亮耀眼。它周围的海是那种奇特的深蓝绿色。字母看起来像漂浮在水面之上。
"It's perfect," Anika says. "It's better than I drew it."
“太完美了，”阿妮卡说，“比我画的还好。”
"The edges are not clean," Karolina says. She points at the corner.
“边缘不整齐，”卡罗利娜说。她指着角落。
"I like the edges," says Anika. "They look alive."
“我喜欢这些边缘，”阿妮卡说，“它们看起来像活的。”
They print fifty copies. It takes two hours. Karolina carries each wet sheet to the rack. She pins it by one corner. Anika cleans the ink from the table with a cloth. They hardly speak. They work like two people who know each other well.
他们印了五十张。花了两个小时。卡罗利娜把每一张湿的海报搬到晾架上，用夹子夹住一角。阿妮卡用布擦桌上的油墨。他们几乎不说话，像两个很熟的人那样干活。
At ten to four, the last poster goes up. The rack looks like a wall of shining water. Karolina's arms hurt, and her fingers are blue and gold. She feels like a runner at the end of a long race.
四点差十分，最后一张海报挂了上去。晾架像一面闪闪发光的水墙。卡罗利娜的手臂发酸，手指又蓝又金。她觉得自己像是一个跑完了长跑的人。
"I should go," says Anika. "Can I take them now?"
“我该走了，”阿妮卡说，“我现在可以拿走吗？”
"They need ten more minutes to dry," Karolina says. "Let me put them in a box by the door."
“还要再晾十分钟，”卡罗利娜说，“我把它们放进门边的箱子里吧。”
They lay the posters in a box by the front door together. The afternoon sun comes in through the window. It lands on the counter. Anika takes one poster from the top of the box. She holds it up in the light.
他们一起把海报放进前门边的箱子里。午后的阳光从窗户照进来，落在柜台上。阿妮卡从箱子最上面拿起一张海报，举到光里。
She stops.
她愣住了。
The teal is gone. In the sunlight, the sea around the fish is a deep purple.
蓝绿色不见了。在阳光下，鱼周围的海是深紫色的。
Karolina stares. She puts the flashlight in her pocket. She does not remember adding anything purple. She looks at the empty tin on the table. Then she looks at the can in the corner.
卡罗利娜盯着它。她把手电筒放进口袋。她不记得自己加过任何紫色的东西。她看了看桌上空了的铁盒，又看了看角落里的那个罐子。
Anika stares too. Then she starts to smile. "It is purple," she says. "I want them all. Both colors look like the sea."
阿妮卡也盯着看。然后她开始微笑。“是紫色的，”她说，“我全要。两种颜色都像大海。”
"Karolina," Anika says slowly, "what was in that last drop?"
“卡罗利娜，”阿妮卡慢慢地说，“最后那一滴是什么？”
