The stage curtain in the boathouse hall closed only halfway. It had done this for nine years, and everyone at the Riverside Rowing Club knew it.
船屋礼堂的舞台幕布只能拉上一半。这样已经有九年了，河畔赛艇俱乐部里无人不知。
Every autumn the club held a show to end the season. Members sang songs, told jokes and read funny reports about lost oars. Every year the curtain stuck, and every year somebody found a different way around the problem.
每年秋天，俱乐部都会举办一场演出，为赛季画上句号。会员们唱歌，讲笑话，朗读关于丢失船桨的滑稽报告。每年幕布都会卡住，每年也总有人想出不同的办法绕过这个问题。
This year the show belonged to Yusra. She was thirty-four and had joined the club in June. She did not yet know the rules that nobody had written down.
今年的演出归尤斯拉负责。她三十四岁，六月才加入俱乐部。她还不知道那些没有人写下来的规矩。
"Use the chair," said the man who looked after the boats. "Put it on the left side. It stops the curtain from swinging back."
“用那把椅子，”照看船只的男人说，“放在左边。它能防止幕布晃回来。”
Yusra looked at the chair. It was a kitchen chair with one short leg, and someone had wrapped that leg in blue tape.
尤斯拉看着那把椅子。那是一把有一条腿很短的厨房椅，有人用蓝胶带把那条腿缠了起来。
"Does it work?" she asked.
“管用吗？”她问。
"Mostly," he said. "Last year it fell over during the quiz. Nobody minded."
“大多数时候，”他说，“去年它在猜谜的时候倒了。没人在意。”
On Saturday morning she climbed the ladder and pulled the curtain by hand. It was heavy dark velvet, and it smelled of dust and old rope. It moved smoothly for three metres. Then it stopped, as if it had hit a wall.
星期六早晨，她爬上梯子，用手拉幕布。那是厚重的深色天鹅绒，闻起来有灰尘和旧绳子的味道。它顺顺当当地移动了三米。然后停住了，像是撞上了一堵墙。
She tried again, and the same thing happened. She tried a third time with both hands, and a small cloud of dust fell onto her hair.
她又试了一次，结果一样。她第三次用双手去拉，一小团灰尘落到了她的头发上。
"Don't pull so hard," said a voice from below. "You will only make it worse."
“别那么使劲拉，”下面有个声音说，“你只会越弄越糟。”
It was Nadine, the club captain. She had rowed for the club for twenty years. She had won more medals than the trophy cabinet could hold. She carried a clipboard everywhere, even down to the river.
是纳丁，俱乐部的队长。她为俱乐部划了二十年的船，赢得的奖牌多得奖杯柜都放不下。她走到哪儿都拿着写字夹板，甚至下到河边也不例外。
"I am not pulling hard," Yusra said. "I am pulling normally. Something is blocking it."
“我没使劲拉，”尤斯拉说，“我是正常地拉。有什么东西卡住了。”
"Everybody says that," Nadine said. "Then they stop pulling and tie a rope to it."
“人人都这么说，”纳丁说，“然后他们就不拉了，在上面拴根绳子。”
She pointed at a thick rope that ran from the curtain to a hook on the wall. Yusra had thought it was part of the decoration.
她指向一根粗绳，从幕布拉到墙上的一个钩子。尤斯拉还以为那是装饰的一部分。
"So the rope closes it?"
“所以是靠这根绳子来拉上的？”
"Two people pull the rope," Nadine said. "A third person holds the chair. A fourth person runs backstage and shouts when it is closed."
“两个人拉绳子，”纳丁说，“第三个人扶着椅子。第四个人跑到后台，拉好了就喊一声。”
"That is four people for one curtain," said Yusra.
“拉一幅幕布要四个人，”尤斯拉说。
"It is a tradition," Nadine said, and she smiled in a tired way. "Traditions need people."
“这是传统，”纳丁说，露出一丝疲惫的微笑。“传统是需要人的。”
For the rest of the day, Yusra watched how the club lived with the curtain. The singers practised their entrance so they could slip through the gap. The comedian wrote a joke about it. The treasurer counted every coin the club owned. He walked past the stuck velvet twice and never looked up.
那一天剩下的时间里，尤斯拉观察着俱乐部是怎样与这幅幕布相处的。歌手们练习进场，好从缝隙里溜进去。喜剧演员写了一个关于它的笑话。财务员清点着俱乐部拥有的每一枚硬币。他两次走过那卡住的天鹅绒，却始终没有抬头看一眼。
Nobody seemed angry. Nobody seemed surprised. The curtain had become like the leaking roof of the changing room. It was like the bench that wobbled on the dock. Everyone knew about it, and everyone had decided it was normal.
似乎没有人生气，也没有人感到惊讶。这幅幕布成了更衣室漏雨的屋顶，成了码头上那条摇摇晃晃的长凳。人人都知道它，人人都认定那是正常的。
That night she sat alone in the empty hall with an apple. She looked at the rail above the stage. It was a long metal pipe, and one end was bent like a tired arm. Behind it, the ceiling had a dark stain.
那天夜里，她一个人坐在空荡荡的礼堂里吃着一个苹果。她望着舞台上方的横杆。那是一根长长的金属管，一头弯得像疲惫的手臂。它后面的天花板上有一块深色的污渍。
She asked herself a simple question. Why had nobody fixed it?
她问了自己一个简单的问题：为什么没有人把它修好？
The next morning she asked the man who looked after the boats.
第二天早晨，她去问了照看船只的男人。
"The committee said no," he told her. "Years ago. There was never any money."
“委员会说不行，”他告诉她，“很多年前的事了。从来没有钱。”
She asked the comedian, who gave the same answer. She asked a girl from the junior team, who said her mother had told her the same thing. Everyone knew the committee had said no. Nobody could remember who had asked, or when.
她问喜剧演员，他给了同样的回答。她问青少年队的一个女孩，女孩说她妈妈也是这么对她说的。人人都知道委员会说了不行。没有人记得是谁去问的，也没有人记得是什么时候。
"Did you ask them?" Yusra said to Nadine that afternoon.
“你问过他们吗？”那天下午，尤斯拉对纳丁说。
"Me?" Nadine put down her clipboard. "No. It was before I became captain. I assumed…"
“我？”纳丁放下了写字夹板。“没有。那是在我当队长之前。我以为……”
She stopped.
她停住了。
"You assumed what?"
“你以为什么？”
"That someone had asked," Nadine said slowly. "And that the answer was no."
“以为有人问过了，”纳丁缓缓地说，“而且答案是不行。”
They looked at each other. Above them, the curtain hung in its usual crooked way.
她们互相看着。在她们头顶上，幕布还是照常歪歪斜斜地挂着。
"It is strange," said Yusra. "A whole club has agreed not to ask one question."
“真奇怪，”尤斯拉说，“整个俱乐部都默契地不去问一个问题。”
"It is a small question," Nadine said. "Small questions are the hardest. If you ask and the answer is no, then you have to stop hoping."
“这是个小问题，”纳丁说，“小问题才最难。你问了，要是答案是不行，你就得停止抱希望了。”
Yusra thought about this. She could understand it. Hope was cheap, and a no could feel expensive.
尤斯拉想了想这话。她能理解。希望是廉价的，而一句“不行”可能显得很昂贵。
"But if we never ask, the answer stays no forever," she said. "Even when the world has changed."
“可是如果我们永远不问，答案就永远是不行，”她说，“哪怕世界已经变了。”
Nadine rubbed her neck. "The committee meets on Tuesday evening. Seven o'clock, in the room above the boat store."
纳丁揉了揉脖子。“委员会星期二晚上开会。七点，在船库楼上的房间。”
"I know," said Yusra. "I looked it up."
“我知道，”尤斯拉说，“我查过了。”
On Tuesday, at five to seven, she climbed the stairs above the boat store. Her hands were cold. In her bag she had a photograph of the bent rail and a page of notes.
星期二，差五分七点，她爬上了船库楼上的楼梯。她的手很冷。包里放着一张弯曲横杆的照片和一页笔记。
Seven people sat around a long table. The treasurer had a calculator. The head of the committee had a mug shaped like a boat. Nadine sat at the far end and gave Yusra a small nod.
七个人围坐在一张长桌旁。财务员拿着计算器。委员会主席有一只船形的马克杯。纳丁坐在最远的一端，朝尤斯拉轻轻点了点头。
Yusra was item eleven on the list. It said, in tiny letters, "Curtain (Y.)". She waited through the discussion about new oars and the broken gate of the car park. When her turn came, her voice shook.
尤斯拉排在议程的第十一项。上面用小字写着：“幕布（尤）”。她等着，听完了关于新船桨和停车场坏大门的讨论。轮到她的时候，她的声音在发抖。
"I would like to ask about the stage curtain," she said. "Has the club ever asked for money to fix the rail?"
“我想问一下舞台幕布的事，”她说，“俱乐部有没有申请过经费来修理那根横杆？”
Nobody spoke. The calculator beeped because the treasurer touched it by mistake.
没有人说话。计算器响了一声，因为财务员不小心碰到了它。
"Fix it?" said the head of the committee. "I thought we could not."
“修理？”委员会主席说，“我还以为我们不能呢。”
"Why not?" Yusra asked.
“为什么不能？”尤斯拉问。
"Because…" The head looked around the table. "Because it has always been like that."
“因为……”主席环顾桌边。“因为它一直都是那样。”
The treasurer opened a folder and searched through the pages. Then he went very quiet.
财务员打开一个文件夹，翻查着一页页纸。然后他变得非常安静。
"There is a line in the budget," he said at last. "Hall repairs. We have kept it every year since the roof was done. Nobody has spent a single coin from it."
“预算里有一行，”他终于说，“礼堂维修费。自从屋顶修好以后，我们每年都保留着。从来没有人动过里面的一分钱。”
"How much is there?" Nadine asked.
“有多少？”纳丁问。
He told her. It was more than enough for a new rail and a good fitter.
他说出了数目。足够买一根新横杆，再请一位好的安装师傅了。
Someone laughed, a short and surprised laugh. Then another person laughed. Soon the whole table was laughing. Even the treasurer laughed, and he held his folder against his chest.
有人笑了，短促而惊讶的一声。接着另一个人也笑了。很快，整张桌子的人都在笑。连财务员也笑了，把文件夹抱在胸前。
"Nine years," said the head of the committee, wiping her eyes. "We have tied ropes to a problem we could have solved."
“九年了，”委员会主席擦着眼睛说，“我们给一个本可以解决的问题拴了绳子。”
They voted in two minutes. The vote was seven to nothing.
他们只用了两分钟就表决了。结果是七票对零票。
"There is one difficulty," said the treasurer. "The fitter is busy for six weeks. The curtain will not be ready for the show."
“有一个困难，”财务员说，“安装师傅六个星期都没空。幕布赶不上演出了。”
"Then we do the show the old way," Nadine said. "Rope, chair and four people. But it will be the last time."
“那我们就按老办法演出，”纳丁说，“绳子、椅子，再加四个人。不过这是最后一次了。”
Afterwards, Nadine found Yusra on the stairs.
会后，纳丁在楼梯上找到了尤斯拉。
"I should have asked in my first year," she said. "Maybe in my first week."
“我早该在第一年就问的，”她说，“也许是在第一个星期。”
"You were busy winning medals," said Yusra.
“你那时忙着赢奖牌呢，”尤斯拉说。
"That is not an excuse." Nadine looked at her clipboard and then put it under her arm. "Next time I hear that something cannot be changed, I will ask who decided it."
“那不是借口。”纳丁看了看她的写字夹板，然后把它夹到腋下。“下次再听到有什么事不能改变，我就问是谁决定的。”
They walked down to the empty hall together. The curtain hung there, dark and heavy and crooked, but it looked different to Yusra now. It looked like something that was waiting, not something that was broken.
她们一起走下楼，来到空荡荡的礼堂。幕布挂在那里，深色，沉重，歪斜，可在尤斯拉眼里，它现在看起来不一样了。它看上去像是在等待的东西，而不是坏掉的东西。
"The fitter will need the exact length of the rail," she said. "And the height of the ceiling."
“安装师傅需要横杆的确切长度，”她说，“还有天花板的高度。”
"I can find the tape measure," Nadine said.
“我去找卷尺，”纳丁说。
Yusra pulled the ladder across the floor and set it under the bent pipe. Nadine held the bottom with both hands. Yusra climbed to the top, hooked the end of the tape onto the metal, and began to measure.
尤斯拉把梯子拖过地板，架在弯曲的金属管下。纳丁用双手扶住梯子底部。尤斯拉爬到顶上，把卷尺的一端钩在金属管上，开始测量。
