Sven worked the night shift in the hospital laundry room, three floors below the wards. The room was warm and loud, and it smelled of clean cotton. Twelve big machines turned all night, and one old lamp hung over the folding table.
斯文在医院洗衣房上夜班，洗衣房在病房下面三层。房间温暖而嘈杂，有干净棉布的气味。十二台大机器整夜转个不停，折叠台上方挂着一盏旧灯。
The lamp had a habit. Every few minutes it flickered in the same pattern: two short blinks, one long blink, and then nothing. Sven had worked there for six years, and he no longer noticed it.
那盏灯有个习惯。每隔几分钟，它就按同样的模式闪一下：两下短闪，一下长闪，然后什么都没有。斯文在这里工作了六年，早就不再注意它了。
Mika noticed it on her first night. She was the new assistant. She was young and careful, and she carried the sheets as if they were glass.
米卡第一个晚上就注意到了。她是新来的助手。她年轻、仔细，搬床单的样子像在搬玻璃。
"Does that lamp always do that?" she asked.
“那盏灯总是这样吗？”她问。
"Always," Sven said. "Two short, one long. It is like a message in code."
“总是这样，”斯文说，“两短一长。像一条密码消息。”
"Has anyone tried to fix it?"
“有人试着修过吗？”
"Many people. The electrician came twice. He found nothing wrong with the wiring."
“很多人。电工来过两次。他没发现线路有什么问题。”
Mika watched the lamp for a while. "It bothers me," she said. "I keep waiting for the long blink, and then I forget what I was doing."
米卡看了那盏灯一会儿。“这让我心烦，”她说，“我总在等那下长闪，然后就忘了自己在做什么。”
"You will get used to it. Everybody does."
“你会习惯的。人人都会。”
"I don't think I will." She folded a towel and put it on the pile. "I only work here for three weeks, until my nursing course starts. Could you find out why it does that before I leave?"
“我觉得我不会。”她叠好一条毛巾，放到那一摞上。“我在这里只干三个星期，等护理课程开始就走。你能在我走之前，查清它为什么这样吗？”
Sven laughed. He wanted to be kind, and the question seemed small. "Fine," he said. "I promise. You will know before your last night."
斯文笑了。他想表现得友善，而这个问题看起来也很小。“好，”他说，“我保证。你在最后一晚之前就会知道。”
It was a bigger promise than he realised.
这是个比他意识到的更大的承诺。
On the first night, Sven changed the bulb. The lamp flickered: two short, one long. On the second night, he cleaned the switch and tightened every screw he could find. The lamp still flickered in its old pattern.
第一个晚上，斯文换了灯泡。灯闪着：两短一长。第二个晚上，他擦了开关，把能找到的每颗螺丝都拧紧了。灯仍然按老样子闪。
On the fourth night, he called the electrician again. The man stood under the lamp with his arms crossed and watched it for ten minutes.
第四个晚上，他又把电工叫来了。那人抱着手臂站在灯下，看了它十分钟。
"The wiring is fine," he said at last. "The hospital has no money for new cables. Leave it alone, my friend."
“线路没问题，”他终于说，“医院没钱换新电缆。别动它了，朋友。”
"But there must be a reason," Sven said.
“可总该有个原因，”斯文说。
"There is always a reason," the electrician said. "Nobody pays me to find it."
“总是有原因的，”电工说，“但没人付钱让我去找。”
After that, Sven carried a small notebook in his apron. Each time the lamp blinked, he wrote down the time. After a week, he had pages of numbers and no answer. The gaps were never the same. Sometimes the lamp waited four minutes, and sometimes it waited twenty.
从那以后，斯文在围裙里揣了一个小笔记本。每次灯闪，他就记下时间。一个星期后，他有了几页的数字，却没有答案。间隔从来不一样。有时灯隔四分钟，有时隔二十分钟。
In the break room, the two of them made a list of ideas. Mika thought it was a mouse in the wall. Sven thought it was a ghost, and he only half joked. They crossed out both ideas by Thursday.
在休息室里，两人列了一张想法清单。米卡觉得是墙里有只老鼠。斯文觉得是鬼，他只开了一半的玩笑。到星期四，两个想法都被划掉了。
"Any news?" Mika asked every night, and she smiled in a way that made it worse.
“有什么消息吗？”米卡每天晚上都问，她的微笑让事情更糟了。
"Not yet," Sven said. "I am still working on it."
“还没有，”斯文说，“我还在查。”
By the second week, he felt tired and a little foolish. He lay awake in the daytime and thought about the lamp. He had made many promises in his life, and he had kept most of them. This one felt like a trick he had played on himself.
到了第二个星期，他觉得疲惫，也有点傻。白天他躺着睡不着，想着那盏灯。他这辈子许过很多承诺，大部分都做到了。这一个却像是他对自己耍的把戏。
He thought about telling Mika a good story. He could say that a wire was loose, or that an old machine upstairs caused it. She would believe him, and she would leave happy. But he knew he would hear the lamp in his sleep for years.
他想过给米卡讲个好听的故事。他可以说是某根电线松了，或者楼上有台旧机器造成的。她会相信，然后高高兴兴地离开。可他知道，自己此后很多年睡梦里都会听见那盏灯。
So he did not lie. On Mika's last night, he came to work an hour early, with a plan. He would sit under the lamp until sunrise, if he had to. He told no one.
所以他没有撒谎。到了米卡的最后一晚，他提前一小时来上班，带着一个计划。必要的话，他会坐在灯下一直到日出。他没有告诉任何人。
At midnight, the machines hummed and the lamp blinked. Two short, one long. Sven did not write anything down. He was too tired to hold the pen.
午夜，机器嗡嗡作响，灯闪了。两短一长。斯文什么也没记。他太累了，握不住笔。
"Sven," Mika said, "I need to fetch the cart from the corridor. The porters are sending sheets down from the operating theatre."
“斯文，”米卡说，“我得去走廊里把推车拿来。搬运工要从手术室往下送床单了。”
"Go ahead," he said. He did not look up. He kept his eyes on the lamp, as he had done for fourteen nights.
“去吧，”他说。他没有抬头。他的目光始终盯着那盏灯，已经这样盯了十四个晚上。
Mika pushed the empty cart into the corridor. She stopped at the old service lift at the far end. Nobody used it much, because the main lifts took the beds. She pressed the button and waited.
米卡把空推车推进走廊。她在最远端那部旧的服务电梯前停下。这部电梯没什么人用，因为主电梯才能运病床。她按了按钮，等着。
Somewhere above her, a motor began to groan. The metal doors shook. Through the open door of the laundry room, she saw the lamp. It blinked twice, quickly, and then once for a long time.
她头顶上方的某处，一台电机开始呻吟。金属门抖动起来。透过洗衣房敞开的门，她看见了那盏灯。它快速闪了两下，接着是一下长闪。
She stood very still. Then she pressed the button again. The lift stopped, and the lamp stopped. She pressed it a third time, and the motor started once more. Two short blinks, one long.
她一动不动地站着。然后她又按了一次按钮。电梯停了，灯也停了。她按了第三次，电机又一次启动。两下短闪，一下长闪。
"Sven!" she called. "Come here. Quickly!"
“斯文！”她喊道，“过来。快！”
He ran into the corridor with the notebook in his hand. "What is it? Is somebody hurt?"
他拿着笔记本跑进走廊。“怎么了？有人受伤了吗？”
"Nobody is hurt. Watch the lamp." She pressed the button a fourth time.
“没人受伤。看灯。”她按了第四次按钮。
The doors rattled, the motor groaned, and in the room behind them, the old lamp blinked. Two short, one long.
门哗啦作响，电机呻吟起来，而在他们身后的房间里，那盏旧灯闪了。两短一长。
"It's the lift," Mika said. "The two short blinks are the doors closing. The long one is the motor starting."
“是电梯，”米卡说，“两下短闪是门在关。长闪是电机启动。”
Sven opened his notebook and read the times with his finger. Then he started to laugh. The lamp had blinked whenever someone used the service lift. The porters used it at night. So did the cleaners, and the kitchen staff with their trays. That was why the gaps were never the same.
斯文打开笔记本，用手指对着读那些时间。然后他笑了起来。每当有人使用服务电梯，灯就会闪。搬运工夜里用它。清洁工也用，还有端着托盘的厨房人员。所以间隔才从来不一样。
"The lift and the lamp share one cable," he said slowly. "Of course they do. The electrician checked the lamp, but he never checked the lift."
“电梯和灯共用一根电缆，”他慢慢地说，“当然了。电工检查了灯，可他从没检查过电梯。”
"Nobody checked the lift," Mika said. "Why would they? It was not the thing that looked broken."
“没人检查电梯，”米卡说，“为什么要检查？它又不是看上去坏掉的那个东西。”
"I stared at that lamp for six years," Sven said, "and for fourteen nights I stared harder. The answer was never in the room. It was in the corridor."
“我盯着那盏灯看了六年，”斯文说，“这十四个晚上，我盯得更用力。答案从来不在房间里。它在走廊里。”
"And you never went into the corridor when it blinked."
“而灯一闪的时候，你从来没走进过走廊。”
"Never. I always stayed in my chair." He shook his head. "You found it, not me."
“从来没有。我总是待在我的椅子上。”他摇摇头。“是你发现的，不是我。”
"You promised that I would know," Mika said. "I know. You kept your promise, with one hour to spare."
“你保证过我会知道，”米卡说，“我知道了。你信守了承诺，还提前了一个小时。”
The lift doors opened. A porter stood inside with a huge pile of sheets and a surprised face. "Why are you both staring at me?" he asked.
电梯门开了。一名搬运工站在里面，推着一大堆床单，一脸惊讶。“你们俩为什么都盯着我？”他问。
"We are saying thank you," Sven said. "You are the answer to a question."
“我们在说谢谢，”斯文说，“你就是一个问题的答案。”
The porter looked at the lamp, then at the two of them, and he decided not to ask. He rolled the sheets into the laundry room and left.
搬运工看看灯，又看看他们两人，决定不问。他把床单推进洗衣房，走了。
For the rest of the night, they worked in a good mood. Now the lamp was no longer a mystery. It was a doorbell. When it blinked, they knew a delivery was coming, and they had time to clear the table. Sven said it made the room ten percent more efficient. Mika said it made it a hundred percent less spooky.
这一晚剩下的时间，他们心情很好地干活。现在这盏灯不再是个谜。它是一个门铃。灯一闪，他们就知道有货要送来，有时间清理桌子。斯文说，这让房间的效率提高了百分之十。米卡说，这让房间的瘆人感降低了百分之百。
At six in the morning, she took off her apron and folded it neatly. She stood by the door and looked up at the lamp one last time.
早上六点，她解下围裙，整整齐齐地叠好。她站在门边，最后一次抬头看着那盏灯。
"Please do not let anyone fix it," she said. "It deserves a better job than just being a lamp."
“请别让任何人修它，”她说，“它值得一份比只当一盏灯更好的工作。”
"The electrician says there is no money, so it is safe," Sven said. "And I never fix things anyway."
“电工说没有钱，所以它是安全的，”斯文说，“而且我从来都不修东西。”
"Really?"
“真的吗？”
"I am a laundry worker," he said. "I only wash things."
“我是洗衣房工人，”他说，“我只洗东西。”
