Kamal started work at the Silver Wheel on a Monday. The Silver Wheel was a roller-disco hall with a wooden floor and a huge mirror ball. Alma had worked there for two years. She did not trust new helpers, because they usually left after a week.
卡马尔在一个星期一开始在银轮上班。银轮是一家旱冰迪斯科厅，木地板，还有一个巨大的镜面球。阿尔玛在这里干了两年。她不信任新来的帮手，因为他们通常一个星期就走了。
"Your jobs are simple," Alma said. "Sweep the floor, fill the skate boxes and check the lights."
“你的活儿很简单，”阿尔玛说。“扫地，把冰鞋箱补满，检查灯光。”
"Is that everything?" Kamal asked.
“就这些吗？”卡马尔问。
"No. There is also the hat."
“不。还有那顶帽子。”
Kamal followed her pointing finger. High above the dance floor, the mirror ball turned slowly in the half dark. On top of it sat a small paper party hat, silver with blue stars. It rode round and round like a tiny captain.
卡马尔顺着她手指的方向看去。舞池上方高处，镜面球在半明半暗中缓缓转动。球顶上坐着一顶小小的纸质派对帽，银色的，带蓝色星星。它一圈又一圈地转着，像一位小小的船长。
"Whose hat is that?" he asked.
“那是谁的帽子？”他问。
"Nobody knows," said Alma. "Every morning I take it down, and every morning it is back. The owner says I must find out who does it."
“没人知道，”阿尔玛说。“每天早上我把它拿下来，每天早上它又回去了。老板说我必须查出是谁干的。”
"Why not leave it there?"
“为什么不让它待在那儿呢？”
"Because the owner thinks it looks silly. Also, the hat makes the ball turn unevenly, and the motor makes a terrible noise."
“因为老板觉得它看着傻。而且帽子让球转得不均匀，马达会发出可怕的噪音。”
Kamal looked at the ladder that stood against the wall. It was green, and it had only four steps. Then he looked at the ball, which hung more than three metres above the floor.
卡马尔看了看靠墙立着的梯子。它是绿色的，只有四级。然后他看了看球，它悬在离地三米多高的地方。
"That ladder is too short," he said.
“那梯子太矮了，”他说。
"I know. The owner bought it for changing light bulbs. I stand on the top step and push the hat off with a broom. It takes ten minutes, and my arms hurt for an hour."
“我知道。老板买它是为了换灯泡。我站在最上面一级，用扫帚把帽子捅下来。要花十分钟，我的胳膊要酸一个小时。”
"So how does anyone get the hat up there?"
“那别人是怎么把帽子弄上去的？”
"That is the puzzle," Alma said. She almost smiled. "If you solve it, you can choose the music for a whole evening."
“这就是谜题所在，”阿尔玛说。她几乎笑了。“如果你解开了它，你可以挑一整晚的音乐。”
Kamal liked puzzles. He also wanted Alma to like him. So he started at once.
卡马尔喜欢谜题。他还希望阿尔玛喜欢他。于是他马上动手了。
First he tried the easy answer. He stacked three snack crates under the ball and climbed up with a torch. The tower shook like a jelly. Alma ran across the floor and held the bottom crate with both hands.
他先试了最简单的办法。他把三个零食箱摞在球下面，拿着手电筒爬了上去。那座塔晃得像果冻。阿尔玛从舞池另一头冲过来，双手扶住最下面的箱子。
"Get down!" she shouted. "You will break your neck, and then the owner will blame me."
“下来！”她喊道。“你会摔断脖子的，到时候老板会怪我。”
"I only wanted to look at the top of the ball," Kamal said from the air.
“我只是想看看球的顶部，”卡马尔在半空中说。
"Look from the ground, like a normal person," she said.
“在地上看，像个正常人那样，”她说。
He climbed down slowly. Alma said nothing more. She did not let go of the crate until his feet touched the floor.
他慢慢爬了下来。阿尔玛没再说什么。直到他的脚着了地，她才松开那个箱子。
That afternoon Kamal sat on a bench with a notebook and thought about the hat. A person on a tall ladder could put it there. But the hall had only the short ladder, and the front door was locked all night.
那天下午，卡马尔坐在长凳上，带着笔记本琢磨那顶帽子。一个人站在高梯子上是能把它放上去的。可是这个大厅只有那架矮梯子，而且前门整夜都锁着。
"Who has keys?" he asked.
“谁有钥匙？”他问。
Alma counted on her fingers. "The owner, me, the cleaner, and the man who brings the snacks."
阿尔玛掰着手指数。“老板，我，清洁工，还有送零食的那个人。”
"Then I need clues, not suspects."
“那我需要的是线索，而不是嫌疑人。”
The next morning he arrived early and searched the hall with his torch. Alma laughed at him, but she brought him a cup of juice anyway.
第二天早上，他很早就到了，拿着手电筒搜查整个大厅。阿尔玛笑话他，但还是给他端来了一杯果汁。
At eight o'clock he found the first clue. It was a thin line of silver glitter on the wooden floor. The line began near the DJ booth. It stopped in the middle of the floor, under the ball.
八点钟，他发现了第一条线索。那是木地板上一道细细的银色闪粉线。这道线从DJ台附近开始。它在舞池中央停住了，就在球的下面。
"Glitter," he said. "The hat loses it, so the hat came this way."
“闪粉，”他说。“帽子会掉闪粉，所以帽子是从这边来的。”
"Very clever," said Alma. "Everybody knows a glittery hat drops glitter."
“真聪明，”阿尔玛说。“谁都知道闪闪发亮的帽子会掉闪粉。”
"But it did not come from the door. It came from the DJ booth."
“可是它不是从门口来的。它是从DJ台来的。”
Alma stopped smiling and came to look.
阿尔玛收起了笑容，走过来看。
At nine o'clock he found the second clue. It was on the floor too, but you could see it only from very low down. Hundreds of tiny black marks made a wide circle around the glitter line. Each mark was a short curved scratch.
九点钟，他发现了第二条线索。它也在地上，但只有趴得很低才能看见。几百个细小的黑色痕迹围着那道闪粉线画了一个大圈。每个痕迹都是一小道弯弯的刮痕。
"Wheel marks," Alma said. She was lying on the floor beside him now. "But there are far too many. The cleaner wears shoes, and I never skate in the morning."
“轮子印，”阿尔玛说。她现在和他一起趴在地上了。“可是太多了。清洁工穿的是鞋，我早上从不滑冰。”
"Then lots of people skated in a circle last night, and they all stopped at the same spot."
“那就是昨晚很多人绕着圈滑，然后都停在了同一个地方。”
"People do that when a game ends," Alma said slowly. "They stop and look at something."
“游戏结束的时候，人们就会那样，”阿尔玛慢慢地说。“他们会停下来，看着什么东西。”
At ten o'clock Kamal found the third clue, and it was the best one. It was not on the floor. It was on the notice board in the owner's tiny office, next to a pizza menu. A yellow sheet said, "Evening party plan." The last line of the plan said, "9:45, Hat Toss. Prize for the winner."
十点钟，卡马尔发现了第三条线索，也是最好的一条。它不在地上。它在老板那间小办公室的布告栏上，就在一份披萨菜单旁边。一张黄色的纸上写着“晚间派对安排”。安排的最后一行写着：“九点四十五分，抛帽子。获胜者有奖。”
"Hat Toss?" said Alma. "I have never read this sheet."
“抛帽子？”阿尔玛说。“这张纸我从来没读过。”
"You go home at eight," said Kamal. "The party host starts after that."
“你八点就回家了，”卡马尔说。“派对主持人在那之后才开始。”
They found the party host that evening. He was a quiet man in a purple jacket. He arrived at half past eight with a bag of paper hats. He did not seem surprised to see two people waiting for him by the DJ booth.
那天晚上，他们找到了派对主持人。他是一个安静的男人，穿着紫色夹克。他八点半到的，带着一袋纸帽子。看到有两个人在DJ台边等他，他似乎并不意外。
"Hat Toss?" he said, when Kamal asked. "Of course. It is the best part of every party. All the children make a big circle. Then I give the youngest guest a hat, and she throws it at the ball."
“抛帽子？”卡马尔问起时，他说。“当然了。那是每场派对最棒的部分。所有的孩子围成一个大圈。然后我把一顶帽子交给年纪最小的客人，她把它扔向那个球。”
"And it stays up there?" Alma asked.
“它就一直留在上面吗？”阿尔玛问。
"Always. The ball has a little sticky tape around the middle, from an old decoration. The hat lands on it, and the children shout. Then they wave goodbye to it, like a ship."
“一直如此。球中间围着一圈胶带，是以前一件旧装饰留下的。帽子落在上面，孩子们就欢呼起来。然后他们向它挥手告别，就像送别一艘船。”
"Every night?"
“每天晚上都这样？”
"Every night, for six years," the man said. "The owner invented the game himself. He said the hat should stay up there all night. That makes the children excited to come back."
“每天晚上，整整六年了，”那男人说。“这个游戏是老板自己发明的。他说帽子应该整晚留在上面。这样孩子们就会兴奋地想再来。”
Alma sat down on the nearest bench. She looked at the ceiling, and then she started to laugh. She laughed so hard that she had to wipe her eyes.
阿尔玛在最近的长凳上坐下来。她看着天花板，然后笑了起来。她笑得那么厉害，不得不擦眼睛。
"Six years," she said at last. "For two of them I have pushed that hat off with a broom. And the owner told me to find out who did it."
“六年，”她终于说。“其中两年里，我一直用扫帚把那顶帽子捅下来。而老板还叫我查出是谁干的。”
"Maybe he forgot," Kamal said.
“也许他忘了，”卡马尔说。
"Of course he forgot. He is the only person who never reads his own notice board."
“他当然忘了。他是唯一一个从不读自己布告栏的人。”
The owner came in the next morning, still holding his coffee. Alma showed him the yellow sheet and said nothing at all. He read the last line twice. Then he put his hand over his mouth.
第二天早上，老板进来了，手里还端着咖啡。阿尔玛把那张黄纸给他看，一个字也没说。他把最后一行读了两遍。然后他用手捂住了嘴。
"Oh," he said. "That was my idea, wasn't it? And then I said the ball sounded bad."
“哦，”他说。“那是我的主意，对吧？后来我又说那个球声音难听。”
"So what do we do now?" the owner asked. "The game is good. The noise is bad."
“那我们现在怎么办？”老板问。“游戏不错。噪音不好。”
Alma thought about it for a moment. "We buy a ladder with six steps," she said. "And one person takes the hat down gently every morning, before the motor starts. It will take two minutes, not ten."
阿尔玛想了片刻。“我们买一架六级的梯子，”她说。“每天早上，在马达启动之前，由一个人轻轻地把帽子取下来。两分钟就够，不是十分钟。”
"And who is that person?"
“那个人是谁呢？”
"Kamal," said Alma. "He climbs crates. He is already brave."
“卡马尔，”阿尔玛说。“他敢爬箱子。他已经够勇敢了。”
The owner agreed, and the next week a tall orange ladder stood by the wall. Kamal climbed it every morning and lifted the hat from the ball like a fisherman lifting a fish.
老板同意了，下一个星期，一架高高的橘色梯子立在了墙边。卡马尔每天早上爬上去，像渔夫提起一条鱼一样，把帽子从球上提了下来。
Alma kept her promise too. On Friday she let him choose the music for the whole night. The skaters rolled in long circles under the turning lights.
阿尔玛也兑现了她的承诺。星期五，她让他挑了整晚的音乐。滑冰的人们在旋转的灯光下，滑出一个个长长的圆圈。
At a quarter to ten, the host called the youngest guest into the middle of the floor. She was a girl of about five, in a yellow helmet. She held a silver hat in both hands and stared up at the ball.
九点四十五分，主持人把最年幼的客人叫到场地中央。那是个五岁左右的小女孩，戴着黄色头盔。她双手捧着一顶银色的帽子，仰头盯着那个球。
"Ready?" said the host.
“准备好了吗？”主持人说。
Alma stood beside Kamal at the edge of the floor. Neither of them said a word. The girl swung her arm back and threw as hard as she could.
阿尔玛和卡马尔并肩站在场边。他们谁也没说一个字。小女孩把手臂向后一甩，使出全身力气扔了出去。
Thwump.
啪嗒。
