The Ticket Machine at the Kite Shop

The ticket machine in the kite shop has a problem, and everybody on the sea wall knows it. You put in a coin, you press a button, and the machine gives you the wrong change. Sometimes it gives you too little. Sometimes it gives you a handful of heavy brass tokens that no shop in town accepts.

风筝店里的售票机有个毛病，海堤上的人都知道。你投进一枚硬币，按一下按钮，机器就会找错零钱。有时找得太少。有时它会吐出一把沉甸甸的黄铜代币，城里没有哪家店肯收。

Tala stands behind the counter on the morning of the Kite Festival. She is sixteen, and she is in charge of the shop until noon. The owner has gone to the harbour office to collect the festival flags. Her jobs are simple: sell tickets, keep the shelves tidy and look after the dragon.

风筝节那天早晨，塔拉站在柜台后面。她十六岁，中午之前由她负责看店。店主去港务办公室领节日旗帜了。她的任务很简单：卖票，保持货架整齐，照看那条龙。

The dragon is the biggest kite in the shop. It is twenty metres long, with green silk scales and a tail made of a hundred ribbons. It lies in a long canvas bag on a wheeled trolley by the door. At noon, the festival judges will stand at the end of the sea wall. They will count the kites that fly. The shop's dragon must be the first one up, because the owner has promised it.

那条龙是店里最大的风筝。它有二十米长，绿色的丝绸鳞片，拖着一条由一百条彩带做成的尾巴。它躺在门边一辆带轮子的推车上，装在一只长长的帆布袋里。中午，评委们会站在海堤的尽头，清点放飞的风筝。店里的这条龙必须第一个飞起来，因为店主答应过了。

"How far is the launch platform?" asks Ciro. He is fifteen and works at the shop on weekends. He has just arrived with a bag of oranges under his arm.

“发射平台有多远？”西罗问。他十五岁，周末在店里打工。他腋下夹着一袋橙子，刚到。

"Two kilometres along the wall," says Tala. "If the path is clear, it takes twenty-five minutes with the trolley."

“沿着海堤走两公里，”塔拉说，“如果路上畅通，推着车要二十五分钟。”

"And is the path clear?"

“路上畅通吗？”

Tala looks out of the window. The sea wall is a river of people. Families with prams, stalls selling paper hats, a band with drums and a man walking a goat. It is nine forty-five, and the crowd grows thicker every minute.

塔拉朝窗外看去。海堤上人潮如河。有推着婴儿车的一家家人，有卖纸帽子的摊位，有一支敲着鼓的乐队，还有一个牵着山羊走路的人。现在是九点四十五分，人群一分钟比一分钟更密。

"No," she says. "The owner told me to leave at eleven. But I think we need to go earlier."

“不通，”她说，“店主让我十一点出发。不过我觉得我们得早点走。”

They start loading the trolley, and then the first customer of the day comes in. He is a tall man with a sunburnt nose. He wants a small blue kite for his daughter, and he pays with a big coin.

他们开始往推车上装东西，就在这时，当天的第一位顾客进来了。他是个高个子，鼻子被晒得通红。他想给女儿买一只蓝色的小风筝，付了一枚大硬币。

Tala presses the buttons on the ticket machine. It makes a clicking noise, and the little door pops open. Five brass tokens roll out onto the counter. Each one has a small wave stamped on its face.

塔拉按了按售票机的按钮。它发出咔嗒咔嗒的声音，小门弹开了。五枚黄铜代币滚到柜台上。每一枚的正面都压着一朵小小的浪花。

"These are not coins," says the man.

“这些不是硬币，”那个男人说。

"I know," Tala says with a tired smile. "The machine does that. I am very sorry. Let me find you real change."

“我知道，”塔拉疲惫地笑了笑，“这机器就这样。真对不起。我给你找真正的零钱。”

She opens the cash drawer and counts out the coins by hand. The man leaves, shaking his head. Tala picks up one of the tokens and holds it to the light. Then she stops, because the wave looks familiar. She has seen it somewhere else, but she cannot think where.

她打开钱箱，一枚一枚地数出硬币。男人摇着头走了。塔拉拿起一枚代币，对着光举起来。然后她停住了，因为这朵浪花看着眼熟。她在别的什么地方见过，却想不起来是哪里。

At ten fifteen, they leave the shop. The trolley is heavy, and the dragon's tail drags behind it like a green river. Outside, the crowd closes round them at once. A boy steps on the ribbons. A woman with a pram has to stop and wait. After ten minutes, they have moved only a hundred metres.

十点十五分，他们离开了店。推车很沉，龙的尾巴像一条绿色的河拖在后面。外面，人群立刻围拢到他们身边。一个男孩踩到了彩带。一位推婴儿车的女士只好停下来等着。十分钟后，他们只前进了一百米。

"This will take an hour," Ciro says. He wipes his forehead. "We are going to miss the judges."

“这样得走一个钟头，”西罗说，擦了擦额头，“我们要赶不上评委了。”

"I know," Tala says. She pulls the trolley out of the crowd and parks it against the sea wall. "I just need to think."

“我知道，”塔拉说。她把推车拉出人群，靠在海堤边停住。“我只是需要想一想。”

She puts her hand in her pocket and finds the brass token. She turns it over and looks at the wave. Behind her, the old wall is built of grey stone blocks. About ten steps away, there is a heavy iron door in it. It is half covered by a rusty grating. Above the door, carved into the stone, is a small wave.

她把手伸进口袋，摸到了那枚黄铜代币。她把它翻过来，看着上面的浪花。她身后，那堵老墙是用灰色石块砌成的。大约十步远的地方，墙上有一扇厚重的铁门。它被一块生锈的格栅遮住了一半。门上方的石头上，刻着一朵小小的浪花。

"Ciro, look at that door."

“西罗，看那扇门。”

"What door?"

“什么门？”

"The one with the wave on it." Tala points. "Why does the machine give out tokens with a wave? Why would a ticket machine in a kite shop have tokens at all?"

“有浪花的那扇。”塔拉指着说，“机器为什么会吐出带浪花的代币？风筝店里的售票机，为什么会有代币这种东西？”

Ciro walks over to the grating. Beside the door is a small turnstile with a slot. The slot is exactly the size of a coin. He takes the token from Tala's hand and pushes it in. The turnstile clicks.

西罗走到格栅旁边。门边有一个带投币口的小旋转栅门。投币口正好是一枚硬币那么大。他从塔拉手里拿过代币，塞了进去。旋转栅门咔嗒一声。

"It fits," he whispers.

“正合适，”他低声说。

"The machine is very old," says Tala, thinking aloud. "The owner built it from parts. Maybe it came from the old maintenance tunnel, the one workers used before the promenade existed. If the tunnel runs along the inside of the wall, it must go straight to the end."

“这台机器很老了，”塔拉边想边说，“店主是用零件拼出来的。也许它来自那条老检修隧道，就是海滨步道出现之前工人们用的那条。如果隧道沿着墙的里侧延伸，那它一定直通尽头。”

"Or it goes nowhere," says Ciro. "Or it is full of water."

“也可能哪儿也不通，”西罗说，“也可能灌满了水。”

"Maybe. But the crowd is certain to be slow."

“也许吧。但人群肯定会很慢。”

They look at each other. The clock on the bell tower says ten thirty-five. Ciro sighs, then smiles. "You have five tokens. Do you think they work for a trolley?"

他们互相看了一眼。钟楼上的钟指着十点三十五分。西罗叹了口气，又笑了。“你有五枚代币。你觉得它们对推车管用吗？”

"We will find out."

“试了就知道。”

Tala feeds a token into the slot and pushes the heavy door open. A cool smell of stone and salt rolls out. Inside, a narrow tunnel runs away into the dark. Thin lines of daylight shine through small holes in the wall. They look like a long row of stars. Ciro switches on the torch on his phone.

塔拉把一枚代币投进投币口，推开了沉重的门。一股石头和海盐的凉气涌了出来。里面，一条狭窄的隧道向黑暗中延伸。细细的几缕日光从墙上的小孔照进来，像一长排星星。西罗打开了手机上的手电筒。

They pull the trolley inside. It takes both of them to lift the wheels over the step. The dragon's tail snags on a pipe and tears a little, but Tala does not stop to look. Behind them, the noise of the crowd fades away. She hears only the squeak of the trolley wheels. On the other side of the wall, the sea knocks quietly.

他们把推车拉了进去。要两个人一起才能把轮子抬过门槛。龙的尾巴被一根管子挂住，撕破了一点，但塔拉没有停下来看。他们身后，人群的喧闹渐渐远去。她只听见推车轮子的吱呀声。墙的另一侧，海水轻轻地拍打着。

The tunnel is long, and the floor is wet in places. Twice they have to stop to untangle the ribbons from a rusty bolt. Once, Ciro slips on the damp stones and almost drops the torch. Tala catches his arm just in time, and they both laugh nervously.

隧道很长，地上有几处是湿的。他们有两次不得不停下来，把彩带从一颗生锈的螺栓上解开。有一次，西罗在潮湿的石头上滑了一跤，差点把手电筒摔了。塔拉及时抓住了他的胳膊，两个人都紧张地笑了。

"Seven minutes," he says, checking his phone. "We are moving three times faster than outside."

“七分钟，”他看着手机说，“我们比外面快三倍。”

"Good. Keep going."

“好。继续走。”

At last the tunnel turns upward, and they find a short flight of steps. At the top is another iron door with another slot. Tala pushes a second token in. The lock clunks, and she pushes the door with her shoulder. White daylight pours in, and with it comes the wind and the sound of drums.

隧道终于转向上坡，他们发现了一小段台阶。台阶顶上是另一扇铁门，也有一个投币口。塔拉投进第二枚代币。锁咔哒一响，她用肩膀顶开了门。白色的日光倾泻进来，同时涌来的还有风和鼓声。

They step out onto the launch platform at the very end of the sea wall. The sea spreads out in front of them, bright and blue. Behind them, a long line of people is still walking slowly along the promenade. The clock on the judges' table says eleven twenty-two.

他们走了出来，到了海堤最尽头的发射平台上。大海在他们面前铺开，明亮而湛蓝。他们身后，一长队人还在海滨步道上缓缓前行。评委桌上的钟指着十一点二十二分。

Two judges look up from their papers. One of them frowns at Tala's wet shoes. "Where did you two come from?"

两位评委从文件上抬起头来。其中一位看着塔拉湿漉漉的鞋，皱起了眉。“你们俩是从哪儿冒出来的？”

"From the shop," says Ciro, grinning. "We took a shortcut."

“从店里来的，”西罗咧嘴笑着说，“我们走了条近路。”

There is no time to say more. Tala unzips the canvas bag and spreads the dragon across the stones. Ciro runs to the far end, lifts the head and shouts that he is ready. Tala takes the line in both hands. A strong wind is already pulling the silk scales upward. She counts to three, runs four steps forward, and lets go.

来不及多说了。塔拉拉开帆布袋的拉链，把龙铺展在石头上。西罗跑到另一头，托起龙头，喊说他准备好了。塔拉双手握住线。一阵强风已经在把丝绸鳞片往上拉。她数到三，向前跑了四步，松开了手。