Clara opens the workshop door at seven and stops in the doorway. The wheelbarrow is in the wrong place again. Last night she left it beside the workbench, next to the sack of rags. Now it sits against the east wall, facing the stairs.
克拉拉七点钟打开工坊的门，在门口停住了。那辆独轮手推车又放错地方了。昨晚她把它留在工作台旁边，挨着那袋抹布。现在它靠在东墙边，正对着楼梯。
"Not again," she says to the empty room.
“怎么又来了，”她对着空荡荡的屋子说。
The workshop fills the ground floor of the clock tower. Above it, three hundred steps climb to the great clock, and Clara knows every one of them. She has repaired the clock for six years. She oils its gears, polishes its hands and winds its weights. The wheelbarrow carries those heavy iron weights from the cart to the stairs.
工坊占据了钟楼的整个底层。往上，三百级台阶通向那座大钟，克拉拉熟悉每一级。她修这座钟已经六年了。她给齿轮上油，擦亮指针，给重锤上弦。手推车负责把那些沉重的铁锤从货车运到楼梯口。
She walks around it slowly. The wheel is flat and the handles are cold. Nobody has put anything inside. There is only a thin line of dust behind it, like a pencil mark on the floor.
她绕着它慢慢走了一圈。轮胎是瘪的，把手冰凉。里面没有人放任何东西。它后面只有一条细细的灰尘线，像地板上的一道铅笔印。
This is the fourth morning in a row. On the first morning, she blamed herself. On the second, she blamed the cleaner. On the third, she asked the guard at the gate. He laughed and said the tower had always been strange. Today she has no one left to blame.
这已经是连续第四个早晨了。第一天早上，她怪自己。第二天，她怪清洁工。第三天，她去问大门口的警卫。他笑着说这座塔一向就很古怪。今天她已经没有别人可怪了。
At ten, a woman in a yellow vest knocks on the open door. She carries a long metal ruler under one arm and a tablet in her other hand.
十点钟，一位穿黄色背心的女士敲了敲敞开的门。她腋下夹着一把长长的金属尺，另一只手拿着一台平板电脑。
"Hello," the woman says. "I'm Asha, from the city survey office. I'm checking the foundations of every old building on this street. May I come in?"
“你好，”那位女士说，“我是阿莎，市勘测办公室的。我在检查这条街上每一栋老建筑的地基。我能进来吗？”
"You may," Clara says. "But first, do you believe in ghosts?"
“可以，”克拉拉说，“不过先问你，你信鬼吗？”
Asha blinks. "Professionally, no."
阿莎眨了眨眼。“从职业角度来说，不信。”
"Good. Because someone is moving my wheelbarrow every night, and I want a better answer than a ghost."
“很好。因为每天晚上都有人挪我的手推车，我想要一个比鬼更好的答案。”
Asha looks at the wheelbarrow, then at Clara, and a smile pulls at her mouth. "That sounds like a puzzle. I like puzzles. Tell me everything."
阿莎看看手推车，又看看克拉拉，嘴角忍不住上扬。“听起来像个谜题。我喜欢谜题。把一切都告诉我。”
Clara tells her. She describes the locked door, the single key, and the four mornings. Asha listens with her head tilted and writes notes on her tablet.
克拉拉讲了。她描述了上锁的门、唯一的一把钥匙，还有那四个早晨。阿莎侧着头听，在平板上记着笔记。
"First clue," Asha says. "Nothing is stolen."
“第一条线索，”阿莎说，“没有东西被偷。”
"Right."
“对。”
"So it isn't a thief. A thief wants something. This person only wants the wheelbarrow to be somewhere else." Asha crouches beside the wheel. "Second clue. Show me the line in the dust."
“所以不是小偷。小偷想要东西。这个人只想让手推车待在别的地方。”阿莎蹲到轮子旁边。“第二条线索。给我看看灰尘里的那条线。”
Clara points. Asha follows the line with one finger, from the east wall back to the workbench. It is straight, thin, and perfectly smooth.
克拉拉指了指。阿莎用一根手指顺着线从东墙一直摸回工作台。线笔直、纤细，而且完全平滑。
"No footprints," Asha says. "If someone pushed it, there would be shoe marks on both sides. There is only the wheel."
“没有脚印，”阿莎说，“要是有人推它，两边都会有鞋印。这里只有轮子的痕迹。”
"Maybe the person wore soft shoes."
“也许那人穿的是软底鞋。”
"Maybe. But look at the handles. If you pushed this thing every night, your hands would leave oil on the grips." Asha rubs a handle with her thumb and shows it to Clara. "Clean as a plate."
“也许吧。可是看看把手。要是你每晚都推这东西，手会在握把上留下油渍。”阿莎用拇指擦了擦一个把手，给克拉拉看。“干净得像盘子。”
Clara feels a small chill. "So nobody touches it at all?"
克拉拉感到一阵轻微的寒意。“所以根本没有人碰过它？”
"That's what the dust says. Third clue." Asha stands and takes a glass marble from her vest pocket. "I always carry one. It's the oldest tool I own."
“灰尘是这么说的。第三条线索。”阿莎站起来，从背心口袋里掏出一颗玻璃弹珠。“我总带着一颗。这是我最古老的工具。”
She walks to the workbench and sets the marble on the floor. For a moment, it stays still. Then it begins to roll, very slowly, toward the east wall. Both women watch it cross the room.
她走到工作台边，把弹珠放在地上。有一瞬间，它一动不动。然后它开始滚动，非常缓慢地朝东墙滚去。两个女人看着它穿过房间。
"It's rolling uphill," Clara says.
“它在往上坡滚，”克拉拉说。
"No," Asha says. "It's rolling downhill. We just can't see the hill."
“不，”阿莎说，“它是在往下坡滚。只是我们看不见那个坡。”
She takes the long ruler from under her arm and lays a small spirit level along it. The bubble slides to one end and stays there. Asha reads the number on her tablet twice.
她从腋下取出长尺，把一个小水平仪沿着尺子放好。气泡滑到一端，停在那里。阿莎在平板上把读数看了两遍。
"The floor leans," she says. "Not much. Less than one degree. But enough for a marble."
“地板是倾斜的，”她说，“不多。不到一度。但对一颗弹珠足够了。”
"And enough for a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre," Clara says, slowly. "It rolls by itself."
“对一辆轮胎瘪了的手推车也足够了，”克拉拉慢慢地说，“它自己会滚。”
"One slow centimetre at a time, all night, until it hits the wall." Asha laughs out loud. "Your ghost is a very lazy wheelbarrow."
“一次慢慢滚一厘米，整夜不停，直到撞上墙。”阿莎放声大笑。“你的鬼是一辆非常懒的手推车。”
Clara sits down on an upturned bucket and covers her face with both hands. Her shoulders shake, and for a moment Asha is afraid she is crying. Then the laughter comes out, loud and helpless, and echoes up the empty stairs.
克拉拉坐到一只倒扣的水桶上，双手捂住脸。她的肩膀在抖，有那么一会儿阿莎担心她是在哭。然后笑声冲了出来，响亮而无助，在空荡荡的楼梯上回响。
"I called the guard," Clara says, wiping her eyes. "I checked the locks. I put a chair against the door on the third night. I stayed awake until one o'clock with a torch, and the wheelbarrow was cheating me the whole time."
“我打电话给警卫，”克拉拉擦着眼睛说，“我检查了门锁。第三天晚上，我还把一把椅子顶在门上。我拿着手电筒一直熬到一点钟，而手推车一直在骗我。”
"Did it move while you were watching?"
“你看着的时候它动过吗？”
"No. It waits until I fall asleep."
“没有。它等我睡着了才动。”
They laugh until the clock above them chimes eleven. The sound rolls down the stairwell like a drum. Clara stands up and brushes dust from her trousers.
她们笑个不停，直到头顶的大钟敲了十一下。钟声像鼓声一样顺着楼梯井滚下来。克拉拉站起来，拍掉裤子上的灰。
"Why does the floor lean?" she asks.
“地板为什么会倾斜？”她问。
"It's the tower," Asha says. "The whole building tilts a little to the east. The ground underneath is softer on that side. It's been doing it for decades, very slowly, and nobody noticed because the clock still works."
“因为这座塔，”阿莎说，“整栋楼都微微向东倾斜。下面的地基在那一侧比较松软。它已经这样几十年了，非常缓慢，没有人注意到，因为这座钟依然正常运转。”
"So my clock has been leaning all this time," Clara says. "Of course it has."
“原来我的钟一直在倾斜，”克拉拉说，“当然了。”
"Does it keep good time?"
“它走得准吗？”
"Perfect time. I make sure of it."
“分秒不差。我保证。”
Asha smiles. "Then maybe the tower leans on purpose, to hold the clock more gently."
阿莎微笑着说：“那也许这座塔是故意倾斜的，为了更轻柔地托着这座钟。”
Clara looks at her for a moment too long. Then she looks away and picks up the marble. It has stopped against the wall. She turns it in her fingers. It is cool and clear, with a green twist at the centre.
克拉拉看了她一会儿，时间有点太长了。然后她移开目光，捡起那颗弹珠。它已经停在墙边。她用手指转动它。它冰凉透明，中间有一道绿色的螺旋。
"You can keep that," Asha says. "As a souvenir of your haunted barrow."
“你可以留着它，”阿莎说，“就当作你那辆闹鬼手推车的纪念品。”
"I'd rather give it back and have you stay for lunch."
“我更愿意还给你，然后请你留下来吃午饭。”
"That sounds like an invitation."
“这听起来像邀请。”
"It's a small one," Clara says. "I only have sandwiches and a very good view of the stairs."
“只是个小邀请，”克拉拉说，“我只有三明治，还有一个能把楼梯看得很清楚的好视野。”
Asha follows her up the first flight, then the second. On the landing, they pass a narrow window that frames the square below.
阿莎跟着她爬上第一段楼梯，又爬上第二段。在楼梯平台上，她们经过一扇窄窗，窗外框着下面的广场。
At the top, the clock room is full of slow sound. The great gears turn and the pendulum swings. A thin arm of sunlight slips across the iron floor. Clara shows Asha the mechanism that drives the hands. She explains how each weight is wound and why the escape wheel must never be hurried.
最顶上，钟室里充满了缓慢的声响。巨大的齿轮转动，钟摆摇晃。一缕细细的阳光滑过铁地板。克拉拉向阿莎展示驱动指针的机械装置。她讲解每个重锤是如何上弦的，又解释擒纵轮为什么绝不能催。
Asha listens like a person hearing music. She asks questions about the teeth of the wheels. She asks how Clara learned to love it.
阿莎像听音乐的人一样聆听。她问起那些轮子的齿。她问克拉拉是怎么爱上这一行的。
"I didn't learn," Clara says. "I just kept coming back. After a while, it felt strange to be anywhere else."
“我没有学过，”克拉拉说，“我只是一直回来。过了一阵子，待在别的地方就觉得怪怪的。”
Asha lays her hand on the cool brass frame. "I know that feeling. I have measured a thousand buildings, and only two of them made me want to stay."
阿莎把手放在冰凉的黄铜框架上。“我懂这种感觉。我测量过上千栋建筑，只有两栋让我想留下来。”
"Which two?"
“哪两栋？”
"One is a library in the north. The other is this tower." She hesitates. "Maybe it's three, now."
“一座在北方的图书馆。另一座就是这座塔。”她犹豫了一下。“也许现在是三个了。”
Clara pretends to check a gear. Her heart is ticking much faster than the clock. She has no tool in the workshop to measure that, and she is not sure she wants one.
克拉拉假装检查一个齿轮。她的心跳得比钟还快得多。工坊里没有任何工具能测量这个，而她也不确定自己是否想要。
"I'll write a report," Asha says. "The lean is small and stable. The tower is safe. You only need to put a block under the wheel."
“我会写一份报告，”阿莎说，“倾斜很小，也很稳定。塔是安全的。你只需要在轮子下面垫一块木块。”
"Or I could leave the wheelbarrow by the far wall," Clara says. "It can roll home every night."
“或者我可以把手推车放在远处的墙边，”克拉拉说，“它每晚都可以自己滚回家。”
"It would be a shame to stop it. It's the best colleague you've ever had."
“停掉它就可惜了。它是你有过的最好的同事。”
"It's the only one who never talks back."
“它是唯一一个从不顶嘴的。”
Asha laughs again. The clock begins to strike noon. Deep, round notes fill the room and shake the floor. When the last one fades, Asha turns to Clara and tilts her head.
阿莎又笑了。大钟开始敲响正午。深沉而圆润的钟声充满房间，震动着地板。最后一声消散时，阿莎转向克拉拉，歪着头。
"If the whole tower leans a little to the east," she says. "Which way do you think it is pulling us?"
“要是整座塔都稍稍向东倾斜，”她说，“你觉得它在把我们往哪边拉？”
