Corbin and Rhiannon had spent the whole weekend sorting through their mother's house, room by room, deciding what to keep, sell, or give away. It was slower and harder than either of them had expected.
科尔宾和丽安农用了整个周末整理母亲的房子，一间一间地过，决定哪些留下、哪些卖掉、哪些送人。这件事比他们两人预想的都更慢，也更难。
The piano was the only thing they hadn't agreed on by Sunday afternoon. Rhiannon wanted to keep it. Corbin, who was paying to store everything else in a rented unit, thought it made more sense to sell it and split the money.
到了周日下午，只有钢琴这一件东西他们还没谈拢。丽安农想留着它。科尔宾正在花钱用租来的仓储间存放其他所有东西，他觉得把钢琴卖掉、钱对半分更合理。
"It's an expensive piece of furniture neither of us plays," Corbin said, trying to keep his voice reasonable. "Storage isn't cheap, and neither of us has room for a piano in an apartment."
“这是一件很贵的家具，我们俩谁也不弹，”科尔宾说，尽量让自己的语气显得讲理。“仓储费可不便宜，而且我们俩住的公寓都放不下一架钢琴。”
However, Rhiannon didn't answer right away. She ran her hand along the closed lid, the way their mother used to before she sat down to play in the evenings.
然而，丽安农没有马上回答。她用手沿着合上的琴盖慢慢抚过，就像母亲以前每天晚上坐下弹琴之前那样。
"You think I want the money that badly," she said finally. "That's not what this is about."
“你以为我有多想要那笔钱，”她终于开口说，“这根本不是钱的问题。”
"Then what is it about?" Corbin asked, more gently than before.
“那是什么问题？”科尔宾问，语气比刚才温和了许多。
Rhiannon told him something he hadn't known: two years earlier, their mother had asked her to promise the piano wouldn't be sold. If they sold it now, she said, it would feel like breaking a promise that still mattered.
丽安农告诉了他一件他不知道的事：两年前，母亲让她答应，绝不卖掉这架钢琴。她说，如果现在卖掉，就像是违背了一个至今仍然很重要的承诺。
Corbin sat down slowly on the piano bench. If he had known about the promise from the start, he would never have suggested selling it at all.
科尔宾慢慢在琴凳上坐了下来。如果他一开始就知道这个承诺，他根本不会提出要卖掉钢琴。
"You should have told me that yesterday," he said, though there was no real anger in it, only something closer to regret.
“你昨天就该告诉我这件事的，”他说，不过话里并没有真正的怒气，更多的是一种近似于懊悔的情绪。
"I didn't want it to sound like I was using her against you," Rhiannon admitted. "I know how that would have looked."
“我不想让你觉得我是在拿妈妈来压你，”丽安农承认道。“我知道那样会显得多不好。”
They ended up renting a slightly larger storage unit than planned, one with enough space for a piano neither of them could play. By then, both of them finally understood why it mattered.
最后，他们租下了一个比原计划稍大一点的仓储间，大小刚好能放下一架他们谁也不会弹的钢琴。到那时，两个人终于都明白了它为什么那么重要。
