Odalys had been living in the small town for exactly nine days when she first noticed the clock above the town hall was wrong. It read four minutes fast, consistently, every single time she checked it against her phone.
奥达利斯住进这座小镇整整九天的时候，第一次注意到市政厅上方的钟不准。它总是快四分钟，每一次她拿它和手机对时，都是如此。
She mentioned it to a coworker, expecting a shrug or a quick joke about small-town maintenance budgets. Instead, the woman looked at her strangely, as if Odalys had asked something she wasn't supposed to ask.
她跟一位同事提起这件事，本以为会得到一个耸肩，或者一句关于小镇维修预算的玩笑。可那位女同事却用一种奇怪的眼神看着她，仿佛奥达利斯问了一个不该问的问题。
"It's always been four minutes fast," the coworker said. "Nobody fixes that clock. Ask Emeric at the hardware store, if you're really curious."
“它一直都快四分钟，”同事说，“没人修那个钟。你要是真好奇，就去问五金店的埃梅里克吧。”
Odalys, still new enough to feel awkward walking into unfamiliar shops, went anyway during her lunch break. Emeric turned out to be an elderly man who had been repairing the town's clocks, on and off, for nearly fifty years.
奥达利斯刚到这里不久，走进陌生的店铺还觉得别扭，但她还是在午休时去了。埃梅里克是个上了年纪的老人，断断续续修了将近五十年镇上的钟。
"That clock has run four minutes fast since 1974," Emeric told her, barely looking up from the drawer he was sorting. "It was set that way on purpose, and it's stayed that way ever since."
“那个钟从1974年起就一直快四分钟，”埃梅里克告诉她，头几乎没抬，还在整理手里的抽屉，“它是故意那样调的，从此就一直这样。”
He explained that in 1974, a fire had broken out at the shoe factory that used to stand where the parking lot was now. The factory's warning siren had been slightly delayed that morning, and four minutes had made the difference between a frightening evacuation and a fatal one.
他解释说，1974年，在如今停车场所在的地方，曾经有一家制鞋厂，那里发生了一场火灾。那天早上，工厂的警报器稍微晚响了一点，而这四分钟，就是一次惊险的疏散和一场致命的灾难之间的差别。
Afterward, the council had voted to set the courthouse clock four minutes fast, a permanent reminder never to assume there was time to spare. "If the clock ran on time," Emeric said, "it would just be a clock like any other one in any other town."
事后，镇议会投票决定，把法院的钟调快四分钟，作为一个永久的提醒：永远不要想当然地认为还有时间可以浪费。“要是这钟走得准，”埃梅里克说，“它就只是一座钟，跟别的镇上别的钟没有什么两样。”
Whoever had set it that way, he added, must have wanted the whole town to remember, not just the people who had lived through it.
他又补充说，不管当初是谁把它调成这样的，一定是希望全镇的人都记住，而不仅仅是那些亲身经历过的人。
"Most people who ask about it have lived here for years," he said, finally looking up at her. "You've been here nine days."
“大多数问起这个钟的人，都在这里住了好些年了，”他说，终于抬起头来看着她，“你才来了九天。”
Odalys hadn't expected an answer with this much weight behind it, and she said so. Emeric shrugged and handed her a spare part he had been meaning to drop off at the hall anyway.
奥达利斯没想到会得到一个分量这么重的回答，她也这么说了。埃梅里克耸耸肩，把一个备用零件递给她，说他本来就打算要送到市政厅去的。
"Come by Saturday," he said. "We wind the church clock together every week. Might as well learn how it's done."
“星期六过来吧，”他说，“我们每个星期都一起给教堂的钟上发条。你不妨学学怎么弄。”
