Jalen leans back in his chair and smiles at Wanda across the little table. For an hour, she has been telling him about forty years in her bakery on Mill Street. She has described the winter when the ovens broke. She has told him about the bride who came in for a cake at six in the morning.
贾伦靠在椅背上，隔着小桌子对万达微笑。一个小时以来，她一直在给他讲她在磨坊街那家面包店里度过的四十年。她描述了烤炉坏掉的那个冬天。她还讲了那位清晨六点来订蛋糕的新娘。
"That's wonderful," Jalen says. "I think that's everything I need. Thank you so much for your time."
“太精彩了，”贾伦说，“我想这就是我需要的全部了。非常感谢您抽出时间。”
He reaches for his recorder to switch it off. The red light is not on. He presses the button, then presses it again. The screen says, Ready to record. Jalen's stomach drops. In sixty minutes, he has not recorded a single word.
他伸手去关录音笔。红灯没有亮。他按了一下按钮，又按了一下。屏幕上写着：准备录音。贾伦的心一下子沉了下去。六十分钟里，他一个字也没有录下来。
He thinks about pretending that everything is fine. He could write down what he remembers and say the quotes are from memory. But the real stories would be gone, and Wanda deserves better. He takes a deep breath.
他想过假装一切正常。他可以把记得的写下来，说引文是凭记忆写的。可是真正的故事就没了，而万达值得更好的对待。他深深吸了一口气。
"Wanda, I have to tell you something embarrassing. I forgot to press record. Nothing was saved."
“万达，我得告诉您一件很难为情的事。我忘了按录音。什么都没有保存下来。”
Her eyebrows rise, and for a second he is sure she will be angry. Instead, she laughs, a big, warm laugh that fills the room. "Oh, dear. Thirty years ago I did the same thing with a camera. Half of my daughter's first birthday was a picture of the floor."
她的眉毛扬了起来，有一瞬间他确信她会生气。可她却笑了，那是一阵响亮而温暖的大笑，充满了整个房间。“哎呀，天哪。三十年前，我用相机也干过同样的事。我女儿一岁生日的照片，有一半拍的是地板。”
"I'm so sorry," Jalen says. "Would you be willing to do it again? I promise I'll check the light this time."
“真对不起，”贾伦说，“您愿意再讲一遍吗？这次我保证检查指示灯。”
"Of course. But I should warn you, I don't remember what I said before."
“当然可以。不过我得提醒你，我不记得之前说了什么。”
"That's fine. I will ask different questions."
“没关系。我会问不同的问题。”
This time, the red light glows, and Jalen checks it twice. Because Wanda has no script to follow, she wanders into new territory. She tells him about the night the whole street lost power. That night, she says, she baked bread by candlelight for the neighbors. She tells him about the old man who came every morning for one roll and never once spoke.
这一次，红灯亮着，贾伦检查了两遍。因为万达没有现成的稿子可循，她漫游到了新的话题。她给他讲了整条街停电的那个夜晚。她说，那天晚上，她点着蜡烛，为邻居们烤面包。她又讲到那位每天早上来买一个面包卷、却从来不说一句话的老先生。
When they finish, Jalen listens to the first minute of the recording just to be safe. Then he looks at her. "That was better than the first time."
结束的时候，为保险起见，贾伦听了录音的第一分钟。然后他看着她。“这次比第一次更好。”
"Then you should forget to record more often," Wanda says. She reaches for the last cookie on the plate.
“那你就应该多忘记录音几次，”万达说。她伸手拿起了盘子里的最后一块饼干。
