on the train to chongqing || 去重庆的火车上

it’s only 9:30pm, but they’ve already turned off the main lights of the train.

time to sleep, the young woman in our compartment tells her son. you have to take your shoes off before coming onto grandpa’s bed! otherwise it’ll get dirty.

as she tugs the shoes off his fidgeting feet, the elderly gentleman asks the boy with a smile in his voice: how old are you?

the boy is silent. tell grandpa! his mother says. how old are you?

he gets shy, or distracted—he hops off her lap and wanders over to fidget with the foldable footholds on either side of the compartment door.

don’t play with that! she says. that’s for when we climb down. you’ll get your fingers stuck.

the boy stops and obediently plops himself back across her lap.

she resumes tugging at his sneakers. so, tell grandpa! how old are you?

two, he says.

wow, only two and he already knows how to talk so well! the elderly woman, sitting on the other lower bunk says. he’s so smart!

the mother looks at her son. is grandma right? are you smart?

i’m smart, the boy says.

the shoes are off. she looks up, pondering how to maneuver him to the top bunk. i scoot over and pat the edge of my bunk.

come, sit on auntie’s bed first, i’ll lift you up from there, the mother says, putting her child on my bed without further ado. he begins kicking his feet over the edge of my bunk. i put a hand out on his small chest to restrain him.

she hoists herself up so she is standing on the middle bunks, then bends down. i lift the boy into her outstretched arms. here you go sister, i say, feeling weird and surprised as the word escapes my mouth.

she doesn’t react, though. she only says thank you, and lifts him up on the top bunk before clambering up herself.

they begin quibbling quietly over the reading light by the bed (he keeps turning it on, she keeps turning it off). eventually she pretends to go to sleep. he flips the light on and off a few more times, but eventually gets bored or sleepy, and stops.

the entire train has gone quiet. outside, the dark countryside speeds by. occasionally, we pass a few rumbling trucks, or a construction site that sends sharp white light into our compartment like a strobe.

i can see the light from my bunk shining dimly on the closed eyes of the grandma sleeping on the lower bunk across from me. i drag the curtains over a bit, so my reading light is dimmer.

but later, when the grandpa returns from going to the bathroom, he peeks over the edge of my bunk.  it’s ok, turn the light on brighter, he whispers. reading in this darkness, you’ll hurt your eyes.

—

才9:30可是车已经关灯了。

“该睡了，” 我们车厢的一个姑娘告诉她儿子。“脱鞋！不脱就上不了爷爷的床，因为脏。”

当她帮儿子脱鞋的时候，那位老先生笑着问那男孩：“你几岁了？”

孩子不吭声。“告诉爷爷啊！” 他妈妈说。“咋们几岁了？”

不知是害羞还是分心，那孩子跳下他妈的腿，跑到车厢门口两边折叠的立足点。

“别玩那些！” 妈妈说。“那是我们爬下来用的。现在你会加到手指头。”

那孩子乖乖地又爬到她腿上。

她继续拽她孩子的小鞋子。“告诉爷爷！几岁了？”

两岁了，他说。

“哇，才两岁就已经真么懂事了！” 那坐在另一边的老太太说。“真聪明哦！”

妈妈对儿子说：奶奶对吗？咋们聪明不聪明？

“聪明，” 孩子回答。

鞋子终于脱了。她把他抱起来以后就开始琢磨怎么把孩子弄到上铺去。

我拍了拍我的中层铺。

“来，先坐在阿姨这儿，然后我把你抬到上面，” 妈妈说。她立刻把孩子放在我床上。孩子好好儿地坐在我床边提着脚往着他妈。我伸出一只手好拦住他的小身体。

那妈妈在中层铺站好了以后，我就把她儿子递给她。“来，姐，” 我脱口而出。

可那妈妈好像没什么奇怪的反应。“谢谢，” 她说。

火车上越来越安静了。窗外的黑暗乡村飞快地过去。偶尔我们会经过几辆隆隆作响的卡车或一个建筑工地，突然送一个像闪光灯的白光到车厢里。

那妈妈和她儿子悄悄地吵架因为孩子老想开灯，妈妈总是关。最后，妈妈只好假装睡着。孩子又开关了几次，但很快感到无聊或困倦，并停止了。

我床上的光照到了我对面下铺那奶奶已闭上的眼睛，所以我把窗帘拉了一下好盖住我的灯，让它暗一点。

但后来，当爷爷从洗手间回来时，他的头出现在我枕头旁。”没关系，”他低声对我说。“把灯开亮一点吧。真么暗读书会伤眼睛的。”