十分钟
The nurse who sleeps for ten minutes
Name: ________________ Date: ________
从那天起，我每天十二点就把萝卜放进锅里。两点，白师傅的太太在车里朝我竖起了大拇指。
两点五十，门喊“欢迎光临”，我只慢了半秒。进步很明显。
进来的是一个年轻护士，护士服外面套着一件羽绒服，眼睛下面挂着两个黑眼圈。她进门第一件事不是买东西，而是看表。后来我才知道，她叫小梅，在旁边的医院值大夜班。
她买了一碗泡面，倒上热水，坐到窗前等着。泡面要等三分钟。一分钟后，她开始打瞌睡；两分钟后，她趴在桌上，睡着了。
三分钟一到，我轻轻叫了她一声：“泡好了。”
她一下子坐起来，看了看手机，很不高兴：“你怎么把我叫醒了？”
“不是泡好了吗？”
“我是来睡觉的，不是来吃面的。”她揉揉眼睛，“病房里电话一直响，护士站的灯一直亮，怎么也睡不着。半夜三点，这儿是全城最安静的地方。我只有十分钟。”
说完，她又趴在桌上睡了。七分钟后，她的手机闹钟响了。她站起来，几口就把泡软的面吃完了，跑回了医院。
原来，那碗泡面是她的床位费。四块五一晚，比哪儿的床都便宜。
第二天晚上，两点五十，她准时来了。泡面，热水，睡着。我关掉店里的音乐，把手机调成静音，站在收银台后面，一动不动，连呼吸都很小心。有个客人进来大声打电话，我对他摇摇头，又看看小梅，他马上把声音放小了。
三点，送货车到了，我只好去了后门。回来的时候，她已经走了。这一次，那碗泡面一口也没动，旁边放着五块钱。收银台上又放着一张纸条：
“她只需要十分钟，你给了她十分钟。八十分。”
八十分？我居然被人打分了！我看着那碗已经凉了的面，心跳得有点快。刚才店里就她一个人。难道是她？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 喊 | hǎn | to shout; to yell |
| 秒 | miǎo | second (unit of time or angle) |
| 护士 | hùshi | nurse |
| 挂 | guà | to hang; to put up |
| 窗 | chuāng | window |
| 响 | xiǎng | to sound; to ring; sound; noise |
| 亮 | liàng | bright; shiny; to shine; to light up |
| 费 | fèi | fee; expense; cost; to spend; to cost |
| 准时 | zhǔnshí | on time; punctual |
| 只好 | zhíhǎo | to have no choice but to; to be forced to |
| 凉 | liáng | cool; cold |
| 难道 | nándào | (rhetorical) could it be that; surely not |
English (for the teacher)
From then on, I put the radishes in the pot at twelve every night. At two, Master Bai’s wife gave me a thumbs up from the car.
At ten to three the door called “welcome”, and I was only half a second behind. Clear progress.
In came a young nurse with a down jacket over her uniform and dark rings under her eyes. The first thing she did when she came in wasn’t to buy anything, but to look at her watch. Later I found out her name was Xiaomei, and she worked the night shift at the hospital next door.
She bought a cup of instant noodles, poured in hot water and sat by the window to wait. Instant noodles take three minutes. After one minute she started to nod off; after two, she was slumped over the table, asleep.
When the three minutes were up, I said to her gently: “Your noodles are ready.”
She sat bolt upright, looked at her phone and was not pleased: “Why did you wake me up?”
“Aren’t your noodles ready?”
“I come here to sleep, not to eat noodles.” She rubbed her eyes. “On the ward the phone never stops ringing and the light at the nurses’ station never goes off, so I can’t sleep at all. At three in the morning, this is the quietest place in the city. I’ve only got ten minutes.”
And with that, she slumped over the table and went back to sleep. Seven minutes later her phone alarm went off. She stood up, wolfed down the soggy noodles in a few mouthfuls and ran back to the hospital.
So the noodles were her bed fee. Four yuan fifty a night, cheaper than any bed anywhere.
The next night, at ten to three, she came in right on time. Noodles, hot water, asleep. I turned off the music in the shop, put my phone on silent and stood behind the till, without moving a muscle, even breathing carefully. A customer came in talking loudly on the phone; I shook my head at him and glanced at Xiaomei, and he lowered his voice straight away.
At three the van came, and I had to go out the back. When I came back, she’d gone. This time the noodles hadn’t been touched, and five yuan lay beside them. There was another note on the counter:
“She only needed ten minutes, and you gave her ten minutes. Eighty out of a hundred.”
Eighty? Someone was actually marking me! I looked at the noodles, already cold, and my heart beat a little faster. Just now, she was the only one in the shop. Could it be her?