In Stonebank, the river was called the Sella; in Willow Bend, across the water, it was called the Morrow. Neither village could agree on a bridge, so everything crossed by old Tomas's ferry: flour, letters, schoolchildren, and the occasional nervous goat. His grandson, also Tomas, kept the fare box and learned the current by watching bubbles. He knew the river's moods the way other boys knew football scores, and he knew the villages rarely spoke except to complain about the ferry timetable.
在石岸镇，这条河叫塞拉河；在对岸的柳湾，它叫莫罗河。两个村子始终没能就建桥达成一致，于是所有东西都靠老托马斯渡船过河：面粉、信件、上学的孩子，偶尔还有一头紧张的羊。他的孙子也叫托马斯，负责看守船费箱，靠观察水泡来读懂水流。别的男孩熟悉足球比分，他熟悉这条河的脾气；他也知道，两岸的人很少说话，除非是抱怨渡船时刻表。
One April morning a girl from Willow Bend came aboard with a crate of young willow cuttings, selling them to gardeners. Her name was Nia. Young Tomas helped her lift the crate, and she asked why nobody in Stonebank planted willows. “Because they belong to your side,” he said, repeating what he had heard all his life. Nia looked at the water, which did not care about sides, and laughed. By the time the ferry touched the far bank, they had agreed to meet halfway.
四月的一个早晨，柳湾的一个女孩抱着一箱柳树苗上了船，要把树苗卖给园艺爱好者。她叫妮娅。小托马斯帮她抬起箱子，她问为什么石岸镇没人种柳树。“因为柳树属于你们那边，”他说，重复着他从小听到大的话。妮娅看着河水——河水并不在乎哪边是哪边——笑了起来。渡船靠上对岸时，他们已经约好下次在河中央碰面。
The plan was simple: Nia would bring cuttings, and young Tomas would find buyers. They met at the ferry dock every second Saturday and shared the profits in careful halves. For a season it worked. Then the old ferryman raised his price, saying the engine needed parts he could not afford. Buyers stopped coming. Nia's father accused Stonebank of greed, and a Stonebank shopkeeper accused Willow Bend of stealing customers. The villages revived an argument older than either of them.
计划很简单：妮娅带树苗来，小托马斯负责找买主。每隔一个星期六，他们在渡口碰面，把利润仔细地对半分。这个安排顺利了一季。后来老摆渡人提高了船费，说发动机需要换零件，他买不起。买主不再来了。妮娅的父亲指责石岸镇贪心，石岸镇的一位店主则指责柳湾抢走了顾客。两个村子又把一场比它们自身更古老的争吵翻了出来。
Young Tomas found his grandfather sitting by the engine with a spanner and no idea where to begin. “The price was never the problem,” the old man said. “People stopped needing me. They want a road.” He showed the boy a letter from the council: a concrete bridge was being considered, but the villages had to agree on where it should stand. Neither would accept the other's chosen spot. Tomas folded the letter and looked across the water, where Nia was waiting with a crate no one had ordered.
小托马斯发现祖父坐在发动机旁，手里拿着扳手，却不知从何下手。“价钱从来不是问题，”老人说，“是人们不再需要我了。他们想要一条路。”他给男孩看了一封市政会的信：有人提议修一座水泥桥，但两个村子必须就桥的位置达成一致。双方都不肯接受对方选的地点。托马斯把信折好，望向对岸，妮娅正守着一箱没人订购的树苗等他。
That winter the river rose. Floodwater lifted the ferry dock and carried it downstream in pieces; for three weeks no one could cross. Nia's mother fell ill, and the medicine she needed sat in a Stonebank pharmacy. Canoes were dangerous, and the road bridge was an hour away. So the villages did something unusual: they met on the bank, in the rain, and asked what each could spare.
那年冬天，河水上涨。洪水托起渡口，把它冲成碎片带往下游；整整三个星期，没有人能过河。妮娅的母亲病倒了，她需要的药就放在石岸镇的一家药店里。划独木舟太危险，而从公路桥绕行要一个小时。于是两个村子做了一件不寻常的事：他们冒雨在岸边见面，问彼此能拿出什么。
Stonebank had timber from an old barn; Willow Bend had carpenters and rope. Together they built a narrow footbridge at the place both sides had once rejected, low enough to survive the next flood and plain enough to offend no one. Old Tomas became its keeper and charged no fare, only a promise that each traveller would carry something for the other bank. On the first morning, young Tomas crossed with a sack of flour and returned with willow cuttings. The river still had two names. It simply had, at last, one crossing.
石岸镇有一座旧谷仓拆下的木料；柳湾有木匠和绳子。他们一起在双方都曾拒绝的位置搭起一座窄窄的步行桥，桥身低得能熬过下一场洪水，样式朴素得不会冒犯任何人。老托马斯成了守桥人，不收过桥费，只要求每位过桥者替对岸捎一样东西。第一天早上，小托马斯背着一袋面粉过去，带着柳树苗回来。这条河仍有两个名字。它只是终于有了一处可以过河的地方。