On Monday, Leo stacked a tower of stickers on his desk and announced that anyone who voted for him would get two. Half the class crowded around. Nadia watched from the window, where the tomato seedlings she had raised since January leaned toward the light. She wanted to be garden captain more than anything, but she had nothing to give away except a notebook full of planting dates.
星期一，利奥在课桌上堆起一座贴纸塔，宣布谁投他一票就能拿两张。半个班立刻围了过去。娜迪娅从窗边看着，她一月起养的番茄苗正朝着光倾斜。她比什么都想当菜园队长，可她能送人的，只有一本记满播种日期的笔记本。
“That isn't fair,” she said at lunch, and the word tasted brave and thin. Iris shrugged. “It's just stickers.” But Nadia kept thinking about the seedlings, how they grew whether or not anyone clapped. After school she wrote a question on a card: Should a candidate be allowed to buy votes with presents?
“这不公平。”她在午饭时说，这个词说出口既勇敢又单薄。伊丽丝耸耸肩：“不过是贴纸。”可娜迪娅一直想着那些苗，它们不管有没有人鼓掌都会长大。放学后，她在一张卡片上写下一个问题：候选人可以用礼物买选票吗？
Mr. Okafor read the card aloud without saying who had written it. Then he drew three empty lines on the board. “A fair election needs rules everyone agrees to before it starts.” The class argued for an hour. In the end they wrote: no gifts, no insults, and every candidate answers the same three questions. Leo peeled his stickers off his desk.
奥卡福老师当众念了那张卡片，没有说作者是谁。然后他在黑板上画了三条空线。“一场公平的选举，需要大家在一开始就同意的规则。”全班争论了一个小时。最后他们写下：不许送礼物，不许人身攻击，每位候选人都回答同样三个问题。利奥把贴纸从桌上揭了下来。
Nadia expected him to be angry. At recess, though, he sat beside her and asked what she would actually do as captain. She described a seed shelf where anyone could borrow tools, and watering charts so plants would not be forgotten on holidays. Leo listened, kicking his heels against the wall. “I only wanted to win,” he said. “I never thought about the shelf.”
娜迪娅以为他会生气。可课间时，他坐到她旁边，问她当了队长究竟打算做什么。她讲起一个种子架，谁都可以借工具；还讲起浇水表，这样放假时植物也不会被忘掉。利奥听着，脚跟一下一下蹭着墙。“我只是想赢，”他说，“我从没想过那个架子。”
On Friday, every student folded a paper and dropped it into a shoebox. Iris counted the votes twice while Mr. Okafor watched. Nadia won by three. Her first feeling was not joy but a strange, tipping dizziness, as if she had climbed too fast. Leo clapped before anyone else did, and she understood that losing well had cost him something.
星期五，每个学生把一张纸折好，投进一个鞋盒。伊丽丝数了两遍票，奥卡福老师在旁边看着。娜迪娅以三票之差赢了。她的第一感觉不是喜悦，而是一种奇怪的、倾斜般的眩晕，好像爬得太快。利奥第一个鼓起掌来，她明白，好好地输，对他也付出了代价。
At lunch she found him clearing old posters from the greenhouse door. “I have an idea,” she said, “but it only works with two people.” She offered him the watering charts, which required someone who noticed details and did not mind early mornings. Leo looked at the empty wall. Then he took the clipboard, and together they wrote the first date in fresh marker.
午饭时，她发现他正在把旧海报从温室门上撕下来。“我有个主意，”她说，“但得两个人才能做成。”她请他负责浇水表，这活儿需要留意细节、也不介意早起的人。利奥看了一会儿那面空墙，然后接过夹板，他们一起用新马克笔写下了第一个日期。