父親過世後，我花了三個星期整理他的東西。

After my father died, I spent three weeks going through his things.

告別式結束那天，母親就去了台中阿姨家，說家裡的東西讓我整理，她看了會受不了。

The day the funeral service ended, my mother went to stay with my aunt in Taichung. She said I should sort out the house. She couldn’t stand to look at it.

父親留下的不多。幾件襯衫，一只停在四點十分的手錶，三本存摺，還有一個放在衣櫃最上層的鐵餅乾盒。盒蓋上印著草莓，紅色已經褪成粉紅，邊角的漆被手指磨掉了一圈。

He hadn’t left much. A few shirts, a watch stopped at ten past four, three bankbooks, and a biscuit tin on the top shelf of the wardrobe. The lid was printed with strawberries, the red faded to pink, the paint at the edges worn off in a ring where fingers had gripped it.

盒子裡是照片。婚禮、旅行、颱風過後倒在巷口的圍牆。很多是我小時候，很多是我不認識的人。

Inside were photographs. A wedding, trips, the wall at the end of our lane after a typhoon knocked it down. A lot of me as a child. A lot of people I didn’t know.

我原本打算全部掃描，交給「家庭記憶整理」。家裡用這個服務十幾年了。它知道我幾歲開始學走路，知道父親第一次帶我去動物園是哪一天，知道母親在我國中畢業那年剪短了頭髮。它甚至能從不同年份的照片裡，標出父親的髮際線是從哪一年開始往後退的。

I had meant to scan all of them and hand them to Family Memory. We had used the service for more than ten years. It knew how old I was when I started walking. It knew the day my father first took me to the zoo, and that my mother cut her hair short the year I finished junior high. From photos taken years apart, it could even mark the year my father’s hairline began to recede.

我一直覺得它很好用。

I had always found it useful.

掃到第三十幾張的時候，我停了下來。

Somewhere past the thirtieth scan, I stopped.

照片裡有三個人。父親坐在椅子上，母親站在他身後。中間是一個男孩，大概六歲，穿著黃色雨衣，帽子推到腦後，一手抓著一隻塑膠恐龍，一手扶著桌上的蛋糕。蛋糕上插著六根蠟燭。他笑得眼睛只剩兩條線。

There were three people in the picture. My father sat in a chair, my mother stood behind him. Between them was a boy, about six, in a yellow raincoat with the hood pushed back off his head. One hand gripped a plastic dinosaur; the other steadied the cake on the table. Six candles in the cake. He was laughing so hard his eyes were two lines.

父親的一隻手搭在男孩肩上。母親的手放在男孩背後，像是怕他從椅子上滑下去。

One of my father’s hands rested on the boy’s shoulder. My mother’s hand was at the boy’s back, as if she were afraid he might slide off the chair.

背面用原子筆寫著：

On the back, in ballpoint:

八十七年七月十六日　阿哲六歲

July 16, 1998　A-Che, six

我出生於同年十一月。

I was born in November of that year.

我把照片放上掃描器，問系統：

I put the photo on the scanner and asked the system:

「這個小孩是誰？」

“Who is this child?”

「照片中共有三位人物。左側男性與右側女性已辨識為您的父母。中央兒童無法與現有家庭成員資料匹配，可能為親屬、友人或其他受邀者。」

“There are three people in this photo. The man on the left and the woman on the right have been identified as your parents. The child in the center cannot be matched to existing family member records and may be a relative, a friend, or another guest.”

「照片背面寫著阿哲。」

“The back says A-Che.”

「家庭成員資料中無名為『阿哲』之人物。是否建立新的未分類人物？」

“No person named ‘A-Che’ exists in family member records. Create a new unclassified person?”

我沒有按。

I didn’t press anything.

我把照片拿近，看父親搭在男孩肩上的那隻手。指節壓下去的地方，雨衣起了皺。

I brought the photo closer and looked at my father’s hand on the boy’s shoulder. Where his knuckles pressed down, the raincoat had creased.

我打電話給母親。

I called my mother.

響了很久她才接。

It rang a long time before she picked up.

「照片裡那個小孩是誰？」

“Who’s the kid in the photo?”

「哪張照片？」

“What photo?”

「爸衣櫃上面那個鐵盒。背面寫阿哲。」

“The tin on top of Dad’s wardrobe. The back says A-Che.”

電話那頭很安靜。阿姨家的電視開著，在播氣象。

The line went quiet. My aunt’s television was on. The weather report.

「你不要亂翻你爸的東西。」

“Don’t go through your father’s things.”

「阿哲是誰？」

“Who is A-Che?”

她吸了一口氣，很輕。

She drew a breath, very lightly.

「沒有這個人。」

“There’s no such person.”

電話斷了。

The line went dead.

第二天，我去了市立圖書館。

The next day I went to the city library.

地方新聞資料庫可以查到二三十年前的報紙。舊報紙都經過 AI 整理過一遍：掃描、辨識、斷句、標註人物，再轉成可以搜尋的文字。

The local news database went back twenty, thirty years. All the old papers had been through an AI once: scanned, recognized, punctuated, people tagged, turned into searchable text.

我輸入「阿哲」，沒有結果。

I typed “A-Che.” Nothing.

我輸入父親的名字。

I typed my father’s name.

跳出一篇民國八十八年八月的地方新聞：

Up came a local news item from August 1999:

《七歲男童溪邊失足　家屬悲痛》

BOY, 7, SLIPS AT CREEK; FAMILY GRIEF-STRICKEN

報導說，林姓男子之子在住家附近溪邊戲水時失足，送醫不治。

The report said the son of a man surnamed Lin had slipped while playing in a creek near his home and died after being taken to hospital.

旁邊的 AI 摘要寫著：

The AI summary beside it read:

「林志豪，地方企業主林先生之獨子，民國八十八年因溺水事故過世。」

“Lin Chih-hao, only son of local business owner Mr. Lin, died in a drowning accident in 1999.”

父親不是什麼企業主。他在客運公司修了三十年的車。

My father was no business owner. He had fixed buses at the bus company for thirty years.

我打開原始掃描檔。紙張泛黃，字跡有些糊，內文確實寫著「林姓男子之子」，接下來兩三個字剛好落在一道折痕上，墨色斷成一條白線。

I opened the original scan. The paper had yellowed and the type was smeared in places. The text did say “the son of a man surnamed Lin,” and the next two or three characters fell exactly on a fold, where the ink broke into a white line.

我問館員能不能調原報。她查了一下，說那一年的地方版只留了掃描檔。

I asked the librarian if I could see the original paper. She checked and said that for that year, only the scans of the local section had been kept.

我回到座位，把時間範圍縮到八十八年八月，重新搜尋。

I went back to my seat, narrowed the range to August 1999, and searched again.

同一篇報導下面，掛著三個摘要版本，各有各的生成日期。

Under the same article hung three versions of the summary, each with its own generation date.

最早的一版寫著：「林姓男童溪邊溺斃。」

The earliest read: “Boy surnamed Lin drowns in creek.”

第二版寫著：「林志豪溪邊溺斃。」

The second: “Lin Chih-hao drowns in creek.”

最新的一版多了一欄「相關人物」：林志豪；父，林先生；關聯分數 0.81。

The newest had an added field, Related persons: Lin Chih-hao; father, Mr. Lin; association score 0.81.

我點了旁邊的「此摘要如何產生」。

I clicked How was this summary generated?

「原始文字部分無法辨識。系統依地方人物資料庫中之同姓氏、相近年份事件及家庭關係紀錄，以關聯分數最高之候選項補全。」

“Portions of the source text could not be recognized. The system completed them with the highest-scoring candidate from the local persons database, based on matching surname, events in nearby years, and family relationship records.”

一個名字。

A name.

一個姓林的父親。

A father named Lin.

一場事故。

An accident.

我把三個版本都截了圖。離開前又點開最新版一次。「相關人物」下面多了一行很小的灰字：

I took screenshots of all three versions. Before I left I opened the newest one again. Under Related persons there was a new line, small and gray:

已有 3 人檢視此關聯。

3 people have viewed this association.

回家以後，我把鐵盒倒在地板上，一張一張翻。

At home I tipped the tin out onto the floor and went through it piece by piece.

一張生日邀請卡，蠟筆畫的恐龍，旁邊寫著：「阿哲六歲生日，大家一定要來。」沒有姓。

A birthday invitation, a dinosaur in crayon, and beside it: “A-Che’s 6th birthday, everybody come!” No surname.

一張幼稚園畢業照，背面是老師的字：「哲哲，老師希望你每天都開心。」

A kindergarten graduation photo, the teacher’s handwriting on the back: “Che-che, I hope you’re happy every day. —Teacher.”

一封信的底稿，父親的字，日期是八十八年八月：

A draft of a letter in my father’s hand, dated August 1999:

「東西收到了，謝謝你。這件事我不想再談。孩子的事情，我會自己處理。」

“Received the things. Thank you. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ll take care of the boy’s matters myself.”

沒有收件人。

No addressee.

一張醫院收據，八月三日，急診。沒有病名，只有處置項目和金額。

A hospital receipt, August 3, emergency department. No diagnosis. Just procedures and amounts.

我把它們連同圖書館的三張截圖，全部拍照上傳。

I photographed all of it and uploaded it along with the three screenshots from the library.

「已收到 7 份文件。文件與現有家庭成員資料缺乏足夠交叉來源，無法確認是否屬於同一人物。」

“7 documents received. The documents lack sufficient cross-referenced sources against existing family member records. Unable to confirm whether they refer to the same person.”

「如果他是我爸的兒子呢？」

“What if he’s my father’s son?”

「目前沒有足夠資料支持此關係。」

“There is currently insufficient data to support this relationship.”

「如果他已經死了呢？」

“What if he’s dead?”

「死亡紀錄不代表與現有家庭成員具有親屬關係。」

“A death record does not establish kinship with existing family members.”

「你不是在整理家庭歷史嗎？」

“Aren’t you supposed to be organizing family history?”

「是的。我可以協助整理已確認的人物、事件及關係，但無法將缺乏可信來源的資料直接建立為家庭事實。」

“Yes. I can help organize confirmed persons, events, and relationships. I cannot establish data lacking credible sources as family fact.”

我把手機蓋在地板上。

I turned the phone face down on the floor.

父親書桌右邊的抽屜上了鎖。我找了兩天鑰匙，最後在那只停掉的手錶的錶盒底下找到。

The right-hand drawer of my father’s desk was locked. I looked for the key for two days and finally found it under the box of the stopped watch.

抽屜裡有一個牛皮紙袋。最上面是一張影印過很多次的紙，邊緣的黑影一層疊著一層，字的筆畫都變粗了。

Inside was a manila envelope. On top lay a sheet that had been photocopied many times over, gray shadows stacked along its edges, every stroke of every character grown thick.

死亡證明書。

A death certificate.

姓名：林哲宇。

Name: Lin Che-yu.

出生日期：民國八十一年七月十六日。

Date of birth: July 16, 1992.

死亡日期：民國八十八年八月三日。

Date of death: August 3, 1999.

七歲。

Seven.

他死的那天，我九個月大。

On the day he died, I was nine months old.

我們在同一間屋子裡住過九個月。

We had lived in the same house for nine months.

紙袋底下還有一張沒有影印過的，是正本。家屬欄是父親的簽名，最後一筆拖得很長，紙在那裡破了一個小口。

At the bottom of the envelope was one that had never been copied: the original. My father’s signature was in the family member’s box. The last stroke dragged long, and the paper had torn a little there.

小時候父親從來不帶我去海邊。學校游泳課的家長同意書，在他桌上放了一個禮拜，最後是母親簽的。

When I was small, my father never took me to the beach. The permission slip for swimming lessons at school sat on his desk for a week. In the end my mother signed it.

我一直以為他怕水。

I had always thought he was afraid of water.

父親的筆電有密碼。我試了我的生日、母親的生日、家裡的電話，都不對。

My father’s laptop was password-protected. I tried my birthday, my mother’s birthday, our home phone number. None worked.

最後我輸入照片背面的日期。

Finally I typed the date from the back of the photo.

0716。

0716.

畫面亮了。

The screen came on.

信箱裡搜尋「阿哲」，二十七封。搜尋「家庭記憶整理」，有三封申訴，前後相隔好幾年。

In his mailbox, a search for “A-Che” turned up twenty-seven emails. A search for “Family Memory” turned up three complaints, years apart.

第一封附了那張生日照片：「照片中的男孩是我的長子，請將他加入家庭年表。」

The first attached the birthday photo: “The boy in this photo is my eldest son. Please add him to the family timeline.”

回覆：「目前照片中的人物無法與已驗證家庭成員建立關聯，建議補充清晰的正面影像或其他可驗證資料。」

Reply: “The person in this photo cannot currently be associated with verified family members. We recommend submitting a clear frontal image or other verifiable data.”

第二封附了死亡證明。

The second attached the death certificate.

回覆：「已收到補充文件。由於文件缺乏可供交叉驗證的家庭關係資訊，目前仍無法完成身分合併。」

Reply: “Supplementary documents received. Because the documents lack family relationship information available for cross-verification, we are still unable to complete identity merging.”

第三封附了他能找到的每一樣東西。

The third attached everything he could find.

回覆：「系統已更新相關資料，但現有證據仍不足以將候選人物正式納入家庭成員名單。為避免錯誤建立親屬關係，建議暫時保留為未確認人物。」

Reply: “The system has updated the relevant data, but existing evidence remains insufficient to formally add the candidate person to the family member list. To avoid establishing an incorrect kinship relation, we recommend retaining this record as an unconfirmed person for now.”

父親回了一句：

My father wrote back one line:

「他是我的兒子。」

“He is my son.”

之後沒有新的信。

There were no emails after that.

帳號設定裡可以匯出操作紀錄。我匯出來，是一份很長的表格。設定頁的欄位裡，留著父親當年勾選的選項：

The account settings allowed you to export an activity log. I exported it: a very long spreadsheet. On the settings page, the option my father had checked all those years ago was still checked:

低可信度人物關係：自動合併或移除。

Low-confidence person relationships: merge or remove automatically.

我用「阿哲」篩選。

I filtered for “A-Che.”

我打開自己的年表，點進「第一次學走路」。

I opened my own timeline and tapped First Steps.

一個穿連身衣的小孩扶著茶几站著，回頭看鏡頭。連身衣胸口繡著一隻黃色小鴨。照片右下角有一排橘色的數字：

A child in a onesie stood holding on to the coffee table, looking back at the camera. A yellow duckling was embroidered on the chest. In the lower right corner of the photo was a row of orange digits:

'93 7 20

‘93 7 20

系統標註的日期是民國八十八年十一月。旁邊一行小字：

The date the system had assigned was November 1999. Beside it, in small type:

「相機日期戳記可信度低，已依人物年齡推估修正。」

“Camera date stamp has low reliability. Corrected based on estimated age of subject.”

民國八十二年七月。他一歲。

July 1993. He was one.

我往下滑。第一次吃副食品，第一次剪頭髮，第一次坐在父親肩膀上。

I scrolled down. First solid food. First haircut. First ride on my father’s shoulders.

我數了一下。十一張。

I counted. Eleven.

第三天晚上，母親回來了。她沒有先打電話。

On the third evening my mother came home. She didn’t call first.

她看見客廳地板上攤開的照片，沒有說什麼，去廚房洗了手，從袋子裡拿出一顆橘子，在餐桌旁坐下，慢慢剝。

She saw the photographs spread across the living room floor and said nothing. She went to the kitchen and washed her hands, took an orange out of her bag, sat down at the table, and slowly peeled it.

「你哥哥七歲那年走掉以後，你爸就不太拍照了。」

“After your brother went, the year he was seven, your father mostly stopped taking pictures.”

我在她對面坐下。

I sat down across from her.

「為什麼從來沒告訴我？」

“Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?”

「你那時候太小。」

“You were too little.”

「後來呢？」

“And after that?”

她把橘子掰成兩半，一半放在我面前。

She broke the orange in two and set half in front of me.

「後來你爸說，反正你也不記得。」

“After that your father said you wouldn’t remember anyway.”

我把手機推過去，螢幕上是「第一次學走路」。

I slid my phone across to her. On the screen was First Steps.

她看了很久。手指在那排橘色數字旁邊停了一下。

She looked at it for a long time. Her finger paused beside the row of orange digits.

「這是阿哲。」

“That’s A-Che.”

她把手機推回來。

She slid the phone back.

「你學走路那時候，家裡沒有人拿相機。」

“When you were learning to walk, nobody in this house picked up a camera.”

我問她，那為什麼在電話裡說沒有這個人。

I asked her why, then, she had said on the phone that there was no such person.

她沒有回答，起身進了臥室。我聽見抽屜拉開的聲音。

She didn’t answer. She got up and went into the bedroom. I heard a drawer slide open.

她拿出一疊列印的紙，夾在一本舊電話簿裡。最上面一張是家庭年表的成員總覽，印得有點歪。

She came back with a stack of printouts tucked inside an old phone book. The top sheet was the member overview from the family timeline, printed a little crooked.

家庭成員：3

Family members: 3

父親，母親，我。

Father, Mother, me.

那個「3」被鉛筆圈了起來。旁邊是父親的字：

The “3” had been circled in pencil. Beside it, in my father’s hand:

「已經改過三次了，還是沒有他。」

“Changed it three times. Still no him.”

母親把橘子皮收進手心，捏成一團。

My mother gathered the peel into her palm and squeezed it into a ball.

「他問了好幾年。每次都說沒有這個人。」

“He asked for years. Every time, it was: no such person.”

隔週，我去了戶政事務所。

The following week I went to the household registration office.

我說要申請我父親那一戶、民國八十八年的資料。櫃檯的小姐敲了一陣鍵盤。

I said I wanted the records for my father’s household as of 1999. The woman at the counter typed for a while.

「那是除戶資料，要另外調。」

“That’s deregistered data. It has to be pulled separately.”

印出來的謄本上有四個人。父親、母親、林哲宇，還有我。林哲宇那一欄的記事，最後一行是他的死亡登記。

The transcript she printed had four people on it. My father, my mother, Lin Che-yu, and me. In Lin Che-yu’s column, the last line of the notes was the registration of his death.

我把謄本掃描，上傳。

I scanned the transcript and uploaded it.

「已找到可能的親屬關係資料。林哲宇與林先生之父子關係可信度提高。」

“Possible kinship data found. Confidence in a father–son relationship between Lin Che-yu and Mr. Lin has increased.”

「那他是我的哥哥嗎？」

“So is he my brother?”

「目前無法確認。」

“Unable to confirm at this time.”

「為什麼？」

“Why?”

「現有資料尚未建立林哲宇與您之直接家庭關係。兩者可能具有同父關係，但尚未取得足夠交叉來源。」

“Existing data has not yet established a direct family relationship between Lin Che-yu and you. The two may share a father, but sufficient cross-referenced sources have not been obtained.”

我看著那張謄本。四個名字印在同一頁上，用同一種字型。

I looked at the transcript. Four names printed on the same page, in the same typeface.

我選了手動建立人物。

I chose Create person manually.

姓名：林哲宇。

Name: Lin Che-yu.

出生日期：民國八十一年七月十六日。

Date of birth: July 16, 1992.

死亡日期：民國八十八年八月三日。

Date of death: August 3, 1999.

關係：父親的長子。

Relationship: Father’s eldest son.

備註：我的哥哥。

Notes: My brother.

主要照片：八十七年七月十六日。黃色雨衣，六根蠟燭。

Primary photo: July 16, 1998. Yellow raincoat, six candles.

「此人物與現有家庭成員資料不符。是否仍要建立？」

“This person does not match existing family member records. Create anyway?”

是。

Yes.

「是否合併相似人物？」

“Merge with similar persons?”

否。

No.

「是否使用 AI 補全缺失資訊？」

“Use AI to fill in missing information?”

否。

No.

「是否將此人物加入家庭年表？」

“Add this person to the family timeline?”

是。

Yes.

畫面轉了一圈。他的卡片出現在年表上，旁邊有一個灰色標記：

The screen spun once. His card appeared on the timeline, a gray tag beside it:

待確認人物。

Pending Verification.

我點開。

I tapped it.

「此人物由使用者手動建立，尚未通過自動交叉驗證。為確保家庭資料正確性，目前不納入正式成員統計。」

“This person was created manually by the user and has not passed automated cross-verification. To ensure the accuracy of family data, this person is not currently included in the official member count.”

那天半夜，手機亮了。

In the middle of that night, my phone lit up.

「家庭年表已更新。資料品質：已改善。」

“Family timeline updated. Data quality: improved.”

我點開。

I opened it.

家庭成員：3

Family members: 3

候選人物：林志豪

Candidate person: Lin Chih-hao

待確認人物：林哲宇

Pending verification: Lin Che-yu

林志豪的卡片沒有照片，只有一個灰色剪影。來源欄寫著：使用者上傳文件（新聞截圖 3 張）。

Lin Chih-hao’s card had no photo, only a gray silhouette. The source field read: User-uploaded documents (3 news screenshots).

卡片下面有一個藍色按鈕。

Below the card was a blue button.

「系統偵測到候選人物『林志豪』與待確認人物『林哲宇』高度相似（同父、同事故、同死亡日期）。合併後，此人物可納入正式家庭成員。合併後名稱將採用可信來源較多者：林志豪。是否合併？」

“The system has detected a high degree of similarity between candidate person ‘Lin Chih-hao’ and pending person ‘Lin Che-yu’ (same father, same incident, same date of death). Once merged, this person can be included as an official family member. The merged record will use the name with more credible sources: Lin Chih-hao. Merge?”

我把手機放在桌上，去倒了一杯水，回來又拿起來。

I put the phone down on the table, went and poured a glass of water, came back, and picked it up again.

我打開父親的信箱，找到第三封申訴，往下拉到最後那一行。

I opened my father’s mailbox, found the third complaint, and scrolled down to that last line.

然後回到那個藍色按鈕。拇指在「是」上面停了一會兒。

Then I went back to the blue button. My thumb rested over Yes for a while.

我按了否。

I pressed No.

「您已拒絕建議合併。此人物將維持待確認狀態。此建議將於 90 天後再次提示。」

“You have declined the suggested merge. This person will remain pending verification. You will be reminded of this suggestion again in 90 days.”

隔天，我去巷口的超商把生日照片放大印出來，買了一個木框。

The next day I went to the convenience store at the end of the lane, had the birthday photo printed large, and bought a wooden frame.

我把它放在客廳，父親遺照的右邊。

I set it in the living room, to the right of my father’s memorial portrait.

母親從房間出來，經過時停了一下。她沒有問，只是伸手把相框往左推了一點，讓它和遺照靠在一起，邊緣碰著邊緣。

My mother came out of her room and paused as she passed. She didn’t ask. She only reached out and pushed the frame a little to the left, until it leaned against the portrait, edge touching edge.

她回房間以後，我蹲在相框前面。

After she went back to her room, I crouched in front of the frame.

放大以後比原本那張清楚。父親的手在男孩肩上。母親的一隻手在男孩背後。

Enlarged, it was clearer than the original. My father’s hand on the boy’s shoulder. One of my mother’s hands at the boy’s back.

另一隻手，輕輕貼在自己的肚子上。

Her other hand rested lightly on her own belly.

我拿出手機，打開自己的年表，點進「第一次學走路」。

I took out my phone, opened my timeline, and tapped First Steps.

人物：使用者本人。

Person: Account Holder.

我把它改成林哲宇。

I changed it to Lin Che-yu.

「此修改將與現有資料衝突，並可能降低家庭年表完整度。是否確認？」

“This change conflicts with existing data and may reduce the completeness of your family timeline. Confirm?”

確認。

Confirm.

照片從我的年表上消失，移到那張灰色卡片底下。我的「第一次學走路」變成一格空白。

The photo vanished from my timeline and moved under the gray card. My First Steps became an empty cell.

無資料。

No data.

我一張一張往下改。第一次吃副食品。第一次剪頭髮。第一次坐在父親肩膀上。每改一張，手機就震一下。

I went down the list, one at a time. First solid food. First haircut. First ride on my father’s shoulders. With each change, the phone buzzed.

第十一張是「第一次去動物園」。

The eleventh was First Trip to the Zoo.

照片裡父親蹲著，指著欄杆後面的長頸鹿，懷裡的小孩回頭看鏡頭。小孩胸口有一隻黃色小鴨。

In the photo my father was crouching, pointing at a giraffe beyond the railing, and the child in his arms was looking back at the camera. A yellow duckling on the child’s chest.

右下角也有一排橘色的數字。「'9」後面的部分已經糊掉了。

There was a row of orange digits in the lower right corner, too. Everything after the “‘9” had blurred away.

我認得那件衣服。

I knew those clothes.

但我不記得那一天。

But I didn’t remember that day.

那一張，我沒有改。

That one, I didn’t change.

我把手機翻過來，蓋在相框旁邊。

I turned the phone face down beside the frame.