那块颜色样躺在日光灯下面，是一片有些发蓝的灰蓝色。
我手里捏着那本色卡，书页边缘因为常年被手指翻动，已经有些翻卷，像是一把用坏了的纸扇子。
我把色卡翻到102页，把那个小小的方块压在样布上。
我觉得色卡上的蓝更重一些，像是下雨前的海水；样布上的蓝则轻一些，像是下雨过后的天空。
我把它们拿起来，走到窗边，让上午明媚的阳光照在上面。结果它们同时变了个样子，色卡变成了泛红的紫，样布变成了泛绿的青。
老李走过来，把头凑在我肩膀旁边看，点点头说，差得有点远。
我说，是在日光灯下差得远，还是在阳光下差得远。
老李说说，是你看得太远了。他说，在办公室里看，它们是一个色；去车间里看，它们是两个色；等到了客户手里，它们就成了另外一种色。
我问，那现在到底对不对。
老李摇了摇头说，只要你觉得对，它就对了一半，剩下的另一半，看客户的心情。
我觉得他说得很有道理。
颜色这种东西，本来就是一堆光线在人眼珠子里捣鬼。
我把色卡合上，把它塞回抽屉。
样布依旧扔在桌上，它在那里待着，既不因为被否定而褪色，也不因为被承认而变得更蓝。
后来我发现，对颜色这件事其实不是为了找到那个绝对的数字，而是为了消耗掉这一上午的日光。
我们在一块布和一本纸之间找不同，找得久了，连自己的手指看起来都有些褪色。
那又怎样呢？反正太阳迟早要落山，到时候所有的东西都是同一种颜色。
Matching Color
The color swatch lay under the fluorescent light — a gray-blue with a cool cast, leaning slightly toward blue.
I held the color card in my hand. The edges of the pages had curled from years of fingers turning them, like a paper fan that had been used past its life.
I turned to page 102 and pressed that small square against the fabric swatch.
The blue on the card felt heavier to me — like seawater before rain. The blue on the fabric was lighter — like sky after it.
I picked them both up and walked to the window, let the clear morning sunlight fall across them. They both changed at once. The card went reddish-purple. The fabric went greenish-blue.
Lao Li came over and leaned in beside my shoulder, looked for a moment, then nodded. "Pretty far off," he said.
I said, "Far off under fluorescent light, or far off in sunlight?"
Lao Li said, "You're looking too far." He said: in the office, they're the same color. In the workshop, they're two different colors. By the time they reach the client, they'll be something else entirely.
I asked, "So is it a match or not?"
Lao Li shook his head. "If you think it matches, it's half a match. The other half depends on the client's mood."
I thought he was probably right.
Color has always been light playing tricks inside the human eye. Nothing more.
I closed the color card and put it back in the drawer.
The fabric swatch stayed on the table where it was, sitting there without fading just because we'd doubted it, and without getting any bluer just because we'd accepted it.
Later I realized that matching color isn't really about finding the absolute number. It's about using up a morning's worth of light.
We look for differences between a piece of cloth and a piece of paper. Do it long enough and your own fingers start to look a little faded.
What of it? The sun goes down sooner or later. When it does, everything turns the same color anyway.