(66)
After I’d asked her what she did about food, we got onto talking about the cafeteria at the university.
“I don’t know any other places,” she said, “but we could try some eateries near the Sorbonne…….”
With this, she playfully wiggled the tip of her tongue back and forth across her mouth and shook her head.
Although this gesture was meant to suggest that the food there was awful, I found it somewhat crude; slightly boyish even. She was certainly unlike my previous female friends, all of whom had tended to be petite, somewhat delicate and, at the same time, rather highly strung.
However, with this young woman, her long legs in jeans stretching almost to the corner of the desk in front of her, it wasn’t delicacy that I sensed, but an easygoing warmth. At the same time, I was clearly aware of her youthful vigor and vitality. In the life she radiated with each breath I felt my own feebleness. “No, all this is probably mostly her fault as well”
“What kind of meat do you eat in Japan?” This she asked suddenly as I placing the meat in the nabe, which was bubbling away noisily.
“Well, pretty much the same as here. Beef, pork…not so much mutton…,” I said, wondering why she was asking this.
“And women like you…” I was going to say as a joke, but the words didn’t come.
…………………
「食事はどうしているの?」と私がきいたことから、大学食堂の話になり、「他のところは知らないけれど、ソルボンヌの近くの食堂にいって食べたら…….」と言って、舌の先を少しつき出して、「ぶるぶるぶる」とそれを左右に動かし、首をふって、おどけてみせました。
ひどい味、という意味ですが、それがなんの飾り気もない、少しボイッシュなジェスチャーで、今までの私の女友達と確かにちがうと感じました。彼女達は、どちらかというと小柄で、繊細な感じでしたが、同時に、やや神経質なところもありました。
しかし、ジーパンの足が、前に置いてある机の角に、ほとんど達しそうな程長いこの彼女は、その為か、繊細さというより、おおらかな温かさを感じさせます。彼女の発する生命のその息吹に、自分の生命を弱弱しくさえ感じました。「いや、でもこれもすべて、彼女の大柄のせいかも知れない」
「日本では、肉は何を食べるの?」皿にもられた生肉を、しゅっしゅっと勢いよく音をたてているなべにお移していると、突然彼女はそうききました。どうしたこのことをききのかと思いながら、「うーん、こことだいたい同じだよ。牛とか豚とか……羊はそれ程食べないかな……」と答えました。
ふと「君の様な女の子……」とふざけて答えようかと思いましたか、言葉にはなりません。
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NOTES
“No, all this is probably mostly her fault as well”
This seems to be an inner voice talking to the writer. It appears in the text suddenly and doesn’t even end with a full stop, although it does have speech marks 「…」.
その為か – I’ve no idea what this is doing here. Literally, it means “for that purpose?”
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Phrases/words of interest
おどける – joke, fool around, clown around, try to be funny
(人)の前でおどける – fool around in front of (someone)
飾り気もない (飾り気のない、飾り気がない)- simple, natural, plain, frank, dry, unaffected, rustic, stark
彼は飾り気のない人だ。- There’s nothing pretentious about him.
飾り気のない家具 – rustic furniture
小柄で(な) – small, diminutive
小柄である – have a small stature
繊細な – fine, delicate, sensitive, exquisite
繊細な主題 – delicate subject
~の繊細な部分 – delicate part of~
達する – reach, arrive, get to, attain, hit, gain, approach
北は日本海に達する – extend to the Japan Sea on the north
~と理解に達する – reach an agreement with~
おおらかな – easygoing, generous, tolerant, laid-back, openhearted
おおらかな心を持っている – have a generous heart
おおらかな上司 – laid-back boss
発する – give off, emit, radiate, give forth