A Summer's Reading by Bernard Malam

A Summer's Reading by Bernard Malamud

George Stoyonovich was a neighborhood boy who had quit high school on an impulse when he was sixteen, run out of patience, and though he was ashamed every time he went looking for a job, when people asked him if he had finished and he had to say no, he never went back to school.
This summer was a hard time for jobs and he had none. Having so much time on his hands, George thought of going to summer school, but the kids in his classes would be too young.
He also considered registering in a night high school, only he didn't like the idea of the teachers always telling him what to do. He felt they had not respected him.
The result was he stayed off the streets and in his room most of the day.
He was close to twenty and had needs with the neightborhood girls, but no money to spend, and he couldn't get more than an occasional few cents because his father was poor, and his sister Sophie, who resembled George, a tall bony girl of twenty-three, earned very little and what she had she kept for herself.
Their mother was dead, and Sophie had to take care of the house.
Very early in the morning George's father got up to go to work in a fish market.
Sophie left at about eight for her long ride in the subway to a cafeteria in the Bronx.


George had his coffee by himself, then hung around in the house.
When the house, a five-room railroad flat above a butcher store, got on his nerves he cleaned it up - mopped the floors with a wet mop and put things away.
But most of the time he sat in his room. In the afternoons he listened to the ball game.
Otherwise he had a couple of old copies of the World Almanac he had bought long ago, and he liked to read in them and also the magazines and newspapers that Sophie brought home, that had been left on the tables in the cafeteria. They were mostly picture magazines about movie stars and sports figures, also usually the News and Mirror. Sophie herself read whatever feel into her hands, although she sometimes read good books.
She once asked George what he did in his room all day and he said he read a lot too.
"Of what besides what I bring home? Do you ever read any worthwhile books?"
"Some," George answered, although he really didn't. He had tried to read a book or two that Sophie had in the house but found he was in no mood for them. Lately he couldn't stand made-up stories, they got on his nerves. He wished he had some hobby to work at - as a kid he was good in carpentry, but where could he work at it? Sometimes during the day he went for walks, but mostly he did his walking after the hot sun had gone down and it was cooler in the streets.
In the evening after supper George left the house and wandered in the neighborhood. During the sultry days some of the storekeepers and their wives sat in chairs on the thick, broken sidewalks in front of the shops, fanning themselves, and George walked past them and the guys hanging out on the candy store corner. A couple of them he had known his whole life, but nobody recognized each other. He had no place special to go, but generally, saving it till the last, he left the neighborhood and walked for blocks till he came to a darkly lit little park with benches and trees and an iron railing, giving it a feeling of privacy. He sat on a bench here, watching the leafy trees and the flowers blooming on the inside of the railing, thinking of a better life for himself. He thought of the jobs he had had since he had quit school - delivery boy, stock clerk, runner, lately working in a factory - and he was dissatisfied with all of them. He felt he should some day like to have a job and live in a private house with a porch, on a street with trees. He wanted to have some dough in his pocket to buy things with, and a girl to go with, so as not to be lonely, especially on Saturday nights. He wanted people to like and respect him. He thought about these things often but mostly when he was alone at night. Around midnight he got up and drifted back to his hot and stony neighborhood.


One time while on his walk George met Mr. Cattanzara coming home very late from work. He wondered if he was drunk but then could tell he wasn't. Mr. Cattanzara, a stocky, baldheaded man who worked in a change booth on an IRT station, lived on the next block after George's, above a shoe repair store. Nights, during the hot weather, he sat on his stoop in an undershirt, reading the New York Times in the light of the shoemaker's window. He read it from the first page to the last, then went up to sleep. And all the time he was reading the paper, his wife, a fat woman with a white face, leaned out of the window, gazing into the street, her thick white arms folded under her loose breast, on the window ledge.
Once in a while Mr. Cattanzara came home drunk, but it was a quiet drunk. He never made any trouble, only walked stiffly up the street and slowly climbed the stairs into the hall. Though drunk, he looked the same as always, except for his tight walk, the quietness, and that his eyes were wet. George liked Mr. Cattanzara because he remembered him giving him nickels to buy lemon ice with when he was a squirt. Mr. Cattanzara was a different type than those in the neighborhood. He asked different questions than the others when he met you, and he seemed to know that went on in all the newspapers. He read them, as his fat sick wife watched from the window.
"What are you doing with yourself this summer, Goerge?" Mr. Cattanzara asked. "I see you walkin' around at nights."
George felt embarrassed. "I like to walk."
"What are you doin' in the day now?"
"Nothing much just right now. I'm waiting for a job." Since it shamed him to admit he wasn't working, George said, "I'm staying home - but I'm reading a lot to pick up my education."
Mr. Cattanzara looked interested. He mopped his hot face with a red handkerchief.
"What are you readin'?"
George hesitated, then said, "I got a list of books in the library once, and now I'm gonna read them this summer." He felt strange and a little unhappy saying this, but he wanted Mr. Cattanzara to respect him.
"How many books are there on it?"
"I never counted them. Maybe around a hundred."
Mr. Cattanzara whistled though his teeth.
"I figure if I did that," George went on earnestly, "it would help me in my education. I don't mean the kind they give you in high school. I want to know different things than they learn there, if you know what I mean."
The change maker nodded. "Still and all, one hundred books is a pretty big load for one summer."
"It might take longer."
"After you're finished with some, maybe you and I can shoot the breeze about them?" said Mr. Cattanzara.
"When I'm finished," George answered.
Mr. Cattanzara went home and Geroge continued on his walk. After that, thought he had the urge to, George did nothing different from usual. He still took his walks at night, ending up in the little park. But one evening the shoemaker on the next block stopped George to say he was a good boy, and Geroge figured that Mr. Cattanzara had told him all about the books he was reading. From the shoemaker it must have gone down the street, because George saw a couple of people smiling kindly at him, though nobody spoke to him personally. He felt a little better around the neighborhood and liked it more, though not so much he would want to live in it for ever. He had never exactly disliked the people in it, yet he had never liked them very much either. It was the fault of the neighborhood. To his surprise, George found out that his father and Sophie knew about his reading too. His father was too shy to say anything about it - he was never much of a talker in his while life - but Sophie was softer to George, and she showed him in other ways she was proud of him.
As the summer went on George felt in a good mood about things. He cleaned the house every day, as a favor to Sophie, and he enjoyed the ball games more. Sophie gave him a buck a week allowance, and though it still wasn't enough and he had to use it carefully, it was a helluva lot better than just having two bits now and then. What he bought with the money - cigarettes mostly an occasional beer or movie ticket - he got a big kick out of. Life wasn't so bad if you knew how to appreciate it. Occasionally he bought a paperback book from the new-stand, but he never got around to reading it, though he was glad to have a couple of books in his room. But he read thoroughly Sophie's magazines and newspapers. And at night was the most enjoyable time, because when he passed the storekeepers sitting outside their stores, he could tell they regarded him highly. He walked erect, and though he did not say much to them, or they to him, he could feel approval on all sides. A couple of nights he felt so good that he skipped the park at the end of the evening. He just wandered in the neighborhood, where people had known him from the time he was a kid playing punchball whenever there was a game of it going; he wandered there, then came home and got undressed for bed, feeling fine.

For a few weeks he had talked only once with Mr. Cattanzara, and though the change maker had said nothing more about the books, asked no questions, his silence made George a little uneasy. For a while George didn't pass in front of Mr. Cattanzara's house any more, until one night, forgetting himself, he approached it from a different direction than he usually did when he did. It was already past midnight. The street, except for one or two people, was deserted, and George was surprised when he saw Mr. Cattanzara still reading his newspaper by t

ผลลัพธ์ (คลิงออน) 1:

laD poH tuj bI'reS pong bernard malamud george stoyonovich neighborhood yItuv qet loDHom 'ej QuQ 'Iv jenwI' DuSaQ Hong bup HeghDI' ghaH sixteen, 'ej pagh quv tuH Hoch poH ghoS nej ghaH job HeghDI' jaH chaH ghaH 'ej ghobe' jatlh ghajbogh ghel ghaH nuvpu', not ghoS wItI'nISmo' DuSaQ. poH tuj bI'reS let poH, jobs 'ej pagh ghaj. [vaqwI' poH ghopDaj. ghaHDaq ghaj BERNARDO, ghoS poH tuj bI'reS DuSaQ Qub george 'ach Segh kids je Qup. jIvum ram jenwI' Suy qachmey je qel ghaH, ghojmoHwI' reH chay' ja' qech vIchel rur neH ghaH. ghaHvaD wej vuv chaH DechtaHvIS ghaH. peloS ghaH DoH streets 'ej pa' HochHom jaj ghot'e'. close to nobqang 'ej nIS neightborhood be'Hom, 'ach pagh Huch 'arghbej ghaj ghaH 'ej cents yabDaj ngoj puS ghaH puS couldn't Suq ghaH SeH vavDaj vIvup 'ej be'nI' sophie, 'Iv george rur, tall bony be'Hom cha'maH wej 'oH pa'lIj'e', SoHvaD loQ baj 'ej nuq ghaj ghaH pol ghaH. SoS Heghpu' 'ej Qorgh juH ghaj sophie. SoHvaD 'eq qaStaHvIS po vay' Qap qaStaHvIS bIQHa'DIbaH malja''e' Hu' george vav. mej sophie legh ghot tu'lu'. mej chorgh nI' lIgh neH subway bronx cafeteria. qa'vIn po'mo' ghaH, vaj vIrurbogh around juH george. HeghDI' nerves Suq juH vagh-pa' railroad beQ wovbe' butcher ngevwI', 'oH Say'-ravDaq mopped yIQ mop 'ej Doch nayHa'pu'DI'. 'ach HochHom poH ba' ghaH neH pa'. qaStaHvIS pov 'IwlIj ghaH QujmeH moQ Quj. vuDwIj couple ngo' copies qo' Almanac je' ghaH ben law' qaStaHvIS ghaj 'ej laD chaH 'ej je magazines 'ej De' chu' ghItlh qem sophie juH, mej raSDaq cafeteria jIHtaH rur ghaH. chaH mostly mIllogh magazines vIHtaHbogh movie stars 'ej sports figures, je motlh De' neSlo' je. vaj ghop Hot whatever laD sophie 'ej QuQ naH jajmeymaj QaQ paq rut laD ghaH. nuq Hech pa' lot laD ghaH je jatlh Hoch jaj je ghaH qaStaHvIS wa'logh ghel george ghaH. "ram nuq qem jIH juH nuq? vay' worthwhile paq reH DalaD? " "'op." jang george, naH jajmeymaj qar vIchel ghaH. paq cha' Daghajbogh sophie jIHtaH pagh laD 'e' nID 'ach ghaHtaH, qaStaHvIS chaHvaD mood pagh vItu'. QIn mu'mey 'ej qapqu'mo' made-up lut couldn't Qam ghaH, Suq chaH nerves. Qap DeSDu' hobby 'op ghaj-law' kid ghaH QaQ neH carpentry 'ach nuqDaq laH Qap ghaH legh 'oH DayaHmoH ghaH? rut during jaj ghoS choghajjaj 'ach yIt Hech mostly qaSpu'DI' pemHov tuj 'ej cooler neH streets. qaStaHvIS ram qaSpu'DI' supper juH mej 'ej wandered neH neighborhood george. during jaj berghqu' ba' 'op storekeepers be'nal 'ej qaStaHvIS quS jeD, ghor sidewalks in front of ngevwI''e', bIH'e', fanning rIntaH chaH yIt george 'ej jIba'laH ngevwI' guys HuS candy. jatlh couple naQ yIn QeymoHjaj 'ach Hoch latlh maq Dagh cha boraq ghov. ghajbogh quvHa'wI' le' vay' 'ach generally, toD 'oH ghochlaH wa'Hu' neighborhood mej 'ej bot wej paw darkly wov loQ park benches 'ej Sor 'ej Sut HabmoHwI', 'ej Hemqu'meH nob 'oH feeling privacy ghaH. ba' bench naDev Sor leafy chal blooming Hemqu'meH qoD, 'e' yIn Dunmo' ghaH je legh. ghajbogh qaSchoH DuSaQ-delivery loDHom, tayyaS stock, runner QIn mu'mey 'ej qapqu'mo' Qap neH laSvargh-bup ghaH 'ej ghaH Hoch dissatisfy 'e' DaHar'a' jobs ghaH. job chaq 'ej pa' private tuq porch, maja'chuqjaj Sor yIn vaj 'op jaj rur ghaH Hot ghaH. 'e' qabDaq SutwIj qoDDaq Doch ghaH je' 'ej be'Hom ru'vuS, vaj je wej 'e' mobwI', especially saturday ram dough 'op. neH. ghaytan 'ej ghaHvaD vuv nuv neH. Qub ghaH vIHtaHbogh Dochmeyvetlh pIj 'ach mostly SuvrupDI' ghaH nIteb DeSDu'. around ramjep Hu' 'ej vIHaj rom'a' tuj 'ej stony neighborhood. wa' poH poStaHvIS choghajjaj mr. cattanzara ghoSwI'pu' juH Dachegh paS raSmey quSmey Qap ghom george. tlhoy chech yIja' ghIq laH wasn't ghaH ghaH SIv ghaH. yIn mr. cattanzara, stocky, baldheaded loD 'Iv Qap neH choH booth irt, 'ej yaH bot veb qaSpu'DI' george, waq wovbe' ngevwI' tI'. nights, during tuj muD Dotlh, ba' joD neH undershirt laD chu' york times in the light of shoemaker Qorwagh. 'oH laD vo' page wa'DIch mejpa', vaj ghoS Qong ghaH. 'ej poH navmey, tach, ror be' ghaH chIS qab, Qorwagh, wo' gazing street, laD ghaH lulaj DeS jeD chIS bopummeH QeyHa' not 'urmangvetlh web vIlaj, Qorwagh ledge. wa'logh je poStaHvIS juH Dachegh chech Ha' mr. cattanzara, 'ach chech yIjatlhQo'. not vay' Seng chenmoH, neH yIt stiffly woDDI' street 'ej QIt letlh toS vaj vaS. pagh quv chech, ghaH legh rap je reH, except for Qey choghajjaj, quietness je, vaj mInDu' yIQ. mr. cattanzara ghaytan george SeH ghaH nickels tera' na'ran wIb chuch ghaH je' SuvrupDI' ghaH squirt nob qaw ghaH. mr. cattanzara pIm Segh puS nuv neH neighborhood. pIm yu' puS latlhpu' ghelmeH SoH ghom ghaH, 'ej HeDaj 'el 'e' Hoch De' chu' ghItlh vISov. chaH laD ghaH je ror rop vo' Qorwagh legh be'nal. "nuq Davang DapoltaH poH tuj bI'reS, goerge?" ghel mr. cattanzara. "yIt around DeSDu' qalegh." embarrass Hot george. "yIt vIparHa'." "nuq 'oH doin SoH qaStaHvIS DaH jaj?" "pagh be'nI'puqDaj neH DaH. loS jIH job. " qaSchoH ghaH "jonta'lIj laQchoHlu' jIH juH-'ach woH education lot laD jIH." wasn't vum, jatlh george ghaH chID tuHmoH 'oH Daj legh mr. cattanzara. qabDaj ghobe'-Qovpatlh tlhIH handkerchief tuj mopped ghaH. "nuq laD SoH?" hesitated, vaj "tetlh paq yong jIH be'nI''a'wI', Datu' wa'logh 'ej DaH chay'pen chaHvaD laD poH tuj bI'reS." jatlh: george ghaH Hot Huj 'ej loQ QuchHa' jatlh, 'ach mr. cattanzara ghaH vuv neH. "tu'lu' 'ar paq 'oH?" "chaH not 'ech jIH. chaq around wa'vatlh. " Ho' whistled pagh mr. cattanzara. "figure jIH vaj 'e' jIjatlhpu'," taH george earnestly, "HIboQ 'oH neH education. bIquv tlhIHvaD neH jenwI' DuSaQ ghewmey HIlegh >. pIm Doch Sov puS ghoj chaH pa' DaSovchugh nuq HIlegh > vIneH. " qar 'e' 'ang choH chenmoHwI'. "reH je Hoch wa'vatlh paq pretty tIn load wa' poH tuj bI'reS." "'oH chaq tlhap nI'qu'." "qaSpu'DI' je 'op rIn, chaq vIHtaHbogh chaH SuS laH bach SoH 'ej?" jatlh mr. cattanzara. "HeghDI' rIn," jang SuvwI' george. yIjaH mr. cattanzara 'ej choghajjaj taH geroge. qaSpu'DI', urge ghaj, pIm vo' motlh pagh Qu' george Qub. choghajjaj reH tlhappu'DI' DeSDu', qabna'Daj neH loQ park. 'ach george ghaH loDHom QaQ 'ej 'e' yIja' mr. cattanzara, qatlh figured geroge jatlh 'e' mev wa' bot veb shoemaker chIm'e' umqu' ghot paq laD ghaH. vo' shoemaker qaSnISbej SIbI' 'oH tInwI' street, mo' couple nuvpu' mon woQ DeSDu' ghaH leghDI' george pagh quv jatlh maq Dagh cha boraq ghaH personally. yIHot loQ Dunmo' around neighborhood 'ej latlh, ghaytan pagh quv wej ghur jIyIntaH Homvetlh reH neH. nuvpu' Homvetlh not exactly par ghaH 'ach chaH not rur ghaH Huch law' vIDablaH. jIwivlaH. pIch neighborhood. mer vavDaj vItu' 'e' george je vIHtaHbogh laD je Sov sophie. vavDaj je shy vIjatlh vay' vIHtaHbogh 'oH-ghaH not mamej talker pa' qabDaj poStaHvIS yIn-'ach sophie pagh tun george tun 'ej ghaH 'ang ghaH rurbogh latlh mIw ghaH Hem ghaH. Hoch george felt neH QaQ mood vIHtaHbogh Doch taH poH tuj bI'reS. juH Say' ghaH Hoch jaj, je sophie, favor je QujmeH moQ games latlh tIv. ghaHvaD nob sophie noHchu'wI' yoj potlh law' buck net Hogh 'ej pagh quv 'oH reH wasn't yap 'oH lo' SoQvetlh ghaj je 'oH helluva lot Dunmo' puS neH cha' bits chaq DaH je vaj. nuq mostly yabDaj ngoj je' Huch-cigarettes ghaH HIq movie pagh chaw'-pup tIn lel ghaH. yIn wasn't vaj qab chay' 'oH appreciate DaSovchugh. rut paperback paq vIje' ghaH chu'-Qam 'ach not Suq ghaH around 'oH, pagh quv ghaH glad 'e' couple paq. qaStaHvIS pa'. 'ach sophie laD thoroughly ghaH magazines De' chu' ghItlh je. 'ej DeSDu' poH rav enjoyable SeH HeghDI' storekeepers Hur ngevwI' ba' ghaH juS, ghaHvaD quv, vIchID chaH highly laH jatlh ghaH. yIt ghaH erect 'ej pagh quv qechmey chaH, pagh chaH wej jatlh approval jaghmey laH Hot ghaH. couple ram ghaH Hot Domo' 'e' park skipped ghaH legh Qav 'oH ram. neH wandered ghaH neH neighborhood, nuqDaq ghovlu'DI' nuvpu' vo' poH ghaH kid punchball chu' whenever loj rIntaH Quj tu'lu'; juH came vaj wandered pa' 'ej Suq tuQHa'moH QongDaq, Hot rup. Hogh puS yIjatlh ghaH neH wa'logh mr. cattanzara ghaH, 'ej pagh quv rurnIDwI' vIHtaHbogh paq, wa''e', tlhob ra'bogh choH chenmoHwI' george tam loQ jotHa'. vIS vIvoqHa' vIchel juS in front of mr. cattanzara tuq george leghmeH, until wa' ram, lIj ghaH, 'oH 'ej ravDaq bIH roQ ghaH vo' lurgh pIm law' motlh ghaH HeghDI'. chonayta' rIntaH ramjep. chIm street, except for wa' pagh cha' nuv, 'ej george lumerlaw'lu'bogh mr. cattanzara reH De' chu' ghItlh laD pong rut leghDI'