Breakfast
John Steinbeck
This thing fills me with pleasure. I don’t know why, I can see it in the smallest detail. I find myself recalling it again and again and each time remembering brings the curious warm pleasure.
It was very early in the morning. The eastern mountains were black-blue, but behind them the light stood up faintly colored at the mountain rims.
And it was cold, not painfully so, but cold enough so that I rubbed my hands and shoved them deep into my pockets. Down in the valley where I was, the earth was that lavender gray of dawn. I walked along a country road and ahead of me I saw a tent that was only a little lighter gray than the ground. Beside the tent there was a flash of orange fire showing out of the cracks of an old rusty iron stove. Gray smoke flew up out of the stove-pipe, flew up a long way before it spread out and disappeared.
I saw a young woman beside the stove, really a girl. She was dressed in a faded cotton skirt and waist. As I came close I saw that she carried a baby in her arm and the baby was nursing, its head under her waist out of the cold. The mother moved about, poking the fire, shifting the rusty lids of the stove to make a greater draft, opening the oven door; and all the time the baby was nursing, but that didn’t interfere with the mother’s work, nor with the light quick gracefulness of her movements.
I was close now and I could smell frying bacon and baking bread, the warmest, pleasantest odours I know. From the east the light grew swiftly. I came near to the stove and stretched my hands out to it and shivered all over when the warmth struck me. Then the tent flap jerked up and a young man came out and an older man followed him. They were dressed in new blue dungarees and in new dungaree coats with the brass buttons shining. They were sharp-faced men, and they looked much alike.
The younger had a dark beard and the older had a gray beard. Their heads and faces were wet, their hair dripped with water, and water stood out on their stiff beards and their cheeks shone with water. Together they stood looking quietly at the lightening east; they yawned together and looked at the light on the hill rims. They turned and saw me.
“Morning,” said the older man. His face was neither friendly nor unfriendly.
“Morning, sir,” I said.
“Morning,” said the young man.
The water was slowly drying on their faces. They came to the stove and warmed their hands at it.
The girl kept to her work, her face averted and her eyes on what she was doing. Her hair was tied back with a string and it hung down her back and swayed as she worked. She set tin cups on a big box, set tin plates and knives and forks out too. Then she took fried bacon out of the deep grease and laid it on a big tin platter. She opened the rusty oven door and took out a square pan full of high big biscuits.
The elder man turned to me, “Had your breakfast?”
“No.”
“Well, sit down with us, then.”
That was the signal. We went to the box and squatted on the ground about it. The young man asked, “Picking cotton?”
“No.”
“We had twelve days’ work so far,” the young man said.
The girl spoke from the stove. “They even got new clothes.”
The two men looked down at their new dungarees and they both smiled a little.
The girl set out the platter of bacon, the brown high biscuits, a bowl of bacon gravy and a pot of coffee, and then she squatted down by the box too. The baby was still nursing, its head up under her waist out of the cold.
We filled our plates, poured bacon gravy over our biscuits and sugared our coffee. The older man filled his mouth full and he chewed and chewed and swallowed. Then he said, “God Almighty, it’s good,” and he filled his mouth again.
The young man said, “We’ve been eating good for twelve days.”
We all ate quickly, and refilled our plates and ate quickly again until we were full and warm. The hot bitter coffee scalded our throats.
There was a reddish color in the light now that made the air seem colder. The two men faced the east and their faces were lighted by the dawn, and I looked up for a moment and saw the image of the mountain and the light coming over it reflected in the older man’s eyes.
Then the two men threw the grounds from their cups on the earth and they stood up together. “Got to get going,” the older man said.
The younger turned to me. “If you want to pick cotton, we could maybe get you on.”
“No, I’ve got to go along. Thanks for breakfast.”
The older man waved his hand in a negative. “O.K. Glad to have you.” They walked away together. The air was blazing with light at the eastern skyline. And I walked away down the country road.
I find myself recalling — Я ловлю себя на том, что вспоминаю (объектный причастный оборот)
not painfully so — не мучительно (холодно) (наречие so здесь употребляется, чтобы избежать повторения прилагательного cold)
the earth was that lavender gray of dawn — земля была освещена тем бледноватым светом, какой бывает на рассвете (досл. земля была того бледноватого цвета рассвета)
the baby was nursing — зд. ребенок сосал грудь
its head under her waist out of the cold — голова ребенка находилась под лифом матери, куда не достигал холод (досл. вне холода) (независимый причастный оборот, в котором опущено причастие being)
that didn’t interfere with the mother’s work — это не мешало матери работать (to interfere with — мешать, служить препятствием)
Morning — разг. Доброе утро!
The girl kept to her work, her face averted and her eyes on what — Девушка продолжала работать, отвернув лицо и глядя на то (независимый причастный оборот с Past Participle averted)
We had twelve days’ work so far — Пока мы проработали двенадцать дней (so far — пока, до сих пор)
God Almighty — Великий боже (досл. всемогущий бог)
We’ve been eating good — Мы хорошо едим (Present Perfect Continuous)
that made the air seem colder — благодаря которому воздух казался холоднее
the image of the mountain and the light coming over it reflected in — отражение горы и переливающегося через нее света в
Got to get going разг. = We’ve got to go
we could maybe get you on — возможно, мы могли бы пристроить вас
in a negative — в знак отрицания
O.K. Glad to have you! — амер. Ну, хорошо, рады были познакомиться.