we shaped our days the way we chose, far from the prying eyes of adults. we found our dad's playboys and charged the neighborhood boys money to look at them. we made crank calls around the county, telling people they had won a new car. "what kind?" they' d ask. "red," we' d always say. we put on our mom's old prom(7) dresses, complete with gloves and hats, and sang backup to the c.w. mccall(8) song convoy, " which we' d found on our dad's turntable.
遠離大人們窺視的目光，我們按自己選擇的方式安排著生活。我們找出了爸爸的《花花公子》雜誌，讓鄰家的男孩們付費觀看。我們給全縣各地的人打神秘電話，對他們說他們贏得了一輛新車。“什麼樣的？”他們會問。而我們總是回答：“紅的。”我們穿上媽媽班級舞會時穿的舊禮服，配上手套和帽子，伴著在爸爸的唱機上找到的麥考爾的《護衛隊》歌唱。
we went on hikes into the woods behind our house, crawling under barbed wire(9) fences and through tangled undergrowth. heat and humidity found their way throught he leaves to our flushed faces. we waded in streams that we were always surprised to come across. we walked past cars and auto parts that had been abandoned in the woods, far from any road. we' d reach the tree line(10) and come out unexpectedly into a cow pasture. we' d perch on the gate or stretch out on the large flat limes tone outcrop that marked the end of the woods behind our house.
我們到屋後的樹林裡遠足，從帶刺的鐵絲籬牆下爬過，穿過纏繞糾結的灌木叢。熱氣和濕氣透過樹葉的罅隙撲上我們緋紅的臉頰。每次我們總是會意外地遇到溪流，於是我們就在其中涉水而行。我們走過被丟棄在遠離大路的林中的轎車和汽車部件。我們會一直走到樹林邊上，結果意外走進一個奶牛場。我們會倚坐在門上休息，或者攤開四肢躺在露出地面的又大又平的石灰岩上。這些岩石標誌著“屋後樹林”的盡頭。
one day a thunderstorm blew up along the tennessee river. it was one of those storms that make the day go dark and the humidity disappear. first it was still and quiet. there was electricity in the air and then the sharp crispness of a summer day being blown wide open as the winds rushed in. we threw open(11) all the doors and windows. we found the classical radio station from two towns away and turned up the bass and cranked up(12) the speakers. we let the wind blow in and churn our summer day around. we let the music we were only vaguely familiar with roar throu gh the house. and we twirled. we twirled in the living room in the wind and in the music. we twirled and we im agined that we were poets and dancers and scientists and spring brides.
有一天，田納西河沿岸出現了暴風雨。這樣的暴風雨讓天變得陰沉，也驅走了濕氣。剛開始，一切寧靜又安詳。空氣中孕含著電流，乍起的風把夏日的清爽吹得豁然大開。我們敞開所有的門窗，把收音機調到兩個鎮子之外的古典音樂台，加重低音並把音量開得大大的。我們讓風吹進來，讓它肆意攪動著我們的夏日。我們讓似曾相熟的音樂在屋子裡轟鳴，我們則在一邊隨 著音樂飛快地鏇轉。在風中、在音樂里、在客廳里，我們飛鏇。飛鏇著，想像自己是詩人、是舞者、是科學家、是春天裡的新娘。
we twirled and imagined that if we could let everything --- the thunder, the storm, the wind , the world --- into that house in the banks of the tennessee river, we could live in our summer dreams forever. when we were girls.