The Country Girl
(extract)
Edna O'Brien
(Ireland)
Learn the following words, word combinations and notes. Read the text translate, try to give the title to the text.
Vocabulary:
- to stop for petrol
- to wind down the window
- to futter (about heart)
- a self-conscious puff
- to call sb back
- basement
- jewellery window
- holy water
- to refer to sth
- to apply lipstick
- to tease sb
- to be ashamed of sth
- to be cross
- small talk
- to roam all over a face
- in order to
- to save hay
- haycock
- to drive cows home
- sharpbends
- to moon about
Notes.
a gym frock -
a boat-shaped bottle - ,
Woolworth' s - -
Confirmation pledge - (.) - 13-16
Irish stew -
Wellingtons
I was standing outside the gate waiting for the bus when Mr Gentlemans car passed by and went up the street. It stopped outside the garage on the hill for petrol, then he turned round and came back.
Are you gouig somewhere, Caithleen? he asked, winding down the window. I said that I was going to Limerick and he said to sit in. So I sat on the black leather seat beside him and my heart fluttered. The moment I heard him speak and the moment I looked at his eyes my heart always fluttered. His eyes were tired or sad or something. He smoked little cigars and threw the butts out the window.
Are they horrible? I asked. I had to say something.
Here, try one, he said and he took the cigar out of his mouth and handed it to me. I was thinking of his mouth, of the shape of it, and the taste of his tongue, while I had one short, self-conscious puff. I began to cough at once. I said it was worse than horrible, and he laughed. He drove very fast.
We parked the car down aside street and I thanked him and went off. He was locking the door. I hated leaving him. There was something about him that made me want to be with him. Hs called me back. "What about lunch, Caithleen?" I intended having tea and cream-buns but I didnt tell him that.
"Would you like to meet me?"
I said that I would. Ms eyes were still sad but I was singjng as I came away
"You won't forget will you?"
"No, Mr. Gentleman, I won't forget." I hurried off to the shops.
I went into the biggest shop on the main street. Mama always shopped there. I asked a woman who was down on her knees scrubbing the floor where I'd go for a gym frock.
"Fourth floor, love. Take the lift." She had no teeth when she smiled. I gave her a shilling. I had saved three shillings on my bus fare. I could afford to be extravagant.
I got into the lift. A small boy with a buttoned tunic operated it.
"I want a gym frock" I said. He ignored me.
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I sat on a stool in the corner because it was my first time in a lift and I felt dizzy. We passed three floors with a click at each floor; then it clicked, stopped, and he let me out. The gym-frock counter was directly opposite and I went across.
Afterwards I weighed myself in the cloakroom and learnt that I was seven pounds too light. There was a chart printed on the side of the scales that gave the correct weight for each persons height.
I went down the stairs. The carpet was worn but it was soft under the feet. In the basement I bought presents for everybody. A scarf for Dada, a penknife for Hickey, a boat-shaped bottle of perfume for Baba, and pink hand-jelly for Martha. Then I came out on the street and looked in a jewellery window. I saw a lot of watches that I liked. I went into a big church at the corner, to have three wishes. We were told that we had three wishes whenever we went into a new church. The holy water wasnt in a font like at home, but there was a drop at the end of a narrow tap, and I put my finger under it and blessed myself. I wished that Mama was in heaven, that my father would never drink again, and that Mr. Gentleman would not forget to come at one oclock.
I came to the hotel a half an hour before the time so that I wouldnt miss him, and I was afraid to go inside to the hall, in case a porter should tell me that I had no right to be there.
He had had a hair cut, and as he came up the steps his face looked sharp and I could see the tops of his ears. Before that they were hidden under a soft fall of fine grey hair. He smiled at me. My heart fluttered once again and I found it hard to speak.
"Men prefer to kiss young girls without lipstick, you know " he said. He was referring to the two thin lines of pink lipstick that I had put on. I bought a tube in Woolworth's and went round to the mirror counter and applied it in front of a mirror that showed up all the pores on my face.
"I wasn't thinking of kissing. I never kiss anyone," I said.
"Never?" he was teasing me. I knew by the way he smiled.
"No. Nobody. Only Hckey."
"Nobody else?" I shook my head and he caught my elbow as we went into the dining-room. My arms were thin and white and I was ashamed of them.
It was myfirst time in a city hotel. 1 decided to have the cheapest thing on the menu.
"I'll have Irish stew," I said.
"No, you will not" he replied. He was cross but it wasn't real crossness, only pretending. He ordered little chickens for both of us. Another waiter brought a tall, slender, dark-green bottle of wine. There was a bowl of mixed flowers on the table between us, but they had no smell.
He poured some wine into his own glass, sipped it, and smiled Then he poured some into mine. I had my Confirmation pledge, but I was ashamed to tell him He was smiling at me all the time.It was a sad smile and I liked it.
"Tell me about your day."
I bought my school uniform and I walked around. Thats all.
The wine was bitter. I would rather have lemonade. I had ice-cream afterwards, and Mr. Gentleman had a white cheese with green threads of mould in it. It smelled like Hickeys socks, not the new socks I bought him but the old ones under his mattress.
That was lovely, I said, pushing my plate over to the edge of the table where it would be handy for the waiter to get it.
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It was, he agreed, I didnt know whether Mr. Gentleman was shy, or whether it was that he was just too lazy to talk. Or bored. He was no good for small talk.
We must have another lunch some day, he said.
Im going away next week, I replied.
"Going away to America? Too bad well never meet one another again. I think he thought he was being very funny. He drank some more wine and his eyes got very large and very, very wistful. They met mine for as long as I wanted.
So you tell me that you have never kissed anyone? he said. He had a way of looking at me that made me feel innocent. He was staring now. Sometimes directly into my pupils, other times his eyes, would roam all over my face and settled for a minute on my neck. My neck. My neck was snow-white and I was wearing a silk dress with a curved neckline. It was an ice-blue dress with blossoms on it. Sometimes I thought the pattern was one of snow falling; but either way it was a nice dress and the skirt was composed of millions of little pieces that lowed when I walked.
The next time we have lunch, dont wear lipstick, he said. I prefer you without it.
The coffee was bitter. I used four lumps of sugar. We came out and went to the pictures. He bought me a box of chocolates with a ribbon on it.
I cried halfway through the picture because there was a sad bit about a boy having to leave a girl in order to go off to war. He laughed when he saw me crying and whispered that we should go out. He took my hand as we went up the dark passage, and out in the vestibule he wiped my eyes and told me to smile.
We drove home while it was still bright. The hills in the distance were blue and the trees in the folds of the hills were dusty lilac. Farmers were saving hay in fields along the roadside and children were sitting on haycocks eating apples and throwing butts over the ditch. The smell of hay came through the window, half spice, half perfume.
A woman wearing Wellingtons was driving cows home to be milked. We had to slow down to let them in a side gate and I caught him looking at me. We smiled at each other and his hand came off the steering-wheel and rested on the lap of my ice-blue dress. My hand was waiting for it. We locked our fingers and tor the rest of the journey we drove like that, exceptgoing round sharp bends. Hs hand was small and white and very smooth. There were no hairs on it.
"You're the sweetest thing that ever happened to me; he sad It was all he said and it was only a whisper. Afterwards, lying in bed in the convent I used to wonder whether he said it or whether I had imagined it.
He squeezed my hand before I got out of the car. I thanked him and reached into the back seat for my packages. He sighed, as if he were going to say something; but Baba ran out to the car and he slipped away from me.
My soul was alive; enchantment; something I had never known before. It was the happiest day of my whole life.
Good bye, Mr. Gentleman, I said through the window. There was an odd expression in his smile which seemed to be saying, Dont go. But he did go, my new god, with a face carved out of pale marble and eyes that made me sad for every woman who hadnt known him.
Whats the hell are you mooning about? Baba asked, and I went into the house laughing.
"I bought you a present," I said and in my mind I kept singing it, "You're the sweetest thing that ever happened to me." It was like having a precious stone in my pocket and I had only to say the words in order to feel it, blue, precious, enchanting... my deathlees, deathless song.
Vocabulary practice
/. Write in transcription and read the following words and phrases:
garage, leather, seat, horrible, cough, a buttoned tunic, to weigh, a chart, height, carpet, scarf, ignore, cloakroom, jewellery, font, an elbow, lemonade, a bowl, crossness, Irish stew, mould, mattress, wistful, innocent, stare, vestibule, ditch, smooth, whisper, in the convent, enchantment, odd expression, precious, deathless, pale marble, squeeze, extravagant.
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//. Translate into English:
; ; , , , , ; ; , , ; ; ; , , .-; .- .-; ; ; ; , , , ; ; ; ; , ; .
///. Reproduce the situations from the text where the active vocabulary is used. Think of your own sentences with the words from the list.
IV. Suggest words and word-combinations for the following
1. to stop for taking in gas
2. to open the window in the car
3. to beat quickly (about the heart)
4. a shy inhalation
5. a table ()
6. to mention or to speak about
7. to put on lipstick
8. to make jokes about
9. to be angry
- a light conversation on unimportant subjects
- to wander
V. Choose the correct statement:
- I came to the hotel a half an hour before the time so that...
a) I would see my friend
b) I would order a holiday dinner
c) I wouldn't miss him
- It was my first time in a city hotel. I decided to have...
a) the most expensive dish on the menu
b) the cheapest thing on the menu
c) a three-course dinner
- I didn't know whether Mr. Gentleman was shy or whether it was that he was just too lazy to talk.. Or bored. He was no good...
a) for a holiday dinner
b) for small talk
c) for the company of a young girl
- Going away to America? Too bad we'll never...
a) meet one another again
b) have dinner at a hotel restaurant
c) go to the cinema together
- The next time we have lunch, don't...
a) put on this dress
b) order Irish stew
c) wear lipstick
- We drove home while...
a) it was still bright
b) it was already dark
c) it was raining
VI. Answer the following questions:
- Who is the main character of the story?
- Who took the girl to Limerick?
- What did Caithleen buy in the shop? What did she wish in the church?
- Where did the girl spend the rest of the day?
- What made Caithleen cry in the cinema?
- What did the girl and her friend see on their way home?
- What made Caithleen happy?
VII. Topics for general discussion
- What kind of story is it?
- What kind of a girl was Caithleen? (appearance, character)
- Who was Mr. Gentleman? What was his attitude to Caithleen?
- Do you think that the relationship between Caithleen and Mr. Gentleman will grow into more serious?
| Alan Marshall (2 May 1902, Noorat, Victoria 21 January 1984, Melbourne) was an Australian writer, story teller and social documenter. His best known book, I Can Jump Puddles (1955) is the first of a three-part autobiography. The other two books are This is the Grass (1962) and In Mine Own Heart (1963). |
When Marshall was six years old he contracted polio leaving him with a physical disability that grew worse as he grew older. From an early age, he resolved to be a writer, and in I Can Jump Puddles he demonstrated an almost total recall of his childhood in Noorat. The characters and places of his book are thinly disguised from real life: Mount Turalla is Mount Noorat, Lake Turalla is Lake Keilambete, the Curruthers are the Blacks, and his best friend, Joe from the books, is Leo Carmody.
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Australian poet and contemporary, Hal Porter wrote in 1965 that Alan Marshall is:
... the warmest and most centralized human being... To walk with ease and nonchalance the straight, straight line between appearing tragic and appearing willfully brave is a feat so complex I should not like to have to rake in the dark for the super-bravery to accomplish it.
Alan Marshall wrote numerous short stories, mainly set in the bush. He also wrote newspaper columns and magazine articles. He travelled widely in Australia and overseas. He also collected and published Indigenous Australian stories and legends.
The-Silly-Pup
A. Marshall
(Australia)
