【时间旅行者的妻子】13

（单词翻译）

She continues to hold my hands. She looks at me with eagerness; with love. I feel profoundly humble¹.　“Clare?”　“Yes?”　“Could we back up? Could we pretend that this is a normal first date between two normal people?”　“Okay.” Clare gets up and goes back to her side of the table. She sits up straight and tries not to smile.　“Um, right. Gee², ah, Clare, ah, tell me about yourself. Hobbies? Pets? Unusual sexual proclivities³?”　“Find out for yourself.”　“Right. Let’s see.. .where do you go to school? What are you studying?”　“I’m at the School of the Art Institute; I’ve been doing sculpture, and I’ve just started to study papermaking.”　“Cool. What’s your work like?”　For the first time, Clare seems uncomfortable. “It’s kind of...big, and it’s about.. .birds.” She looks at the table, then takes a sip⁴ of tea.　“Birds?”　“Well, really it’s about, um, longing⁵.” She is still not looking at me, so I change the subject.　“Tell more about your family.”　“Okay.” Clare relaxes, smiles. “Well...my family lives in Michigan, by a small town on the lake called South Haven⁶. Our house is in an unincorporated area outside the town, actually. It originally belonged to my mother’s parents, my Grandpa and Grandma Meagram. He died before I was born, and she lived with us until she died. I was seventeen. My grandpa was a lawyer, and my dad is a lawyer; my dad met my mom when he came to work for Grandpa.”　“So he married the boss’s daughter.”　“Yeah. Actually, I sometimes wonder if he really married the boss’s house. My mom is an only child, and the house is sort of amazing; it’s in a lot of books on the Arts and Crafts movement.”　“Does it have a name? Who built it?”　“It’s called Meadowlark House, and it was built in 1896 by Peter Wyns.”　“Wow. I’ve seen pictures of it. It was built for one of the Henderson family, right?”　“Yes. It was a wedding present for Mary Henderson and Dieter Bascombe.