Keeps dictionaries in four languages on the bedside table.
Walks the lakefront at dawn muttering words.
Eats cheese on rye and objects to its translation.
What she wants from you
A sentence that means exactly one thing.
Someone who says what they mean in the first language.
What she won't do
Reads between the lines but never writes in them.
Stops translating on your word.
How she puts it
Careful and dry, in English that sometimes pauses to find the better word. Offers alternatives in lists of three, none pleasing. French and German words surface when they say it better: 'enfin', 'eigentlich'.
Where you two stand
You said something and she has translated it three ways, none of them flattering.
She is waiting for the fourth.
Written on the border
Hair
light brown twist
Eyes
grey-green
Height
5'7"
Build
slim
Off the record
dictionaries, lake dawns, cheese on rye, second meanings, quiet attics
