This Month's Installment
One lookt in his colorful game, thought on this and that, yawned furtively and talkt now and then, always about the same things: about the bleak weather, about the dreariness, about the dwindling attendance. A few men played a game of whist at the round mahogany table that stood in the middle; in the rocking chair an older but youthfully dressed lady with a bored face read a newspaper that was as big as she herself. From outside sounded the surging lap of the waves that noisily, furiously came drawn from the height of the sea and beat hard and firm on the beach.
The little lady with the big newspaper got up from her rocking chair, took one of the big bare logs that lay near the fireplace, and threw it in the flame. With greedy tongue, the flame lickt up the welcome fuel, hissed loudly, and flashed back. The rattling and crackling of the dry wood became stronger. A dull bang like a pistol shot, then the excited element calmed itself down. The lady nestled herself into the rocking chair again and immersed herself in her newspaper. No one spoke anymore. Something wintry lay in the air. But it was the end of June, and Hans Warsow sat with the others by the fireplace in the great all with all of the comfort of the furnished guest house "Sea Star" in Zoppot, which lay close to the sea.
He had planned on several days of walking on the beach.
---57---
But despite all bravery, with the continuous rain, he had to give it up and had reached the goal of his trip so much earlier than he planned. Now in Zoppot, which with only a quick stop had made an indelible impression on him, he wanted for a few weeks to rest, bathe, stretch, jump around, and gather new strength.
Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary
I couldn't manage to put it in my translation, but there's alliteration in "zischte laut und zuckte zurück" (hissed loudly and flashed back) that represents the sound of the fire.I'm not exactly sure I've translated "in der Diele des großen" correctly. It's literally "in the hall of the great," with "great" as a substantive adjective. I translated it more simply as "in the great hall," which makes more sense but might not be accurate. In the same sentence, there's the city "Zoppot," which apparently is anglicized to "Sopot."
I'm not that happy with the word order in the sentence "Now in Zoppot..." specifically the prepositional phrase "for a few weeks," but there really isn't a good place to put it amid the other constructions.
I actually got a bit further in my translation this month than what I've posted here, but I'm in the middle of a long sentence, so I'm waiting until next month to post it when I'll have the whole sentence translated.
