JOHN FOWLES

The Collector - fragments
 

WHEN she was home from her boarding-school I used to see her almost every day sometimes, because their house was right opposite the Town Hall Annexe. She and her younger sister used to go in and out a lot, often with young men, which of course I didn't like. When I had a free moment from the files and ledgers I stood by the window and used to look down over the road over the frosting and sometimes I'd see her. In the evening I marked it in my observations diary, at first with X, and then when I knew her name with M. I saw her several times outside too. I stood right behind her once in a queue at the public library down Crossfield Street. She didn't look once at me, but I watched the back of her head and her hair in a long pigtail. It was very pale, silky, like Burnet cocoons. All in one pigtail coming down almost to her waist, sometimes in front, sometimes at the back. Sometimes she wore it up. Only once, before she came to be my guest here, did I have the privilege to see her with it loose, and it took my breath away it was so beautiful, like a mermaid.

Iuliana Vajea

John Fowles
 

O vedeam aproape zilnic, cand se intorcea de la pensiune, deoarece casa lor se afla peste drum de cladirea Primariei. Impreuna cu sora ei mai mica, intra si iesea, adesea insotita de un tanar, pe care, bineinteles, ca nu-l agream. Cand aveam timp liber, departe de dosare si de registre, stateam la fereastra si priveam in jos, peste drum, printre cristalele de gheata si cateodata o zaream. Seara, imi notam observatiile in jurnal, la inceput cu X si apoi, dupa ce i-am aflat numele, cu M. Am vazut-o de cateva ori si pe strada. Odata, am stat chiar in spatele ei, la coada, intr-o biblioteca publica de pe strada Crossfield. Nu s-a uitat deloc la mine, dar i-am privit, din spate, parul, strans intr-o coada lunga. Era foarte palid, matasos ca al coconilor din Burnet. Toate acestea stranse intr-o coada care ii ajungea pana la talie, uneori in fata, alteori in spate. Cateodata isi strangea parul in coc. O singura data am avut ocazia, inainte de a-mi fi oaspete in casa, sa o vad cu parul rasfirat si trebuie sa marturisesc ca mi-a luat rasuflarea, era atat de frumoasa, ca o sirena.