Al_Ivashkova: переводы

→And just like that, a new part of her mind lit up as she became acutely aware of all her bad habits. It dinged like a warning alarm when Lisa tore open a bag of Old Bay potato chips for movie night, or when Bridget got too close to the dish of salt water taffy her mom kept filled on the kitchen counter. Bridget’s brain continued to evolve over the months, rewiring her cravings for boardwalk soft serve with the challenge to run another mile to the next pier, brainstorming excuses to skip out on Dad’s amazing tuna fish sandwiches, until it commented not only on everything she put inside herself, but every piece of food she even thought about eating. It wiped away any memory she ever had of being pretty, and made it a goal, something she might be lucky enough to accomplish one day if she worked hard enough.

→Bridget smoothed her hair as she stepped out of the dressing room. Mrs. Honeycutt stood by the register impatiently, her credit card already out, chatting with the salesgirl. The waist of Mrs. Honeycutt’s navy linen pants swelled underneath her sleeveless white shell, the skin on her bare arms taut and overstuffed and about to split, like hot dogs left too long on the grill. Her mother never wore shorts. Her mother never swam in the ocean. She stayed in the air-conditioning in those wide-legged pants.

→Eat.

→It is not something she wants to celebrate.

→Bridget manages two.

→They can be little ones.

→Just five bites.

→Eat, Bridget.

→“Oh. Well … congratulations again!”

→“Neither,” Bridget says. She pushes her hair back. It is damp around the edge of her scalp.

→“Do you want butter or cream cheese?”

→You know what’s different.

→You know why.

→Someone else hands her a copy. Bridget reads aloud, “What a difference a summer can make.” She looks up and blushes.

→Impossible.

→Don’t you dare, Bridget.

→“Bridget!”

→Bridget’s stomach rumbles.

→Bridget was determined to find one. She flew in and out of stores.

→The list is so powerful, its judgment so absolute, and yet no one wants to deal with it in black Sharpie on her face.