The Garden-Party [antikvár]

The Woman at the Store All that day the heat was terrible. The wind blew close to the ground; it rooted among the tussock grass, slithered along the road, so that the white pumice dust swirled in our faces, settled and sifted over us and was like a dry skin itching for growth on our bodies. The horses stumbled along, coughing and chuffing. The pack-horse was sick - with a big open sore rubbed under the belly. Now and again she stopped short, threw back her head, looked at us as though she were going to cry, and whinnied. Hundreds of larks shrilled; the sky was slate colour, and the sound of the larks reminded me of slate pencils scraping over its surface. There was nothing to be seen but wave after wave of tussock grass, patched 3 tussock grass (bot.): Bültgras; tussock: Büschel. 3 f. to slither: (aus)rutschen, gleiten, schlittern. 4 pumice: Bimsstein. to swirl: (herum)wirbeln. 5 to sift: rieseln, (aus)streuen, fallen (Licht). 6 to itch for s.th.: jucken, brennen auf, dürsten nach etwas, growth: Wachsen, Wuchs, Zunahme; Tumor, Wucherung, itching for growth on our bodies: sinngemäß etwa: die sich überall auf unseren Körpern wie eine Wucherung ausbreiten wollte. 7 to chuff (echoic): to chug (AE coll.): stampfen, prusten, puffen. 8 sore: Wunde, wunde Stelle, Entzündung. 11 to whinny: (leise) wiehern. siate: Schiefer. 13 to scrape: kratzen, scharren. 14 patched: hier: durchsetzt.