mother of learning第１章パート3

いずれにせよ、彼の文房具を二度と見える事はない知るけど、彼の教科書が本当に必要だ。妹のドアにある立ち入り禁止看板を無視すると、彼女の部屋に入った。そうすると普段の場所に教科書を見つけた、ベットの下に。教科書をバッグに入れると、準備が終わった。彼の家族は、彼が単に寝坊するのが好きだと思っていたけど、ゾリアンには遅く起きる理由があった。彼が起きる頃には、彼の家族はもう朝ご飯を食べ終わっているので、彼は静かに一人で食べられる。彼は食事中に誰かが話しかけてくることほど、彼をイライラさせることがない。残念だが、その時間は彼の家族が一番おしゃべりになる時だった。彼は階段をまだ降り終わることがなかっただが、「まさか、そんな格好で出かけるつもりじゃないでしょう？」とマザーは聞いた。「何が悪い？」とゾリアンは聞き返した。彼は普通の茶色の格好だった。いいと思った。「そんな格好で出かけさせない、人々が何を言うと思う？」と彼のお母さんがため息をつきながら言った。「何も言わない？」とゾリアンは答えた。「ゾリアン、そんなに意地を張らないで」と彼女はきつく言った。「私たちの家族はこの街の柱の一つであり、家から出るたびに人々注目させている。君は関心がないかもしれないけど、多くの人にとって必要なの。君はこの世で一人ではなく、独りよがりに物事を決める事が出来ない。この家族の一員として、君の行動は私たちの家族の評判に影響を与える。まるで普通の工場労働者みたいな格好で私に恥をかかせないで。部屋に戻って、きちんとした服に着替えてきなさい。」と彼女は続けた。ゾリアンはあきれて部屋を振り返った。彼女は彼に何度も罪悪感を抱かせようとしたので彼はもう慣れた。だが、彼は争いたくないから、高い格好に着替えた。終日電車を乗るので、彼はその服が完全に過大と思ったけど、マザーが満足で頷いた。

In any case, while Zorian had no delusions about ever seeing his writing supplies again, he really needed those textbooks. With that in mind, he marched off to his sister’s room, ignoring the ‘Keep out!’ warning on the door, and quickly found his missing books in their usual location – cunningly hidden under the bed, behind several conveniently placed stuffed animals.
His packing done, he went downstairs to eat something and see what Mother wanted from him.
Though his family thought he simply liked to sleep in, Zorian actually had a reason for being a late riser. It meant he could eat his food in peace, as everyone else had already had their breakfast by then. Few things annoyed him more than someone trying to strike up a conversation while he was eating, and that was precisely the time when the rest of his family was most talkative. Unfortunately, Mother wasn’t willing to wait for him today, and immediately descended upon him when she saw him coming down. He didn’t even finish his descent down the stairs and she had already found something about him she didn’t like.
“You don’t really intend to go out looking like that, do you?” she asked.
“What’s wrong with this?” asked Zorian. He was wearing a plain brown outfit, little different from the ones other boys wore when they were going into the city. It seemed just fine to him.
“You can’t go out looking like that,” his mother said with a long-suffering sigh. “What do you think people will say when they see you wearing that?”
“Nothing?” Zorian tried.
“Zorian, don’t be so difficult,” she snapped at him. “Our family is one of the pillars of this town. We’re under scrutiny every time we leave the house. I know you don’t care about such things, but appearances are important to a lot of people. You need to realize you’re not an island, and you can’t decide things as if you were alone in the world. You are a member of this family, and your actions inevitably reflect on our reputation. I will not let you embarrass me by looking like a common factory worker. Go back to your room and put on some proper attire.”
Zorian restrained himself from rolling his eyes just long enough to turn his back on her. Maybe her guilt trip would have been more effective if this was the first time she tried it on him. Still, it wasn’t worth the argument, so he changed into a pricier set of clothes. It was totally excessive, considering he’d be spending the whole day in the train, but his mother nodded approvingly when she saw him coming down the stairs.