88歳おじいちゃんの渡米記🇺🇸第八日目「ゲートで崩れた涙、米寿の夢完結」
米寿渡米記 - 第八日目（１９９５年２月２６日）
２６日 滞米最後の日である。７時起床。いよいよ離れるとなると室内の飾物まで名残惜しい。最愛の孫との別れはこんなに哀しいものか。何となく永遠の別れの如く感じる。９時半、阿瀬君の車で一路サンノゼ空港へ。何かの支障で一日遅れたらいいなァと、そんな無茶な事さえ思う。帰りは阿瀬君と純子が残り倅と二人きりの帰国で淋しいが、 空港までは史子共々送って来てくれた。空港では軽い食事をし、別れを惜しんだが時計は停止しない。
My last day in America. Woke up at 7:00. Now that we were leaving, even the decorations in Ayako's room seemed dear to me. Is this how sad it is to leave one's beloved granddaughter? Somehow, it felt as if it were goodbye forever. At 9:30, Mr. Ase drove us straight to the San Jose Airport. Foolishly, I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if by some mishap we were delayed a day or so?" Mr. Ase and Junko were staying behind, and the return would be lonely with just the two of us, my son and I, but they came with Ayako to the airport. We had a light meal there. I dreaded saying goodbye, but the clock would not stop.
免税店でタバコを買う。代金引換ではない。搭乗寸前に渡されるのである。出国手続きを済ませる。間もなく搭乗時間であり連結廊下が架設されるとゾロゾロ吸い込まれる。もう別れの言葉さえ出ない。後ろ髪を引かれながら廊下に入ると、こらえていた涙が吹き出して遂声を上げて泣いてしまった。倅に促されて機上の人となる。１２時５８分、 惜しくも離陸して太平洋の上空へ。
Bought cigarettes at the duty-free shop. It was not cash-and-carry--you are handed the goods just before boarding the plane. We went through customs and immigration. Then it was time to board, and as the gateway was attached to the plane, a crowd swarmed around us. I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye. Running my hand through the hair on the back of my head, I passed through the gate, and the tears I had been holding back burst out, and I broke down, sobbing. My son urged me on. We boarded the plane. At 12:58, we took off reluctantly into the Pacific skies.
座席に着いても暫くは黙して語らず、仮眠も出来ない。往路は８時間だったが、復路は風速の関係か、気圧の関係か、我々素人には判らないが、１２時間を要すという。成田に降り立つと日本時間である。帰国手続きを済ませて、成田エキスプレスにて新宿直行。小田急に乗り継いで生田下車。駅にはチイさんが友人の車を依頼して迎えに来てくれる。その夜は滞米中の話で持ち切り。斯くして有意義なアメリカ渡米日記に終止符を打つ。
完
Even after sitting down, I remained silent and could not fall asleep, either. The trip had taken eight hours coming out, but the return, due to wind speed or air pressure or some reason unknown to us laymen, required twelve hours. Upon touching down at Narita, we were back on Japanese time. We went through customs and immigration, then took the Narita Express directly to Shinjuku. Changed there for the Odakyu line and got off at Ikuta. Chii-san had asked her friend to pick us up, and they were waiting for us at the station. That night was full of stories of our trip to America. And thus this account of my journey to America comes to its end.
English translation by Paul Atkins
英語のリスニングの練習をしたい方は、是非動画もご覧ください。
#祖父 #おじいちゃん #アメリカ #渡米
#夢 #夢継ぎ #夢代人 #アメリカンドリーム
#英語 #アメリカ英語 #バイリンガル
