Summer in Florida フロリダの夏 by David
Summer in Florida フロリダの夏 by DavidWhen I was a kid in Florida, during the summer I ran around with no shoes and no shirt. I wore a pair of old cut-offs (short pants made from my old jeans) and that was it. Every day I'd wake up, eat breakfast, then run outside to see what was happening. Usually my older brother and I would go down the street to our friend's house and play in a creek behind his house. Our favorite thing to do was to catch snakes in the shallow water
僕はアメリカのフロリダの出身。子供のころは夏になれば短パンだけで（靴もシャツもなしで）走り回っていた。毎日、起きて食べて外に何か探しに出かける。いつもは兄と一緒に友人の家の裏にある小川に入っていた。狭い水路に入ってくる蛇を捕まえるのが大好きだった。
We'd get a long stick and wait until we saw a snake swim past then pin the snake's head down and grab him by the head so he couldn't bite us. The snake would wrap itself around the arm of whoever caught it. We'd let it go after a while and it would swim away.
長い棒で蛇が通るのを待ち構え蛇の頭を棒でつく。でないとかまれちゃうからね。蛇は僕らの腕に巻きついてくる。しばらくしたら逃がしてやる。
One other fun thing we liked to do was make mud balls, then roll them down little mud ball tracks into the creek. We'd see who could make the strongest mud ball. If your ball made it all the way down to the creek you were the winner. This was a good way to pass the time while waiting on a snake to swim by.
あと泥だんごを作るのも楽しかったなあ・・小川にちょっとした道を作って泥だんごを転がす。誰のだんごが一番強いか、川に入るまで泥が壊れなければ勝ち！
When there weren't any snakes and we were tired of mud balls, we'd walk down the creek as far as it would go. There were only a few inches of water in the creek so walking down it was no problem. Walking down the creek was great fun and we'd usually lose track of time. Two things could bring us back: lunch and watermelons. Usually around noon we'd head back home and we'd eat sandwiches and watermelon and cool down in the air conditioned house. After an hour or so we'd be back at it. We were young and the summer heat didn't slow us down at all.
蛇も来ず、泥だんごも飽きたら小川に入っていく。小川といっても水はかなり浅く水路に沿って歩いていくのはNo problem! 時間のたつのを忘れて遊んだ。ランチとスイカのためだけに僕たちは家に帰る、って具合だった。ランチはサンドウィッチ。スイカとエアコンでクールダウンした。一時間もすればまたすぐに外。幼く夏の暑さなど全然関係ない無邪気な子供のころを夏になると思い出す。
（子供のころの思い出にエアコンがあるなんていいなあ・・・ by E
