January 1963
Dear Mother，
I do hope you’re feeling a lot better now. School’s started again for us and I’m mainly trying to finish Crime and Punishment before the end of the term. It was a great pleasure for us getting to talk to you Christmas. I got a pretty striped① English shirt from Brooks Brothers with my half of the Christmas check you sent us； Mary got a beautiful pink blouse at Bergdorf Goodman. Thank you so much.
There was a nice mention in Time of A Sad Heart we cut it out to send you，so as to be sure you’d see it.
Did I tell you that I’ve just finished another children’s book？It’s named The Bat Poet and has several poems inside the story. I really enjoyed writing it a lot， and felt almost as if I’d written a grown-up story.
Little Marie certainly has grown； she looks more like a small girl than a big baby. I gave Mary a little Georgian child’s chair for a Christmas present， and little Marie liked sitting in it.
Bea has fixed her apartment awfully② prettily； she and Gerhard are happy as can be.
Your Christmas sounded awfully nice，both for all the visits and all the presents. We didn’t have much snow compared with yours， so far this has been rather a warm mild③ winter here—sunny， too.
Write and tell us how you’re feeling now； I hope very much you’re beginning to feel like your old self.
With lots of love，
Randall
① stripedadj. 有条纹的
② awfullyadv. 极度地，非常地
③ mildadj. 温和的，温柔的
兰德尔·贾雷尔致母亲
亲爱的妈妈：
我真心希望您现在身体好多了。我们又开学了，在这学期结束之前我将主要努力完成“犯罪与惩罚”这门课。与您谈圣诞节让我们感到非常愉快。您寄给我们的圣诞支票，我用了一半从布鲁克斯兄弟商店买了一件很漂亮的带条纹的英国衬衫；玛丽在泊格朵夫先生商店买了一件美丽的粉红色的罩衫。非常感谢您。
《时代》上登了一篇对《忧伤的心》的很好的评论，我们把它剪下来给您寄去，以使您能看到它。
我告诉过您我刚刚完成了一本儿童读物了吗？它名叫《蝙蝠诗人》，故事里有几首诗。我真的感到写这本书十分愉快，感觉几乎就像写成年人的小说。
小玛丽当然长大了；她看起来更像一个小女孩，而不像一个大婴儿。我送给玛丽一个佐治亚州的小童椅作为圣诞礼物，小玛丽喜欢坐在里面。
贝亚已经把她的公寓布置得非常漂亮，她和格哈德非常幸福。
听起来您的圣诞节过得非常好，那么多的来访和礼物。与您那里相比，我们这儿没有下什么雪，至今为止，这儿仍是温暖的冬季——阳光明媚。
写信告诉我们您现在身体如何；我非常希望您开始感觉到自己就像过去一样。
深深爱您的，
兰德尔
1963年1月
