A precocious child

    Midway through the ninth year of Irma's employment, Dr Marilyn Lattimore came down with an
    uncharacteristic cold and was home for two days.
    It was in the breakfast room that the conversation took place. Dr Marilyn sat reading the paper and
    sipping tea and dabbing at her red, drippy nose. Irma was in the adjoining kitchen, had removed
 5  the covers of the stove-burners and was scrubbing them single-mindedly.
    "Do you believe this, Irma? A week of surgeries and I come down with this arrogant little virus." Dr
    Marilyn's voice, normally husky, now bordered on masculine.
    "Back in medical school, Irma, when I rotated through pediatrics, I caught every virus known to
    mankind. And later, of course, when I had the children. But it's been years since I've been sick and
10  I find this positively insulting. I'm sure some patient gave it to me. I'd just like to know who so I
    could thank them personally."
    Dr Marilyn was a pretty woman, small, with honey-colored hair, who looked much younger than her
    age. She walked two miles every morning at six a.m.
    Irma said, "You strong, you get better soon."
15  "I certainly hope so ... thank you for that bit of optimism, Irma ... would you be a dear and get me
    some of the fig preserve for my toast?"
    Irma fetched the jar and brought it over.
    "Thank you, dear."
    "Something else, Doctor Em?"
20  "No, thank you, dear. Are you all right, Irma?"
    Irma forced a smile. "Yes."
    "You're sure?"
    "Sure, yes, Doctor Em."
    "Hmm ... don't spare me because of my cold. If there's something on your mind, get it out."
25  Irma started to head back to the kitchen.
    "Dear," Dr Marilyn called after her, "I know you well, and it's obvious something's on your mind. You
    wore that exact same look until we had your papers taken care of. Then you did it again, worrying
    about whether or not the amnesty would take effect. Something's definitely on your mind"
    "I fine, Doctor Em."
30  "Irma"
    "I worry about Isaac."
    "Isaac? Is he all right?"
    "Yes, he very good. Very smart."
    Irma broke down in tears.
35  "He's smart and you're crying?" said Dr Marilyn. "Am I missing something?"

    They had tea and fig jam on thin toast and Irma told Dr Marilyn all of it. How Isaac kept coming
    home from school crying with frustration and boredom. How he'd finished all of his sixth-grade(1)
    work in two months, taken it upon himself to "borrow" seventh- and eighth- and even some ninth-
    grade books and had sped through them as well. Finally, he was caught reading a pre-algebra
40  workbook slipped out of a supply room and was sent to the principal's office for "unauthorized study
    and irregular behavior".
    Irma visited the school, tried to handle it on her own. The principal had nothing but disdain for
    Irma's simple clothes and thick accent; her firm suggestion was that Isaac stop being "precocious"
    and concentrate on conforming to "class standards".
45  When Irma tried to point out that the boy was well ahead of class standards, the principal cut her
    off and informed her that Isaac was just going to have to be content repeating everything.
    "That's outrageous," said Dr Marilyn. "Absolutely outrageous. There, there, dry your eyes ... three
    years ahead? On his own?'"
    "Two, some three."
50  "'My eldest, John, was somewhat like that. Not quite as smart as your Isaac seems to be, but
    school was always tedious for him because he moved too fast. Oh, dear, we had some dustups
    with him ... Now John's the chief resident(2) in psychiatry at Stanford(3)." Dr Marilyn brightened.
    "Perhaps your Isaac could be a physician. Wouldn't that be fabulous, Irma?"
    Irma nodded, half listening as Dr Marilyn prattled.
55  "A child that bright, Irma, there's no limit .... Give me that principal's number and I'Il have a little
    chat with her." She sneezed, coughed, wiped her nose. Laughed. "With this baritone, I'II sound
    positively authoritative."
    Irma didn't speak.
    "What's the number, dear?"
60  Silence.
    "Irma?"
    "I don' wan' no trouble, Dr Em."
    "You've already got trouble, Irma. Now we have to find a solution."

Adapted from Jonathan Kellerman, Twisted, 2005

(1) sixth-grade: correspond à la classe de 6^ème
(2) resident: interne
(3) Stanford (University): université prestigieuse de Californie

Translate into French from line 12 (Dr Marilyn was a pretty woman ...) to line 18 ("Thank you, dear.") and from line 36 (They had tea ...) to line 39 (...them as well.).