The Birch Forests

On the second morning, the train was already 400 kilometres east of Moscow.

Drugog jutra, vlak je već bio 400 kilometara istočno od Moskve.

Polly woke on the small table. The light was soft and grey. Galina, the older woman, was drinking tea from a glass with a metal holder.

Polly se probudila na malom stolu. Svjetlo je bilo mekano i sivo. Galina, starija žena, pila je čaj iz čaše s metalnim držačem.

"Birches," she said.

"Breze," rekla je.

Outside, white trees were rushing past at sixty kilometres per hour. They went on and on. They filled the whole landscape.

Vani su bijela stabla jurila pored brzinom od šezdeset kilometara na sat. Nastavljala su se u nedogled. Ispunjavala su cijeli krajolik.

This is the Russian birch belt. White birch grows in many cold places where other trees cannot.

Ovo je ruski pojas breza. Bijela breza raste na mnogim hladnim mjestima gdje druga stabla ne mogu.

The young man, Pavel, looked up. "You are the parrot," he said. He went back to his laptop.

Mladić, Pavel, podigao je pogled. "Ti si papiga," rekao je. Vratio se svom laptopu.

Galina poured tea for Polly. It was amber. A slice of lemon floated on top. The samovar had been hot for twelve hours.

Galina je natočila čaj za Polly. Bio je boje jantara. Kriška limuna plutala je na vrhu. Samovar je bio vruć već dvanaest sati.

Polly drank a sip. It was hot and sweet.

Polly je otpila gutljaj. Bio je vruć i sladak.

"The longest part of this trip is the trees," Galina said. "You sit in a train for six days and look at trees. There is no end to them."

"Najduži dio ovog putovanja su stabla," rekla je Galina. "Sjediš u vlaku šest dana i gledaš stabla. Nema im kraja."

Forty percent of Russia is forest. Russia has twenty percent of all the trees in the world.

Četrdeset posto Rusije je šuma. Rusija ima dvadeset posto svih stabala na svijetu.

Polly drank again. Pavel typed. Galina read her book. Outside, the birches kept passing.

Polly je ponovno otpila. Pavel je tipkao. Galina je čitala svoju knjigu. Vani su breze nastavile prolaziti.