Polly Asks the Way

Polly had a theory that maps were for tourists, and the theory lasted exactly twenty minutes. The streets of the neighborhood curved like they were drawn freehand, every corner had the same bakery smell, and the library refused to appear. On a corner stood an owl with a folded newspaper, reading standing up the way only owls can. "Excuse me, one question. I think I am lost."

Polly má teóriu, že mapy sú pre turistov, a tá teória vydrží presne dvadsať minút. Ulice vo štvrti sa krivia, akoby ich niekto kreslil od ruky, na každom rohu je tá istá vôňa pekárne a knižnica sa odmieta objaviť. Na rohu stojí sova so zloženými novinami a číta postojačky, ako to vedia iba sovy. „Prepáčte, jednu otázku. Myslím, že blúdim.“

The owl lowered the newspaper with enormous patience. "Where is the library? I have been going in circles." It was not far, the owl explained; the problem was the fountain. Everyone turned the wrong way at the fountain. "To the right or to the left at the fountain?" Left, always left, and then nothing but street until the square. "Straight ahead until the square, okay! That sounds easy."

Sova skláňa noviny s obrovskou trpezlivosťou. „Kde je knižnica? Chodím stále dokola.“ Ďaleko to vraj nie je; problém je fontána. Pri fontáne sa všetci otočia zle. „Pri fontáne doprava, alebo doľava?“ Doľava, vždy doľava, a potom už len ulica až na námestie. „Stále rovno až na námestie, dobre! To znie jednoducho.“

It was easy, once someone said it out loud. The library appeared behind the square with its wide steps and its doors open, exactly where it had been all along. "Thank you very much! You have saved my afternoon." The owl waved the newspaper without looking up from the next page. Polly climbed the steps with a new theory: the shortest distance between two points is a good question.

A naozaj je to jednoduché, len čo to niekto povie nahlas. Knižnica sa objavuje za námestím so svojím širokým schodiskom a otvorenými dverami, presne tam, kde celý čas bola. „Ďakujem pekne! Zachránili ste mi popoludnie.“ Sova zamáva novinami bez toho, aby zdvihla oči z ďalšej strany. Polly stúpa po schodoch s novou teóriou: najkratšia vzdialenosť medzi dvoma bodmi je dobrá otázka.