The Boat Comes In

The morning boat tied up at Stromness. The houses stand with their backs to the water. Polly stepped onto wet flagstones and understood the wind. It was not a gust. It was a condition. A collie sat at the end of the pier. Polly went over to him. "Can you show me the way?"

Ranná loď zakotvila v Stromnesse. Domy tam stoja chrbtom k vode. Polly vystúpila na mokré kamenné dlaždice a pochopila vietor. Nebol to náraz. Bol to stav. Na konci móla sedel ovčiarsky pes. Polly k nemu prišla. "Môžete mi ukázať cestu?"

He asked where she wanted to go. She did not know yet. There are close to seventy islands, and about twenty have people on them. There is no forest and nothing tall for miles. "Could you tell me where I can catch a bus?" she asked. He tipped his head toward a shelter up the slope.

Spýtal sa jej, kam chce ísť. Ešte to nevedela. Ostrovov je takmer sedemdesiat a asi na dvadsiatich z nich žijú ľudia. Nie je tu les a široko ďaleko nič vysoké. "Mohli by ste mi povedať, kde môžem chytiť autobus?" spýtala sa. Naklonil hlavu k prístrešku hore na svahu.

Then she asked a city question. "How long does it take to walk to the city center?" The collie looked along the one street that runs the length of the town. Eleven minutes, he said, if you stop at the windows.

Potom položila mestskú otázku. "Ako dlho trvá cesta pešo do centra mesta?" Pes sa zahľadel do jedinej ulice, ktorá vedie celým mestečkom. Jedenásť minút, povedal, ak sa budete zastavovať pri výkladoch.

"Can you tell me if there are any interesting events today?" The ferry timetable is the local news, he said. There was a boat to the seal rocks. There was a chapel built by prisoners. There was a village that lay under sand for four thousand years.

"Viete mi povedať, či sa dnes konajú nejaké zaujímavé podujatia?" Cestovný poriadok trajektov sú tunajšie správy, povedal. Neskôr mala vyplávať loď k tulením skalám. Bola tu kaplnka, ktorú postavili zajatci. Bola tu dedina, ktorá štyritisíc rokov ležala pod pieskom.