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?"

Meli ya asubuhi ilifunga kamba zake bandarini Stromness. Nyumba zimesimama zikiyapa maji migongo yao. Polly alikanyaga mawe mabapa yenye majimaji, naye akaufahamu upepo. Haukuwa mvumo wa muda. Ulikuwa hali ya kudumu. Mbwa wa aina ya collie alikuwa amekaa mwisho wa gati. Polly akamwendea. "Waweza kunionyesha njia?"

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.

Akamuuliza anataka kwenda wapi. Bado hakujua. Kuna visiwa karibu sabini, na takribani ishirini vina watu. Hakuna msitu wala kitu kirefu kwa umbali mrefu. "Je, waweza kuniambia mahali ninapoweza kupanda basi?" akauliza. Akainamisha kichwa kuelekea kibanda juu ya mteremko.

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.

Kisha akauliza swali la kimjini. "Inachukua muda gani kutembea hadi katikati ya jiji?" Collie akaitazama barabara ile moja inayopita urefu wote wa mji. Dakika kumi na moja, akasema, ukisimama kutazama madirisha.

"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.

"Waweza kuniambia kama kuna matukio yoyote ya kuvutia leo?" Ratiba ya kivuko ndiyo habari za hapa, akasema. Kulikuwa na mashua ya kwenda kwenye miamba ya sili. Kulikuwa na kanisa dogo lililojengwa na wafungwa. Kulikuwa na kijiji kilicholala chini ya mchanga kwa miaka elfu nne.