The Gathering on the Skerries

The boat out to the skerries takes less time than deciding to go. The rocks barely clear the water. Grey seals lay all over them in the shapes heavy animals make when they have finished swimming. They were not doing anything. That is what a haul-out is. In a week or two the first pups would arrive.

Safari ya mashua kwenda kwenye miamba huchukua muda mfupi kuliko kuamua kwenda. Miamba hutoka majini kwa shida. Sili wa kijivu walilala juu yake katika maumbo ambayo wanyama wazito huchukua wanapomaliza kuogelea. Hawakuwa wakifanya lolote. Ndivyo yalivyo mapumziko ya sili ufuoni. Baada ya wiki moja au mbili watoto wa kwanza wangewasili.

Polly chose a bull near the edge. "How many are there in your family?" she asked. It is a question that means something in a guesthouse and nothing out here. He thought about it slowly. Everyone on this rock, he said at last, and everyone on the next one.

Polly akamchagua dume mmoja aliye pembezoni. "Mko wangapi katika familia yenu?" akauliza. Ni swali lenye maana katika nyumba ya wageni na lisilo na maana hapa. Alilifikiria polepole. Kila mmoja aliye juu ya mwamba huu, akasema hatimaye, na kila mmoja aliye juu ya mwamba unaofuata.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Almost certainly, he said. He had no way of knowing which ones. Orkney produces about twenty-two thousand grey seal pups a year. That is more than one in ten of every grey seal alive.

"Je, una kaka au dada?" Bila shaka, akasema. Hakuwa na njia ya kujua ni wapi. Orkney huzalisha karibu watoto elfu ishirini na mbili wa sili wa kijivu kila mwaka. Hiyo ni zaidi ya mmoja kati ya kumi wa sili wote wa kijivu walio hai.

Polly tested a phrase. "I want to spend time with my family today." It sounded strange here. So she tried another. "Even though we live far apart, we always keep in touch with each other." That is nearer, the bull said, if keeping in touch can mean coming back and saying nothing.

Polly akajaribu sentensi. "Nataka kutumia muda na familia yangu leo." Ilisikika ya ajabu hapa. Kwa hiyo akajaribu nyingine. "Ingawa tunaishi mbali kwa mbali, sisi huwasiliana daima." Hiyo iko karibu zaidi, dume akasema, ikiwa kuwasiliana kwaweza kumaanisha kurudi bila kusema neno.