Mesto na samom okraji

Vietor prichádza skôr ako pevnina. Polly sa na ňom nesie na juh pozdĺž pobrežia Korziky, až kým sa ostrov jednoducho neskončí. Pred ňou je otvorené more a za ním ďalší ostrov, ktorý leží nízko a modro na obzore. To je Sardínia. Úžina medzi nimi sa volá Bonifácky prieliv a vietor sa ňou valí ako voda bránou.

The wind arrives before the land does. Polly rides it south along the coast of Corsica until the island simply stops, and there in front of her is open water, and beyond the water another island lying low and blue on the horizon. That is Sardinia. The channel between them is called the Strait of Bonifacio, and the wind pours through it like water through a gate.

Obráti sa späť k útesu a uvidí mesto. Sedí na bielom vápenci, priamo na hrane, a domy sú vysoké, úzke a natlačené jeden na druhý, krémové a bledookrové, s okenicami zatvorenými pred popoludňajším svetlom. Čo ju však zastaví uprostred letu, je spodok múrov. Nie je tam nijaká medzera. Kameň domov prechádza rovno do kameňa útesu a útes padá asi sedemdesiat metrov do mora. Toto mesto nestojí blízko okraja. Stojí na ňom.

She turns back toward the cliff and sees the town. It sits on white limestone, right at the lip, and the houses are tall and narrow and pressed together, cream and pale ochre, their shutters closed against the afternoon light. What makes her stop in the air is the bottom of the walls. There is no gap. The stone of the houses runs straight into the stone of the cliff, and the cliff drops about seventy meters to the sea. This town does not stand near the edge. It stands on it.

Polly pristane na hradbe a pozrie sa dolu. Skala pod ňou je bledá, suchá a vydrhnutá soľou a v priestore medzi múrom a vodou krúžia čajky. Potom si všimne niečo, čo sem nepatrí. Do steny útesu je vytesaná úzka ryha, ktorá strmo klesá nadol, a v tej ryhe sú schody.

Polly lands on a rampart and looks over. Below her the rock is pale and dry and scoured by salt, and gulls turn in the space between the wall and the water. Then she notices something that does not belong. A narrow groove has been cut into the cliff face, running down at a steep angle, and inside that groove there are steps.

Skúša ich spočítať, kým nezájde svetlo, a potom to vzdá. Schodov je viac, ako dovidí, a končia kdesi dolu v tieni. More neprestáva pomaly šumieť o skalu. Polly sa rozhodne, že tam zíde.

She tries to count them before the light goes, and gives up. There are more steps than she can see, and they end somewhere below in shadow. The sea keeps up its slow noise against the rock. Polly decides that she is going down there.