Mesto na samem robu

Veter prispe prej kot kopno. Polly jezdi na njem proti jugu ob obali Korzike, dokler se otok preprosto ne konča, in tedaj je pred njo odprto morje, za morjem pa še en otok, ki leži nizko in modro na obzorju. To je Sardinija. Ožini med njima pravijo Bonifacijev preliv in veter drvi skozenj kakor voda skozi zapornico.

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.

Obrne se nazaj proti pečini in zagleda mesto. Stoji na belem apnencu, tik ob robu, hiše pa so visoke in ozke in stisnjene druga ob drugo, smetanaste in bledo okraste, s polkni, zaprtimi pred popoldansko svetlobo. Kar jo v zraku zaustavi, je spodnji del zidov. Tam ni nobene reže. Kamen hiš prehaja naravnost v kamen pečine, pečina pa pada približno sedemdeset metrov globoko v morje. To mesto ne stoji blizu roba. Stoji na njem.

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 obzidju in pogleda čez rob. Pod njo je skala bleda in suha, sol jo je obrusila, med zidom in vodo pa krožijo galebi. Tedaj opazi nekaj, kar ne sodi sem. V steno pečine je vsekan ozek žleb, ki se strmo spušča navzdol, v njem pa so stopnice.

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.

Poskuša jih prešteti, preden zmanjka svetlobe, in obupa. Stopnic je več, kot jih lahko vidi, in nekje spodaj se izgubijo v senci. Morje ob skali še naprej počasi šumi. Polly se odloči, da bo šla tja dol.

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.