Preko Urala

Treće jutro vlak je stao u Jekaterinburgu. Galina je već otišla tijekom noći. Pavel je još spavao. Dva nova putnika zauzela su prazne krevete: vojnik od možda dvadeset godina u uniformi koja je bila previše čista da bi se već nosila, i stariji čovjek s kosom sivkasto-žute boje i kutijom za ribolovnu opremu.

On the third morning, the train stopped at Yekaterinburg. Galina had already left in the night. Pavel was still asleep. Two new passengers had taken the empty bunks: a soldier of perhaps twenty in a uniform too clean to have been worn yet, and an older man with grey-yellow hair and a fishing tackle box.

Polly je skočila do prozora.

Polly hopped to the window.

Jekaterinburg je najveći grad u Uralima. Ural planine dijele Europu od Azije. Nisu visoke, više su dugački istrošeni greben nego zid. Ali su stare. Prije petsto milijuna godina, Urali su već bili velika planinska lanac. Istrošeni su pola milijarde godina i još uvijek su tu. To su jedne od najstarijih planina na Zemlji.

Yekaterinburg is the largest city in the Urals. The Ural Mountains divide Europe from Asia. They are not high, more a long worn ridge than a wall. But they are old. Five hundred million years ago, the Urals were already a major mountain range. They have been worn down for half a billion years and are still there. They are some of the oldest mountains on Earth.

Transsibirska željeznica prelazi Urale kroz Jekaterinburg. Na kilometru 1.777 pruge nalazi se mali marker koji kaže EUROPA s jedne strane i AZIJA s druge. Kondukter je rekao Polly, s malim osmijehom, da je marker turistički izum. Prava granica, geografski, nije na čistoj točki. Linija razdvajanja otprilike slijedi razvodnicu rijeke Ural.

The Trans-Siberian crosses the Urals through Yekaterinburg. There is a small marker at kilometre 1,777 of the line that says EUROPE on one side and ASIA on the other. The conductor told Polly, with a small smile, that the marker was a tourist invention. The real border, geographically, was not at a clean point. The dividing line runs roughly along the watershed of the Ural River.

Ali simbolički prijelaz bio je važan.

But the symbolic crossing was the point.

Novi putnik s kutijom za ribolov otvorio ju je i posložio svoje mamce na stol. Poredao ih je po boji.

The new passenger with the tackle box opened it and laid out his lures on the table. He arranged them by colour.

"Gdje lovite ribu?" upitala je Polly.

"Where do you fish?" Polly asked.

Pogledao je gore. "Bajkalsko jezero," rekao je. "Za tri dana. Omul. Losos Bajkala. Nećete ga naći nigdje drugdje na svijetu." Pokazao je na žlicu zelene i srebrne boje. "Ovo koristim."

He looked up. "Lake Baikal," he said. "In three days. Omul. The salmon of Baikal. You will not find it anywhere else in the world." He pointed at a green-and-silver spoon. "This is what I use."

Nekoliko sati kasnije, blizu Pervouralska, vlak je usporio pored malog bijelog obeliska na čistini. EUROPA s jedne strane. AZIJA s druge. Tri turista mahala su vlaku. Pavel je podigao jednu ruku s laptopa i mahnuo natrag.

A few hours later, near Pervouralsk, the train slowed past a small white obelisk in a clearing. EUROPE on one side. ASIA on the other. Three tourists waved at the train. Pavel lifted one hand from his laptop and waved back.

Obelisk je nestao iz vidokruga. Vlak je prešao kontinent kao što biste prešli malu ulicu.

The obelisk slid away. The train had crossed a continent the way you might cross a small street.