Stolica kraj vatre

Pansion je stajao iznad luke, s vratima na zavjetrinskoj strani. Na ovim otocima to je strana na koju se vrata i stavljaju. Vodila ga je ovca s otoka North Ronaldsay, jedna od obalnih ovaca koje jedu morsku travu. Polly je stajala u hodniku. „Imate li slobodnih soba?”

The guesthouse stood above the harbour, with its door on the sheltered side. On these islands, that is the side you put a door on. It was kept by a North Ronaldsay ewe, one of the shore sheep that eat seaweed. Polly stood in the hall. "Do you have any available rooms?"

Soba je bilo. U rujnu ih obično ima. Polly je rekla: „Htjela bih mirnu sobu, molim vas.” Ovca je malo pričekala prije nego što je odgovorila. Stražnje sobe gledaju na dvorište, a prednje na vodu. Vjetar nađe i jedne i druge. Nakon dvije noći prestaneš ga čuti.

There were rooms. There usually are in September. Polly said, "I would like a quiet room, please." The ewe waited a moment before she answered. The back rooms face the yard and the front rooms face the water. The wind finds both. After two nights you stop hearing it.

„Možete li mi, molim vas, pomoći s prtljagom?” Ovca je torbu odnijela gore i spustila je kraj stolice uz vatru. Okvir joj je bio od naplavljenog drva, jer ovdje ne raste nijedno stablo. Naslon je bio od zobene slame, uvijene u kapuljaču. Stolar iz Kirkwalla po imenu David Kirkness učinio je taj oblik standardnim sredinom devetnaestog stoljeća.

"Could you assist me with my luggage, please?" The ewe carried the bag up and set it beside a chair by the fire. Its frame was driftwood, because no tree grows here. Its back was oat straw, coiled into a hood. A joiner in Kirkwall named David Kirkness made that design standard in the middle of the eighteen hundreds.

„U koliko sati je odjava?” pitala je Polly. Ovdje sve odlučuje trajekt. Zatim je sjela u stolicu. Slamnata kapuljača presjekla je propuh s vrata, i prvi put otkako je sišla s broda čula je vlastito disanje.

"What time is check-out?" Polly asked. The ferry decides everything here. Then she sat in the chair. The straw hood cut the draught from the door, and for the first time since the boat she could hear herself breathe.