Forlade Dalen

Tomas var på vagt igen. Han fandt Polly ved besøgscentrets kiosk lige efter solopgang. Han havde en frisk termokande med kaffe. Han satte den på en bænk og satte sig ned.

Tomas was on duty again. He found Polly at the visitor centre kiosk just after sunrise. He had a fresh Thermos of coffee. He set it on a bench and sat down.

De sagde ikke meget i et stykke tid. Polly pudsede sine fjer. Morgenen duftede af floden.

They did not say much for a while. Polly preened her feathers. The morning smelled of the river.

"Jeg forestiller mig, at du er på vej videre," sagde Tomas.

"I imagine you're moving on," Tomas said.

Polly vippede hovedet.

Polly tilted her head.

Han fortalte hende om resten af parken. Det høje land ved Tioga Road. Hetch Hetchy, den anden dal mod nord, opdæmmet for længe siden, men stadig smuk. Lunden af redwoods oppe i Tuolumne Meadows. Han talte om disse steder med stille stolthed.

He told her about the rest of the park. The high country off Tioga Road. Hetch Hetchy, the other valley to the north, dammed long ago but still beautiful. The grove of redwoods up in Tuolumne Meadows. He spoke of these places with quiet pride.

"Dette sted viser dig ikke alt, selvom du bor her," sagde han. "Du fanger brudstykker. Folk kommer i tre dage og tror, de har set det hele. De har set et postkort." Han tog en slurk af sin kaffe. "Det er bedre at se ét stykke helt igennem. Vandrefalke? Fjorten år, og jeg ved stadig ikke, hvad de vil gøre i morgen."

"This place doesn't show you everything, even if you live here," he said. "You catch pieces. People come for three days and think they saw it. They saw a postcard." He sipped his coffee. "Better to see one piece all the way through. The peregrines? Fourteen years and I still don't know what they're going to do tomorrow."

Polly tænkte på sine dyk fra El Capitan-udsatsen. Hun havde ikke landet rent én eneste gang. Hun var også blevet mindre dårlig hver gang. Hun tænkte, at hun kunne blive mindre dårlig hele livet.

Polly thought about her dives off the El Capitan ledge. She had not landed cleanly once. She had also gotten less bad each time. She thought she could keep getting less bad for a lifetime.

En shuttlebus kørte ind. Den samme grønne bus. Den samme chauffør. "Afsted med dig," sagde Tomas. Han rejste sig.

A shuttle bus pulled in. The same green bus. The same driver. "Off you go," Tomas said. He stood up.

Polly strakte sine blågrønne vinger. Hun lettede fra bænken, kredsede en gang over besøgscentret og steg op. Dalen faldt væk. El Capitan stod til venstre. Half Dome til højre.

Polly stretched her blue-teal wings. She lifted off from the bench, circled once over the visitor centre, and climbed. The valley dropped away. El Capitan stood on the left. Half Dome on the right.

Ved kanten drejede hun mod vest. Under hende jagtede en vandrefalk en lille flok mursejlere langs klippevæggen. Hun betragtede den i et halvt minut. Så fandt hun den vind, hun ønskede, og lod den bære hende ud af parken.

At the rim, she banked west. Below her, a peregrine was hunting a small flock of swifts along the cliff face. She watched it for half a minute. Then she found the wind she wanted and let it carry her out of the park.