Meninggalkan Lembah

Tomas sedang bertugas lagi. Dia menemukan Polly di kios pusat pengunjung tepat setelah matahari terbit. Dia membawa termos kopi yang baru. Dia meletakkannya di bangku dan duduk.

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.

Mereka tidak banyak bicara untuk sementara waktu. Polly merapikan bulu-bulunya. Pagi itu berbau sungai.

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

"Aku bayangkan kamu akan pergi," kata Tomas.

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

Polly memiringkan kepalanya.

Polly tilted her head.

Dia menceritakan tentang bagian lain dari taman. Daerah pegunungan di luar Jalan Tioga. Hetch Hetchy, lembah lain di utara, sudah lama dibendung tetapi tetap indah. Hutan redwood di Tuolumne Meadows. Dia berbicara tentang tempat-tempat ini dengan bangga.

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.

"Tempat ini tidak menunjukkan semuanya, bahkan jika kamu tinggal di sini," katanya. "Kamu menangkap potongan-potongan. Orang-orang datang selama tiga hari dan berpikir mereka sudah melihat semuanya. Mereka melihat kartu pos." Dia menyesap kopinya. "Lebih baik melihat satu bagian secara menyeluruh. Peregrine? Empat belas tahun dan aku masih tidak tahu apa yang akan mereka lakukan besok."

"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 memikirkan tentang terjun bebasnya dari tebing El Capitan. Dia belum pernah mendarat dengan bersih sekali pun. Tapi setiap kali dia semakin baik. Dia berpikir dia bisa terus menjadi lebih baik seumur hidupnya.

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.

Sebuah bus antar-jemput tiba. Bus hijau yang sama. Sopir yang sama. "Pergilah," kata Tomas. Dia berdiri.

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

Polly merentangkan sayap biru-hijaunya. Dia terbang dari bangku, berputar sekali di atas pusat pengunjung, dan naik. Lembah menjauh. El Capitan berdiri di kiri. Half Dome di kanan.

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.

Di tepi, dia berbelok ke barat. Di bawahnya, seekor peregrine sedang memburu sekawanan kecil burung layang-layang di sepanjang tebing. Dia mengamatinya selama setengah menit. Lalu dia menemukan angin yang diinginkannya dan membiarkannya membawanya keluar dari taman.

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.