离开山谷

托马斯又值班了。他在日出后不久在游客中心的小亭子找到了波莉。他带来了一壶新鲜的咖啡，把它放在长椅上，然后坐下。

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.

他们沉默了一会儿。波莉梳理着她的羽毛。早晨的空气中弥漫着河水的气息。

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

“我猜你要继续前行了吧，”托马斯说道。

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

波莉歪着头。

Polly tilted her head.

他开始给她讲公园的其他地方。提奥加路上的高地。赫奇赫奇，北边的另一个山谷，早已筑坝，但仍然美丽。还有图奥勒米草甸的红杉林。他带着一种平静的自豪感谈论这些地方。

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.

“即使住在这里，这个地方也不会让你看到一切，”他说。“你只能看到一些片段。人们来三天就以为看到了全部。他们看到的只是明信片。”他喝了一口咖啡。“不如专注于一个地方，彻底了解它。游隼呢？十四年了，我还是不知道它们明天会做什么。”

"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."

波莉想起她从酋长岩悬崖跳下的经历。她一次也没有顺利着陆。但每次都比上次好一点。她觉得自己可以一辈子都在进步。

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.

一辆穿梭巴士驶入。还是那辆绿色的巴士。还是那个司机。“去吧，”托马斯说。他站了起来。

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

波莉伸展她蓝绿色的翅膀。从长椅上起飞，在游客中心上空盘旋了一圈，然后开始攀升。山谷渐渐远去。左边是酋长岩，右边是半圆顶。

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.

在山脊处，她向西转弯。在她下方，一只游隼正在悬崖边缘追逐一小群雨燕。她观察了半分钟。然后，她找到了她想要的风，让它把她带出公园。

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.