Stol ob ognju

Gostišče je stalo nad pristaniščem, z vrati na zavetrni strani. Na teh otokih je to edina stran, kamor se vgradijo vrata. Vodila ga je ovca pasme North Ronaldsay, ena tistih obalnih ovc, ki jedo morske alge. Polly je stala v veži."Imate na voljo kakšno prosto sobo?"

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?"

Sobe so bile. Septembra jih navadno je. Polly je rekla:"Prosila bi mirno sobo."Ovca je malo počakala, preden je odgovorila. Zadnje sobe gledajo na dvorišče, sprednje na vodo. Veter najde ene in druge. Po dveh nočeh ga ne slišiš več.

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.

"Mi lahko, prosim, pomagate s prtljago?"Ovca je torbo odnesla gor in jo postavila k stolu ob ognju. Ogrodje je bilo iz naplavljenega lesa, ker tu ne raste nobeno drevo. Naslonjalo je bilo iz ovsene slame, zvite v kapuco. Mizar iz Kirkwalla, David Kirkness, je to obliko uveljavil sredi devetnajstega stoletja.

"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.

"Kdaj je treba oddati sobo?"je vprašala Polly. Tukaj o vsem odloča trajekt. Potem je sedla v stol. Slamnata kapuca je prestregla prepih od vrat in prvič po ladji je slišala lastno dihanje.

"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.