Zbor na čereh

Vožnja s čolnom do čeri traja manj časa kot odločitev, da greš. Skale komaj gledajo iz vode, temne, spolzke in curljajoče, na njih pa so ležali sivi tjulnji v oblikah, kakršne naredijo težke živali, ko so odplavale svoje. Niso počeli ničesar. Prav to je počivanje na skalah. Čez teden ali dva bi prišli prvi mladiči te sezone in skale bi zvenele čisto drugače.

The boat out to the skerries takes less time than deciding to go. The rocks barely clear the water, dark and slick and streaming, and on them the grey seals lay in the shapes heavy animals make when they are done swimming. They were not doing anything. That is what a haul-out is. In another week or two the first pups of the season would arrive, and the rocks would sound completely different.

Polly si je izbrala samca ob robu, ki je bil videti voljan."Koliko vas je v družini?"ga je vprašala, kar je vprašanje, ki v gostišču nekaj pomeni, tukaj zunaj pa nič. Premišljeval je tako, kot premišljuje žival, ki računa nekaj, česar ni nikoli potrebovala. Vsi na tej skali, je nazadnje ponudil, in vsi na naslednji.

Polly picked a bull near the edge who seemed willing. "How many are there in your family?" she asked, which is a question that means something in a guesthouse and nothing at all out here. He thought about it in the way of an animal doing arithmetic he has never needed. Everyone on this rock, he offered eventually, and everyone on the next one.

"Imate brate ali sestre?"Skoraj zagotovo, je rekel. Nikakor ni mogel vedeti, kateri. Na Orkneyskih otokih se rodi kakih dvaindvajset tisoč mladičev sivega tjulnja na leto, več kot eden od desetih vseh živih sivih tjulnjev. Tjulenj, rojen na teh skalah, lahko leto preživi kjer koli med Shetlandskimi otoki in irsko obalo, potem pa se brez slovesnosti spet pojavi na kamnu, na katerem se je skotil.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Almost certainly, he said. He had no way of knowing which ones. Orkney produces something like twenty-two thousand grey seal pups a year, more than one in ten of every grey seal alive. A seal born on these rocks may spend the year anywhere from Shetland to the Irish coast and turn up again, without ceremony, on the stone it was born on.

Polly je na glas preizkusila stavek."Danes želim preživeti čas z družino."Na skali, s katere nihče ne odide in na katero nihče ne pride namenoma, je zvenel čudno. Zato je poskusila z drugim."Čeprav živimo daleč narazen, vedno ostajamo v stiku."O tem je samec premišljeval dlje. To je bliže, je rekel, če dopustite, da ostati v stiku pomeni vrniti se na isto skalo v istem mesecu in ne reči prav nič.

Polly tested a phrase out loud. "I want to spend time with my family today." It sounded strange on a rock where nobody leaves and nobody arrives on purpose. So she tried another. "Even though we live far apart, we always keep in touch with each other." The bull considered that one longer. That is nearer, he said, if you allow that keeping in touch can mean coming back to the same rock in the same month and saying nothing at all.