Kuondoka Bondeni

Tomas alikuwa kazini tena. Alimkuta Polly kwenye kibanda cha kituo cha wageni muda mfupi baada ya alfajiri. Alikuwa na Thermos mpya ya kahawa. Aliiweka kwenye benchi na kuketi karibu nayo.

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 next to it.

Hawakusema mengi kwa muda. Polly alijipamba manyoya ya mabawa yake. Asubuhi ilikuwa baridi na ilihisi harufu ya mto.

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

"Nadhani unajiandaa kuondoka," Tomas alisema hatimaye.

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

Polly alitikisa kichwa chake chekundu. Alimkubalia polepole.

Polly tilted her red head. He nodded slowly.

Alimweleza kuhusu sehemu nyingine za mbuga, sehemu ambazo hakuwa amezitembelea. Eneo la juu la Tioga Road, lenye maziwa na miamba mikubwa ya granite. Hetch Hetchy, bonde jingine upande wa kaskazini, lililozuiliwa na kuwa hifadhi zaidi ya miaka mia moja iliyopita, bado ni zuri, bado ni tupu kwa kiasi kikubwa. Msitu wa miti mikubwa ya redwood huko Tuolumne Meadows. Alizungumza kuhusu maeneo haya kwa utulivu wa mtu ambaye ametumia miaka kumi na nne kujifunza sehemu moja ya milima.

He told her about the rest of the park, the parts she had not been to. The high country off Tioga Road, with its lakes and bare granite domes. Hetch Hetchy, the other valley to the north, dammed and turned into a reservoir more than a hundred years ago, still beautiful, still mostly empty. The grove of redwoods up in Tuolumne Meadows. He spoke of these places with the calm pride of someone who had spent fourteen years getting to know one stretch of mountains.

"Mahali hapa hakikuonyeshi kila kitu," alisema. "Hata kama unaishi hapa. Unapata vipande. Peregrine, maua ya lily, Njia ya Maziwa ya Njia ya Maziwa siku ya Jumatano lakini si Alhamisi. Watu huja kwa siku tatu na kudhani wameona yote. Wameona kadi ya posta tu." Alikunywa kahawa yake. "Ni bora kuona kipande kimoja hadi mwisho, nadhani. Peregrine niliokueleza? Miaka kumi na nne na bado sijui watakachofanya kesho."

"This place doesn't really show you everything," he said. "Even if you live here. You catch pieces. The peregrines, the lilies, the Milky Way on Wednesday but not on Thursday. 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, I think. The peregrines I told you about? Fourteen years and I still don't know what they're going to do tomorrow."

Polly alifikiria kuhusu mbizi zake kutoka kwenye mwamba wa El Capitan. Hakuwa amewahi kutua vizuri hata mara moja. Lakini kila mara alikuwa akifanya vizuri zaidi. Alifikiria kwamba angeweza kuendelea kuboresha maisha yake yote.

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

Basi la usafiri lilifika. Basi lile lile la kijani. Dereva yule yule. Dereva alimwamkia Tomas alipofungua mlango. Tomas alimuamkia pia.

A shuttle bus pulled in. The same green bus. The same driver. The driver waved at Tomas as she opened the door. Tomas waved back.

"Enda zako," alisema. Alisimama. Hakuwa amemaliza kahawa yake.

"Off you go," he said. He stood up. He had not finished his coffee.

Polly alinyosha mabawa yake ya buluu-teal. Mlango wa basi ulikuwa bado wazi. Alihisi harufu ya miti ya misonobari inayopata joto la asubuhi na harufu hafifu ya dizeli ya basi na mto uliokuwa mbali.

Polly stretched her blue-teal wings. The shuttle door was still open. She could smell the warming pine of the morning forest and the faint diesel of the bus and the river beyond.

Aliruka kutoka kwenye reli ya benchi, akazunguka mara moja juu ya kituo cha wageni, na kupaa juu. Bonde lilishuka chini. El Capitan lilikuwa upande wa kushoto. Half Dome upande wa kulia. Mto Merced ulipita chini.

She lifted off from the bench railing, circled once over the visitor centre, and climbed. The valley dropped away. El Capitan stood on the left. Half Dome on the right. The Merced ran the floor.

Kwenye ukingo, alielekea magharibi. Chini yake, peregrine alikuwa akiwinda kundi dogo la swifts kando ya mwamba. Polly alilitazama kwa nusu dakika. Kisha alipata upepo alioutaka na kuacha umchukue nje ya mbuga.

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

Nyuma yake, Tomas tayari alikuwa anaelekea kwenye uwanda. Alikuwa na clipboard mkononi. Kunakuwa na maua ya corn lily ya kuhesabu leo, kesho, na mwaka ujao.

Behind her, Tomas was already moving on toward the meadow. He had a clipboard out. There would be corn lilies to mark today, and tomorrow, and next year.