KAZUO ISHIGURO

Never Let Me Go - fragments
 

“People going north and south”—she moved the pointer up and down—“they bypass it altogether. For that reason, it’s a peaceful corner of England, rather nice. But it’s also something of a lost corner.”
A lost corner. That’s what she called it, and that was what started it. Because at Hailsham, we had our own “Lost Corner” up on the third floor, where the lost property was kept; if you lost or found anything, that’s where you went. Someone—I can’t remember who it was—claimed after the lesson that what Miss Emily had said was that Norfolk was England’s “lost corner,” where all the lost property found in the country ended up. Somehow this idea caught on and soon had become accepted fact virtually throughout our entire year.
Not long ago, when Tommy and I were reminiscing about all of this, he thought we’d never really believed in the notion, that it was a joke right from the start. But I’m pretty certain he was wrong there. Sure enough, by the time we were twelve or thirteen, the Norfolk thing had become a big joke. But my memory of it—and Ruth remembered it the same way—is that at the beginning, we believed in Norfolk in the most literal way; that just as lorries came to Hailsham with our food and stuff for our Sales, there was some similar operation going on, except on a grander scale, with vehicles moving all over England, delivering anything left behind in fields and trains to this place called Norfolk. The fact that we’d never seen a picture of the place only added to its mystique.

Alama Gabriela

Kazuo Ishiguro
 

“Cei care merg spre nord si sud- misca indicatorul in sus si in jos- il ocolesc in intregime. De aceea, este un colt linistit al Angliei, destul de dragut. Dar este de asemenea si un fel de colt pierdut.”
Un colt pierdut. Asa l-a numit, si de aici a pornit povestea. Pentru ca la Hailsham, aveam propriul nostru Colt Pierdut, la al treilea etaj, unde se pastrau obiectele pierdute;daca pierdeai sau gaseai ceva, acolo te duceai. Cineva- nu imi amintesc cine- a sustinut dupa lectie ca Domnisoara Emilya spus ca Norfolk era pentru Anglia Coltul Pierdut, locul unde ajungeau toate obiectele pierdute si gasite pe teritoriul tarii. Cumva, aceasta idee a prins si in curand a ajuns sa fie un fapt acceptat de-a lungul intregului an.
Nu demult, cand eu si Tommy ne aminteam despre toate acestea, el spunea ca nu am crezut niciodata in ideea aceea, ca a fost o gluma de la bun inceput. Dar sunt aproape sigura ca se inseala. Cu siguranta, pana la varsta de doisprezece sau treisprezece ani, povestea cu Norfolk devenise o mare gluma. Dar eu imi amintesc-si Ruth isi aminteste la fel- ca la inceput credeam in Norfolk insensul cel mai literal;ca la fel cum camionete veneau la Hailsham pentru a aduce alimente si lucruri pentru Targurile noastre, o operatie asemanatoare se desfasura, numai ca la o scala mai mare, cu vehicule care se deplasau prin toata Anglia,pentru a aduce tot ce se pierdea pe campuri sau in trenuri, in acest loc numit Norfolk. Faptul ca nu vazusem niciodata o fotografie cu locul respectiv nu facea decat sa ii sporeasca misterul.