The Town Hall

The big hall of Hollin Bridge town hall had been built in 1887 for a population that had believed, with Victorian confidence, that it would go on growing for ever. It had a high ceiling painted with faded gold stars, tall windows, and a little stage at one end where brass bands had played and couples had been married. It also had a smell of floor polish and old radiators that Ana had come to associate with the winter fair and three hundred rolls.

今夜は、紡績工場が閉鎖された夜以来の人の入りだとプリヤは言った。管理人が何列にも並べた二百脚の折りたたみ椅子は一つ残らず埋まっていた。人々は壁際にも立ち、さらに雨が降り始めたこともあって、誰一人帰って見逃したくはなかったため、コートを着たまま後方の出入口にまで立ち並んでいた。アナは五時十分前の行列で見かける顔を半分ほど見分けることができた。残りの半分はまったく見覚えのない顔だった。

Tonight it held more people than it had held, Priya said, since the night the mill closed. They filled every one of the two hundred folding chairs the caretaker had set out in rows. Then they stood along the walls, and then they stood in the doorway at the back, coats still on, because it had begun to rain and nobody wanted to go home and miss it. Ana recognised half of them from the queue at ten to five. She did not recognise the other half at all.

ステージ上の緑の布で覆われた長いテーブルには、五名の計画委員が名札を前に置き、駐車場の件についての夜だと予想していた人々特有のかすかに追い詰められたような表情を浮かべて座っていた。中央には委員長を務めるヘイル議員という名の六十代の小柄できちょうめんな女性が座り、銀の半月形眼鏡をかけ、明らかに使う気満々の木槌を手元に置いていた。

On the stage, at a long table covered with green cloth, sat the five members of the planning committee, with name cards in front of them and the faintly hunted look of people who had expected an evening about car parks. In the middle sat the chair, a small, precise woman in her sixties called Councillor Hale, with silver half-moon glasses and a gavel she clearly intended to use.

アナは四列目に座り、片側には十一時のバスに乗る予定のため黄色いジャケットを着たままでいるダニエル、もう片側にはプリヤがいた。プリヤは二十分間一言も口をきいていなかった。ハンドバッグを膝の上に置き、その中に生き物でも入っているかのように四つ折りにしたノートの用紙四枚を抱えて背筋をまっすぐに伸ばして座り、夫が子どもたちに教えたように、時折お腹から息を吸っては、ごくゆっくりと吐き出していた。