Memorie di un operatore di borsa

Strādāt sāku, tikko beidzis pamatskolu.

I went to work when I was just out of grammar school.

Dabūju kotējumu tāfeles puikas darbu kādā biržas brokeru kantorī.

I got a job as quotation-board boy in a stock-brokerage office.

Ar skaitļiem man veicās ātri.

I was quick at figures.

Skolā trīs gadu aritmētiku apguvu viena gada laikā.

At school I did three years of arithmetic in one.

Īpaši labi man padevās rēķināšana galvā.

I was particularly good at mental arithmetic.

Būdams kotējumu tāfeles puika, es rakstīju skaitļus uz lielās tāfeles klientu

As quotation-board boy I posted the numbers on the big board in the customers’

zālē.

room.

Viens no klientiem parasti sēdēja pie tikera un sauca cenas.

One of the customers usually sat by the ticker and called out the prices.

Lai cik ātri tās nāca, es vienmēr paspēju.

They couldn’t come too fast for me.

Skaitļus es vienmēr esmu atcerējies.

I have always remembered figures.

Bez jebkādām grūtībām.

No trouble at all.

Tajā kantorī strādāja daudz citu darbinieku.

There were plenty of other employes in that office.

Protams, es sadraudzējos ar pārējiem puišiem,

Of course I made friends with the other fellows,

bet mans darbs,

but the work I did,

ja tirgus bija aktīvs,

if the market was active,

no desmitiem rītā

kept me too busy from ten A.M.

līdz trijiem pēcpusdienā

to three P.M.

mani tik ļoti nodarbināja, ka daudz runāt neatlika laika.

to let me do much talking.

Man tas arī nepatīk,

I don’t care for it,

katrā ziņā,

anyhow,

darba laikā.

during business hours.

Taču rosīgs tirgus netraucēja man domāt par darbu.

But a busy market did not keep me from thinking about the work.

Tie kotējumi man nenozīmēja akciju cenas,

Those quotations did not represent prices of stocks to me,

tik un tik dolāru par akciju.

so many dollars per share.

Tie bija skaitļi.

They were numbers.

Protams,

Of course,

tie kaut ko nozīmēja.

they meant something.

Tie nemitīgi mainījās.

They were always changing.

Tikai tas vien mani varēja interesēt —

It was all I had to be interested in —

pārmaiņas.

the changes.

Kāpēc tie mainījās?

Why did they change?

Es nezināju.

I didn’t know.

Man bija vienalga.

I didn’t care.

Par to es nedomāju.

I didn’t think about that.

Es vienkārši redzēju, ka tie mainās.

I simply saw that they changed.

Tikai par to man bija jādomā piecas stundas katru dienu un divas sestdienās:

That was all I had to think about five hours every day and two on Saturdays:

ka tie nemitīgi mainās.

that they were always changing.