has on tight black trousers and a loose shirt. She’s most comfortable in trousers, but of course she always wears a skirt at school, or at least culottes.
Her friend Janice has on a flowered summer dress. She is petite and delicate, no bigger than Stephie. In her company, slender Hedvig Björk looks big and strong. Janice has reddish blond hair and a pale, freckled complexion. She has on a wide-brimmed sun hat, probably to protect her skin. When she removes it, Stephie notices that she has green eyes like Vera’s.
Aunt Märta has set the table out in the garden, and serves coffee with a freshly baked cake. That cake and the sugar for their coffee has used up the week’s whole ration of sugar. But Janice drinks her coffee black and has only half a slice of cake.
Miss Björk and Aunt Märta get along well. They chat as if they were old friends, though they’ve met just once before.
Janice smiles at Stephie.
“I’m so happy to be here,” she says, with a slight English accent. “I’ve actually never been in the archipelago before, although I’ve lived in Göteborg since before the war.”
Janice is a ballerina, and she has a position at the opera house in Göteborg. That means she performs in ballets and also in some operas that have dancing roles.Originally, she had planned to be there only a year, but when the war broke out, she ended up having to stay.
Stephie studies Janice. Every move she makes is beautiful. Just the way she lifts her coffee cup to her lips is perfection.
“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this summer,” Janice says. “It’s lovely here.” She waves her arm gently, indicating the sea and the horizon. “I believe people who live by the sea gain wisdom from it,” she continues. “From not being shut in like people in the mountains, or tied down to a monotonous plain. Being by the sea gives you an open view. Perhaps that helps people think freely. What do you think?”
“Maybe,” says Stephie.
She feels shy in Janice’s presence. But she thinks she’s going to like her.
Stephie helps Miss Björk carry up their suitcases while Aunt Märta shows Janice the boathouse, the jetty, and the little boat. Miss Björk goes up the stairs first and puts her suitcase in Aunt Märta’s and Uncle Evert’s bedroom with its double bed. Stephie carries Janice’s suitcase into her own little room, setting it beside the bed. She has removed her photographs and other private things. But Jesus still softly smiles down from the painting above the dresser.
The painting was there when Stephie arrived nearly four years ago. She never dared take it down or turn it toward the wall. When she had been baptized andbecame a member of the Pentecostal congregation, she would look at it for a little while every day, trying to feel the kind of love for Jesus that they talked about at Sunday school. But she never succeeded. She found the painting ugly.
Sven had turned it toward the wall the summer he and his family were summer tenants at Aunt Märta’s and Uncle Evert’s. But once the family returned to town, the painting was back to its initial position. Elna, Sven’s family’s housemaid, had turned it face out when they left.
“There was no stopping that woman once she got going,” Aunt Märta says to Stephie that evening as they have their dinner in the basement kitchen.
“Who?” Stephie asks, although she thinks she knows who Aunt Märta means.
“The redhead, of course,” Aunt Märta replies. “Miss Björk, now, she’s a substantial person.”
“The redhead’s name is Janice,” Stephie says with her best English pronunciation.
“Well, she certainly talks a blue streak. Do you know what she asked me? If I had ever spent the night out on one of the skerries! ‘Between sea and sky.’ What would be the point of that, I ask you?”
“She thinks it’s lovely here,” Stephie tells her. “That we have an open view.”
“I wonder what she’d say about it in
Her friend Janice has on a flowered summer dress. She is petite and delicate, no bigger than Stephie. In her company, slender Hedvig Björk looks big and strong. Janice has reddish blond hair and a pale, freckled complexion. She has on a wide-brimmed sun hat, probably to protect her skin. When she removes it, Stephie notices that she has green eyes like Vera’s.
Aunt Märta has set the table out in the garden, and serves coffee with a freshly baked cake. That cake and the sugar for their coffee has used up the week’s whole ration of sugar. But Janice drinks her coffee black and has only half a slice of cake.
Miss Björk and Aunt Märta get along well. They chat as if they were old friends, though they’ve met just once before.
Janice smiles at Stephie.
“I’m so happy to be here,” she says, with a slight English accent. “I’ve actually never been in the archipelago before, although I’ve lived in Göteborg since before the war.”
Janice is a ballerina, and she has a position at the opera house in Göteborg. That means she performs in ballets and also in some operas that have dancing roles.Originally, she had planned to be there only a year, but when the war broke out, she ended up having to stay.
Stephie studies Janice. Every move she makes is beautiful. Just the way she lifts her coffee cup to her lips is perfection.
“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this summer,” Janice says. “It’s lovely here.” She waves her arm gently, indicating the sea and the horizon. “I believe people who live by the sea gain wisdom from it,” she continues. “From not being shut in like people in the mountains, or tied down to a monotonous plain. Being by the sea gives you an open view. Perhaps that helps people think freely. What do you think?”
“Maybe,” says Stephie.
She feels shy in Janice’s presence. But she thinks she’s going to like her.
Stephie helps Miss Björk carry up their suitcases while Aunt Märta shows Janice the boathouse, the jetty, and the little boat. Miss Björk goes up the stairs first and puts her suitcase in Aunt Märta’s and Uncle Evert’s bedroom with its double bed. Stephie carries Janice’s suitcase into her own little room, setting it beside the bed. She has removed her photographs and other private things. But Jesus still softly smiles down from the painting above the dresser.
The painting was there when Stephie arrived nearly four years ago. She never dared take it down or turn it toward the wall. When she had been baptized andbecame a member of the Pentecostal congregation, she would look at it for a little while every day, trying to feel the kind of love for Jesus that they talked about at Sunday school. But she never succeeded. She found the painting ugly.
Sven had turned it toward the wall the summer he and his family were summer tenants at Aunt Märta’s and Uncle Evert’s. But once the family returned to town, the painting was back to its initial position. Elna, Sven’s family’s housemaid, had turned it face out when they left.
“There was no stopping that woman once she got going,” Aunt Märta says to Stephie that evening as they have their dinner in the basement kitchen.
“Who?” Stephie asks, although she thinks she knows who Aunt Märta means.
“The redhead, of course,” Aunt Märta replies. “Miss Björk, now, she’s a substantial person.”
“The redhead’s name is Janice,” Stephie says with her best English pronunciation.
“Well, she certainly talks a blue streak. Do you know what she asked me? If I had ever spent the night out on one of the skerries! ‘Between sea and sky.’ What would be the point of that, I ask you?”
“She thinks it’s lovely here,” Stephie tells her. “That we have an open view.”
“I wonder what she’d say about it in
Similar Books
