confidence.
Vera’s different. Although it happened long ago, Stephie remembers how Vera let her down that first year on the island, joining in with the other girls when they bullied Stephie. She’ll never trust Vera completely.
It’s true that, in Vera’s company, Stephie’s never bored. Vera laughs and jokes and is full of ideas. But she’s kind of different this summer. Sometimes, when she thinks no one’s watching, a shadow of fatigue crosses her features. She sometimes goes quiet right in the middle of a conversation, as if she has lost track of the world around her. It’s as if there were a second Vera under the bright, happy one. A grown-up Vera Stephie doesn’t know.
One day when Vera has the day off and she and Stephie are at the beach, she suddenly gets sick to her stomach. Stephie’s just poured their coffee from the thermos. Vera takes her cup, but before she has even a single sip, she puts it down. One hand over her mouth, she rushes into the bushes. Stephie watches her bend over double, vomiting.
“Are you ill?” Stephie asks with concern when Vera returns.
“It’s nothing,” says Vera. “Probably something I ate. I’m fine now.”
20
M idsummer’s Eve is the longest day of the year. The sun is high in the sky and stays up longer than any other day.
Since they don’t have a globe, Miss Björk uses an old rubber ball to demonstrate to Stephie how the angle of the Earth’s axis causes the seasons to change. She runs one of Aunt Märta’s knitting needles through the ball and shows Stephie how it rotates around its own axis. At the same time, she orbits it in a wide circle around the lamp that hangs over the table.
“It’s like a dance,” Miss Björk explains. “Everything is in motion. The whole universe. If it stopped, that would mean death. Movement is life.”
But when they step outside after their studies, thesun isn’t even visible. This Midsummer’s Eve is a gray day, with rain hanging in the air. Stephie can see there are already showers over the mainland.
“Do you know why it’s often not rainy out in the archipelago even when it’s raining on the mainland?” Miss Björk asks Stephie.
“No.”
“We’ll work on that tomorrow, then,” her teacher says. “A little meteorology, the study of the weather. Now it’s holiday time, so we’ll take the rest of the day off.”
Janice is sitting outside reading, as she almost always does while Hedvig is teaching Stephie. If the sun is shining, she wears her wide-brimmed straw hat to protect her sensitive skin.
“What a lazy woman!” Aunt Märta mutters. “All she does is read. She could at least do some embroidery.”
In Aunt Märta’s world, reading isn’t for grown-ups. Children read their schoolbooks and the occasional story, while Aunt Märta reads only the newspaper, and a chapter from the Bible every Sunday. That’s it.
Janice sets her book in her lap when she hears their voices.
“All done for today?” she asks.
“Yes,” Hedvig answers. “Come on. Time for our Midsummer celebrations!”
No one who lives on the island makes much of a fuss about Midsummer. On Easter Eve, there’s a bonfire up on the cliffs, but Midsummer has a bad reputation. It’s known as a holiday with a lot of drunken rowdiness, and nobody who lives on the island drinks, at least not when anyone else is looking.
But the summer guests always raise a maypole in the meadow above the beach. Stephie goes along with Miss Björk and Janice.
People have already gathered leaves and branches. Maypoles are usually decorated with birch, but there isn’t much birch on the island, so ash and bird cherry are also used.
“The main thing is that it’s green,” says the cheerful woman who has taken charge of the project.
Stephie recognizes her—she’s Maud’s mother. Theirs is the family renting from Auntie Alma. So Nellie and Maud are probably around, too. Stephie looks for her, but she can’t see her.
Maud’s mother assigns
Vera’s different. Although it happened long ago, Stephie remembers how Vera let her down that first year on the island, joining in with the other girls when they bullied Stephie. She’ll never trust Vera completely.
It’s true that, in Vera’s company, Stephie’s never bored. Vera laughs and jokes and is full of ideas. But she’s kind of different this summer. Sometimes, when she thinks no one’s watching, a shadow of fatigue crosses her features. She sometimes goes quiet right in the middle of a conversation, as if she has lost track of the world around her. It’s as if there were a second Vera under the bright, happy one. A grown-up Vera Stephie doesn’t know.
One day when Vera has the day off and she and Stephie are at the beach, she suddenly gets sick to her stomach. Stephie’s just poured their coffee from the thermos. Vera takes her cup, but before she has even a single sip, she puts it down. One hand over her mouth, she rushes into the bushes. Stephie watches her bend over double, vomiting.
“Are you ill?” Stephie asks with concern when Vera returns.
“It’s nothing,” says Vera. “Probably something I ate. I’m fine now.”
20
M idsummer’s Eve is the longest day of the year. The sun is high in the sky and stays up longer than any other day.
Since they don’t have a globe, Miss Björk uses an old rubber ball to demonstrate to Stephie how the angle of the Earth’s axis causes the seasons to change. She runs one of Aunt Märta’s knitting needles through the ball and shows Stephie how it rotates around its own axis. At the same time, she orbits it in a wide circle around the lamp that hangs over the table.
“It’s like a dance,” Miss Björk explains. “Everything is in motion. The whole universe. If it stopped, that would mean death. Movement is life.”
But when they step outside after their studies, thesun isn’t even visible. This Midsummer’s Eve is a gray day, with rain hanging in the air. Stephie can see there are already showers over the mainland.
“Do you know why it’s often not rainy out in the archipelago even when it’s raining on the mainland?” Miss Björk asks Stephie.
“No.”
“We’ll work on that tomorrow, then,” her teacher says. “A little meteorology, the study of the weather. Now it’s holiday time, so we’ll take the rest of the day off.”
Janice is sitting outside reading, as she almost always does while Hedvig is teaching Stephie. If the sun is shining, she wears her wide-brimmed straw hat to protect her sensitive skin.
“What a lazy woman!” Aunt Märta mutters. “All she does is read. She could at least do some embroidery.”
In Aunt Märta’s world, reading isn’t for grown-ups. Children read their schoolbooks and the occasional story, while Aunt Märta reads only the newspaper, and a chapter from the Bible every Sunday. That’s it.
Janice sets her book in her lap when she hears their voices.
“All done for today?” she asks.
“Yes,” Hedvig answers. “Come on. Time for our Midsummer celebrations!”
No one who lives on the island makes much of a fuss about Midsummer. On Easter Eve, there’s a bonfire up on the cliffs, but Midsummer has a bad reputation. It’s known as a holiday with a lot of drunken rowdiness, and nobody who lives on the island drinks, at least not when anyone else is looking.
But the summer guests always raise a maypole in the meadow above the beach. Stephie goes along with Miss Björk and Janice.
People have already gathered leaves and branches. Maypoles are usually decorated with birch, but there isn’t much birch on the island, so ash and bird cherry are also used.
“The main thing is that it’s green,” says the cheerful woman who has taken charge of the project.
Stephie recognizes her—she’s Maud’s mother. Theirs is the family renting from Auntie Alma. So Nellie and Maud are probably around, too. Stephie looks for her, but she can’t see her.
Maud’s mother assigns
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