The Lily Pond by Annika Thor

was a letter from Papa,” she says.
    “What was in it?”
    “It’s so awful. Mamma has to work in a factory now. They have hardly anything proper to eat. Papa is no longer permitted to take the tram to work. And Evi’s left for Brazil. I may never see her again.”
    It’s as if the dam has burst. Everything Stephie’s been keeping pent up inside spills out: all her thoughts and her dreams, all her longing and her worries.
    Sven listens.
    “I wish I could help you,” he says when she finally stops. “That I could do something so your parents would be able to come here.”
    Stephie nods without saying anything. She knows there is no more to be done. Aunt Märta and Uncle Evert, and even Mrs. Söderberg, have already done all they can to help Mamma and Papa get entry visas for Sweden.
    “Friends have to be able to talk to each other about everything, don’t they?” Sven asks her then.
    Stephie nods again. But she can’t help wondering whether Sven really talks to her about everything—or whether he’s keeping certain things secret. Things having to do with Mayhill and a tavern.

week has passed since Stephie was at the movies, and no punishment has yet been called down on her, by God or by Aunt Märta. Still, she’s worried about what will happen the next time she goes to the island.
    The fall semester is drawing to a close, and schoolwork is taking more and more of Stephie’s time. There are several quizzes and tests each week.
    Stephie isn’t particularly worried about her grades. She knows that she’s at the top of the class, along with Alice and a girl named Gunnel. Of course, her Swedish isn’t perfect, but the last time they turned in compositions, Miss Ahlberg said that she had a surprisingly large Swedish vocabulary, and that her spelling had improved greatly since the start of the school year.
    “Not to mention, Stephanie, that you have such an active imagination,” she added.
    In math and biology Stephie is sure of getting a top grade. Hedvig Björk isn’t the kind to have favorites, but she does appreciate the girls who show an interest in her subjects.
    Miss Krantz continues to be critical of Stephie’s German pronunciation, but she usually turns to Stephie if she wants the right answer to a grammar question. Stephie always knows, though she can’t always explain why a certain answer is correct, and she isn’t always able to refer to the correct chapter of their grammar book. Stephie doesn’t really know why she should be. If she knows the right answers from the wrong ones, why on earth does she have to be able to quote the rule?
    German tests are always translations, both from Swedish into German and the other way around. When Stephie does translations to Swedish, Miss Krantz takes off points for her Swedish mistakes. Still, she has never caught Stephie making a single error when she translates to German.
    One afternoon, just after they’ve had a test returned, May says to Stephie, “It’s not fair of Miss Krantz to deduct for your Swedish. She’s our German teacher. What does your Swedish have to do with it?”
    Basically, Stephie agrees. But there’s nothing she can do about it.
    Toward the end of November, they’re having the last math test that’s going to count toward their grades for thefirst semester. The day before the test, Stephie forgets to take her math book home. She realizes it’s still in her desk when she and May have left the schoolyard and are turning the corner by the city theater.
    “You go on ahead,” she tells May.
    “I have time to wait.”
    “That’s all right. You go on.”
    “See you tomorrow, then.”
    Stephie runs back, crosses the schoolyard, and bounds up the steps. She hopes Hedvig Björk, whose class they had during the last period that day, will still be there.
    The classroom door is open; Hedvig Björk is wiping the blackboard. “Excuse me. I forgot my book,” Stephie pants, out of breath.
    Hedvig Björk smiles. “You sound like you’ve