The Lily Pond by Annika Thor Page B

His collar is turned up againstthe rain, and he’s pulled his hat down over his forehead. The hat is wide-brimmed with a dent in the middle of its peak. Stephie’s never seen Sven in a hat before. Usually he wears either his school cap or nothing at all on his head. The hat makes him look very grown up; she hardly recognizes him.
    “Hi,” he says. “What weather! It’s raining cats and dogs!”
    Stephie laughs. She’s never heard that before, and she pictures black-and-white kittens pouring down from the skies, along with puppies that look like Putte. That would be better than these heavy, wet drops of freezing rain.
    “How about introducing your girlfriend?” Sven asks.
    May extends a hand. “I’m May Karlsson,” she says gravely. “Stephanie’s classmate.”
    Sven shakes May’s hand. “Sven Söderberg. Stephanie’s … well, big brother, sort of.”
    Big brother!
    “You sure have a lot of good books,” May tells him. “I sometimes get to borrow them from Stephanie.”
    “Which are your favorites?”
    “I like them all,” says May. “Especially the working-class authors. Actually, I think I like Eyvind Johnson best of all.”
    Sven gives her an appreciative look.
    “My goodness, Eyvind Johnson! We agree on that. He’s one of my very favorites, too.”
    Stephie lowers her eyes. Sven lent her several books by Eyvind Johnson but she didn’t get any further than halfway through the first one. It was full of insects and forests and strange kinds of people who were unfamiliar to her. Apparentlythey were the kind of people May understood; Stephie knows May couldn’t put the books down, and now she and Sven are engrossed in conversation about them.
    “We were on our way to the tram,” says Stephie. “It’s really raining hard.”
    “You’re right. We’d better move along.” Sven turns to May. “How about coming along with us and having a nice hot cup of tea in Elna’s kitchen so we can go on talking?”
    “Thank you,” says May. “That would be very nice if you think it’s all right.”
    Stephie has never invited May to her room. She hasn’t been sure what Mrs. Söderberg would think of her bringing friends back with her, and she’s been too bashful to ask. But here is Sven, asking May over as if it is the most natural thing in the world.
    Nobody asks her what she thinks.
    They hurry along the sidewalk, the rain falling more and more heavily. Sven takes a newspaper out of his briefcase and splits it in three parts so they each have a section to hold overhead.
    May looks impressed when they walk in through the front door of the building and she sees the wide stone staircase, the gold-fringed lampshades, and the checkered marble floor. But she doesn’t say a word, not even when, like a real gentleman, Sven holds the elevator gate open for her and Stephie. She’s silent as they ride up to the fourth floor and as Sven unlocks the apartment door and lets them into the hall. Then she can no longer contain herself.
    “Holy smokes!” May exclaims. “Not even the apartments my mamma cleans are this elegant.”
    Sven smiles. “May I help you with your coats, ladies?”
    A few minutes later they’re sitting at the kitchen table with large cups of steaming tea in front of them. Sven and May talk nonstop. Now the subject is social equality; they’re talking about how working people have to get more power in society.
    Stephie feels excluded. Yes, Sven does talk about things like this with her, too, but she doesn’t have much to say about them. May is full of opinions about housing and child benefits and other things Stephie knows nothing about.
    “Socialism,” says Sven, “is the only solution. So the workers are going to have to put some clout behind their demands.”
    At that, Elna looks up from the bread dough she’s been kneading.
    “Shame on you, Sven Söderberg!” she says. “Putting communist ideas into the heads of innocent young girls.”
    “Elna,” says Sven. “Don’t be