Friendship by Rose Tremain

Author:Rose Tremain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2018-04-04T16:00:00+00:00

The Gustav Sonata

The cold spring of the year

ANTON ARRIVED AT the kindergarten in the cold spring of the year.

He came into the schoolroom and stood by the door, crying. None of the children had seen this boy before. One of the teachers, Fräulein Frick, went to him and took his hand and knelt down and began talking to him, but he didn’t seem to hear her. He just kept on weeping.

Fräulein Frick beckoned to Gustav. Gustav didn’t particularly want to be the boy chosen to comfort this weeping child, but Fräulein Frick urged him to come towards her and said to Anton, ‘This is Gustav. Gustav is going to be your friend. He will take you to the sandbox and you can build a castle together before we begin our lessons.’

Anton looked down at Gustav, who was slightly smaller than he was.

Gustav said to him, ‘My mother says it’s better not to cry. She says you have to master yourself.’

Anton appeared so startled by this that his sobbing stopped abruptly.

‘There,’ said Fräulein Frick. ‘That’s good. Go with Gustav, then.’ She produced a handkerchief and wiped Anton’s cheeks. The boy’s face was a hectic pink, his eyes big pools of darkness. His body was trembling.

Gustav led him over to the sandbox. Anton’s small hand felt burning hot. Gustav said, ‘What kind of castle do you want to build?’ But the boy couldn’t answer. So Gustav gave him a spade and said, ‘I like castles with moats. Shall we start on the moat?’

Gustav marked out a circle and they began digging. A few other children clustered round them, staring at the new boy.

BEFORE ANTON ARRIVED, Gustav had had no close friends at the kindergarten. There was a girl who amused him called Isabel. She liked to climb onto the work tables and jump off again, landing like a gymnast with her feet together and her arms outspread. She always brought her pet mouse to school in a wooden cage and Gustav was one of the few children allowed to stroke the mouse. But Isabel was too exhausting to play with for long. She had to be the Queen of every game.

All his life, Gustav would remember vividly that first morning spent with Anton. They didn’t talk very much. It was as if Anton was so exhausted by his weeping that he couldn’t talk. He just followed Gustav around and sat very close to him at the work table and watched what he did and tried to copy him. When Gustav asked him where he’d come from, he said, ‘From Bern. We had a house in Bern, but now we’ve only got an apartment in Matzlingen.’

Gustav said, ‘The place where I live is very small. We don’t even have a kitchen table. Have you got a kitchen table?’

‘Yes,’ said Anton, ‘we’ve got a kitchen table. I was sick all over it at breakfast because I didn’t want to come here.’

Later, Anton asked Gustav, ‘Have you got a piano?’

‘No,’ said Gustav.

‘We’ve got a piano and I can play it.

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