Memory of Love (9781101603024) by Olsson Linda

Author:Olsson, Linda
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin USA
Published: 2013-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

She is no longer a little girl. It feels as if she has become someone completely different. She is almost nine years old and she is all alone. She will have to learn to live like this. She is not sure how, but it is absolutely necessary. There is no other way. It is easier now that she is no longer Marianne. Now that she no longer has anything to lose.

Nobody has asked her anything. They have all been so nice. They look nice. They say nice things. Yet they have taken everything from her. They look over her head – at each other, not at her. Whisper behind her back. Talk about her as if they know. But they don’t know anything. And she can’t tell them because she is not that girl any more. It is empty inside her and nothing hurts. She is all new and she has nothing to tell. And she is absolutely alone.

‘It will be all right, you’ll see. You will be with your uncle. And your brother will be with a kind family who will love him and care for him.’

But they know nothing. They don’t know how Daniel likes his milk. How he likes to be stroked at the nape of the neck before he goes to sleep. He will be so frightened, and so very lonely.

But she is not afraid at all. She doesn’t mind being alone.

It feels easier now. The old Marianne was so sad. She was still hoping. Longing. This new Marianne has no hope. No, she knows there is nothing more they can take from her. Because she has nothing. And she knows nothing.

She is absolutely certain she has never seen him before. The woman with the short red hair stands by her side, a little too close, as if she wants to make it look as if they belong together. She says: ‘This is your uncle, Marianne.’ She doesn’t want to belong with this woman so she takes a small step away from her. The woman places her hand on her shoulder. Perhaps she is afraid that she will slip away. Why would she? And where would she go?

There is nowhere for her to go. And there is nobody who can help her.

On the way here in the car the woman turned towards her with the same hopelessly kind expression as all the others. Cheerful, but so very sad.

‘It will be nice to be with someone from your own family, won’t it?’ she said, and patted her hand on the seat between them. She leaned so close that she could smell Marianne’s breath, so she turned away and looked out the window. Marianne didn’t reply. What could she say?

Because this man is not her family. She has no family. This man is a stranger and he means nothing to her. And she thinks that it looks as if he is thinking the same. But here they are standing facing each other. And she feels a little sorry for him.

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