THE HISTORY OF LOVE by Nicole Krauss

Author:Nicole Krauss [KRAUSS, NICOLE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Haunting
Published: 2010-11-08T22:00:00+00:00

FLOOD

1. HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES I did a search on the internet for Alma Mereminski. I thought someone might have written about her, or that I might find information about her life. I typed in her name and pressed return. But all that came up was a list of immigrants who'd arrived in New York City in 1891 (Mendel Mereminski), and a list of Holocaust victims recorded at Yad Vashem (Adam Mereminski, Fanny Mereminski, Nacham, Zellig, Hershel, Bluma, Ida, but, to my relief, because I didn't want to lose her before I'd even begun to look, no Alma).

2. ALL THE TIME MY BROTHER SAVES MY LIFE Uncle Julian came to stay with us. He was in New York for as long as it took him to do the final research for a book he'd been writing for five years on the sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti. Aunt Frances stayed behind in London to take care of the dog. Uncle Julian slept in Bird's bed, Bird slept in mine, and I slept on the floor in my one-hundred-percent down sleeping bag, even though a real expert wouldn't need one, since in emergency conditions she could just kill some birds and stuff their feathers under her clothing for warmth. Sometimes at night I would hear my brother talking in his sleep. Half phrases, nothing I could make out. Except for once, when he spoke so loudly I thought he was awake. "Don't step there," he said. "What?" I said, sitting up. "It's too deep," he muttered, and turned his face to the wall.

3. BUT WHY One Saturday, Bird and I went with Uncle Julian to the Museum of Modern Art. Bird insisted on paying for himself from his lemonade profits. We wandered around while Uncle Julian went to talk to a curator upstairs. Bird asked one of the security guards how many water fountains there were in the building. (Five.) He made weird video game noises until I told him to be quiet. Then he counted the number of people with exposed tattoos. (Eight.) We stood in front of a painting of a bunch of people collapsed on the floor. "Why are they lying there like that?" he asked. "Someone killed them," I said, even though I didn't really know why they were lying there, or if they were even people. I went to look at another painting across the room. Bird followed me. "But why did someone kill them?" he asked. "Because they needed money and robbed a house," I said, and got on the escalator going down. On the subway home, Bird touched my shoulder. "But why did they need the money?"

4. LOST AT SEA "What makes you to think this Alma in History of Love is real person?' Misha asked. We were sitting on the beach behind his apartment building with our feet buried in the sand, eating Mrs. Shklovsky's roast beef and horseradish sandwiches. " 'A,' " I said. "A what?" UA real person." "OK," Misha said.

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