The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker

Author:Gerbrand Bakker
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Archipelago Books
Published: 2010-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

When I get home, the yard is white but not untrodden. A track leads from the milking parlor to the causeway gate next to the chicken coop. Henk is sitting on the causeway gate. He’s smoking. I put the car in the barn and make my own track to the gate. The snow swirls around his red ears.

“How long do I actually have to stay here?” he asks.

“Huh?”

“How long do I have to stay here!”

“It’s not a prison,” I say.

He takes a drag on his cigarette and after a pause blows out a big cloud of smoke.

“You smoke?” I ask.

“I gave it up the day before yesterday.”

“And now you’ve started again.”

“Yep.”

“I bought a TV,” I say. “And a reading lamp and a rear mudguard and wine.”

“Do I get money too?”

“What for?”

“The work I do.”

“Have you done any yet?”

He looks at the cigarette he is holding between his thumb and his index finger, squinting a little. His eyes are gray. Then he flicks the cigarette away.

“Board and lodging,” I say. “And pocket money of course.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know.” I’m starting to get cold. If it keeps snowing like this, we’ll have to move the sheep. From the field next to the windmill to here. And then throw some hay over the gate.

Henk jumps down and starts following my tracks.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“Back to bed. I don’t like snow.”

“To bed?”

“Where’s the reading lamp? That bright light is driving me crazy.”

“I’ve got forty-watt bulbs.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Them too.” We walk into the barn. Under the bonnet, the Opel Kadett is clicking. I open the boot and get out the lamp and the mudguard. Henk takes the lamp and walks off immediately. He disappears into the milking parlor. I am left looking incredulously at the mudguard in my left hand.

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