Aednan by Linnea Axelsson

Author:Linnea Axelsson [Axelsson, Linnea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

XIII

Training camp in Boden, Norrbotten County. Summer 1986

(Rolf)

To think that Lise said

several years after

we christened Per

–

That she’d never

really liked

that name

–

Just because of some

sheepish man

who’d lived near them

For a few years

while they were

wintering in Porjus

–

Why didn’t she

say something right away

she just let me

name my son

after my father

–

We stood by the

sports field

watched the boys

come charging

to tackle Per right as he

got the ball

–

I heard Lise shout:

Just wipe it away Per

get up and keep playing

–

Can’t you see

my sister scolded

at Mom’s later

Per must be

allergic

–

You saw how his nose

and eyes were

running today

after he took a spill

on the grass

–

You could at least

take the boy to a doctor

because Lise won’t

have the sense to

–

After all she’s afraid

of health care

–

And I plaster

Per’s fresh scrapes

stroke his arms

–

I hear Mom in the kitchen

dishes clattering

–

It occurs to me that she

never makes grouse anymore

–

Not since that time

when Dad was still alive

–

And they came to visit

he’d suddenly

leaned forward and

told Lise

–

That she was the

only one he knew who

could make good grouse

–

To think how he used to

hunt birds

back when they

had the farm

–

The farm I’d

always thought was just

an empty shimmer

from Papa’s childhood

–

But that when I came home

and said that their farm

was next in line to

be dammed over

–

Almost at once

had hardened into

this difficult memory

–

around the river where

the farm had been

–

But also in Papa’s body

when later he’d walk around here

with such discomfort

up the stairs

to the apartment

–

To think that Mom

would turn so

kind and soft

when feeding

the dogs

cuddling the cat

–

Per changes the channel

and I can see my

brother before me

in the kitchen

complaining to

Mom

After Dad had

given us some

new chore

–

Fetching wood

or weeding

the potato patch

–

How easy it was

for my brother

to just take a seat

And yet again apply

to be petted by her

–

Did you have fun today

I ask Per who’s

almost asleep

But he just shrugs

–

Do your eyes itch a lot

I ask

But he replies:

Dunno

–

What are you saying boys

Mom wonders

Finally coming out

of the kitchen with a towel

in her gray hands

–

And I reply:

Nothing

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