by Jon Fosse
Bragi, Bragi, I call
and he comes running up to me and he stops in front of me and he shakes himself, shakes from side to side, so that most of the snow falls off him, and then I say let’s go inside now and Bragi comes inside and I shut the door and we go back into the main room and I feel how tired I am, so tired, and I think I’ll just sit down and I see my chair there next to the round table, the one on the left, and I go sit down in the chair and then Bragi comes and jumps up and lies down in my lap and I take my bearings, the tops of the pines outside my house need to be in the middle of the middle pane on the right of the divided window, and then I look at the sea, at the place in the water I always look at, near the middle of the Sygne Sea, at the waves and I see Asle sitting on his bed upstairs in The Shoemaker’s Workshop and Mother and Father have just driven off and Asle lies down on the bed and he lies there and he stares straight ahead and he thinks that tomorrow he’ll go to The Academic High School, and he thinks he knows the way there, and he’ll leave for school nice and early, Asle thinks, and he’ll be wearing his black velvet jacket and leather shoulder bag, the same as he always wears, he thinks, because he saw a black velvet jacket at a shop in Stranda and bought it on the spot, and in another shop he found the brown leather bag, and ever since then he’s always had his black velvet jacket and brown leather shoulder bag on and Mother said that it looked so stupid, going around in a black velvet jacket, and then with his brown hair so long, down his back, and then with a shoulder bag too, Mother said and Asle told her she can say whatever she wants but he’ll dress however he wants and have his hair how he wants it too, he says and then he walks away from Mother in his black velvet jacket and he has a sketchpad and a pencil in his brown leather shoulder bag, and now he’ll have his schoolbooks in it too, Asle thinks and he sits up on the edge of the bed and he thinks he might as well take a walk outside and maybe go to The Co-op Store and buy himself something or other, because he’s the one who has to go shopping for his own food now, he thinks, and then he needs to unpack the things he’s brought with him and try to set them up as nicely and cosily as he can in this room he’s rented in The Shoemaker’s Workshop, Asle thinks and he gets up and then he stands there in his black velvet jacket and he feels his pockets to check if he has his tobacco pouch and matchbox, and if his wallet is in his inner pocket, and then he drapes the brown leather bag over his shoulder and he sees the keyring lying on the table and he picks it up and then Asle leaves and he locks the door to his room behind him and then he goes downstairs and goes outside and then he locks the front door and then he puts the keyring into the pocket of his velvet jacket and he takes the tobacco pouch out and rolls himself a cigarette and lights it and then he starts walking towards the centre of town, of Aga, and he thinks he’ll go to The Co-op Store and buy himself an ashtray, that’s the first thing he’ll buy, he thinks and then he doesn’t think anything else but he feels so light, yes, it’s almost joy he feels, because now, now he doesn’t live at home with Mother anymore, Mother who he’s constantly getting into fights with, and he’s done with seeing Father work and toil from dawn to dusk, either he’s in The Woodshed building boats, he does that all winter, or else he’s with the fruit trees in the orchard, constantly working there, and it doesn’t bring in much, Asle thinks and he walks slowly down the road and then he hears someone calling Asle and he turns around and who should he see there walking behind him but Sigve, and Sigve is carrying a black bag in one hand and he raises his other hand and Asle raises his hand and he stops, because look at that, he hadn’t thought of that, but Sigve, a few years older than Asle, yes, he recently moved to Aga too, to work at The Furniture Factory here, Asle thinks, Sigve’s been working here for a few months now, he knew that, Asle thinks, because the day he went to Stranda and bought both the velvet jacket and the shoulder bag he’d taken the bus from Barmen with Sigve, Sigve had a couple of days off and was home visiting his parents, as he said, but then he had to go back to Aga, back to work at The Furniture Factory there, he said, and he liked it all right there, the days went by quickly, and Sigve had rented a little house, a little old house, almost right in the centre, Sigve had told him, and that was sure different than living in an attic in a boathouse, the way he’d had to live throughout his whole childhood, Sigve had said, and now Asle sees Sigve coming closer and closer and he stops and stands there and Asle looks down and he looks up and he hears Sigve say it’s nice to see him, he’s probably come to Aga now to go to The Academic High School and Asle says yes, he’s just arrived
Your parents drove you, Sigve says
Yes, Asle says
Where are you living? Sigve says
There, Asle says
and he points at The Shoemaker’s Workshop
In the green side building? Sigve asks
Yes, Asle says
and Sigve says that he walks past that house every day because The Furniture Factory, well, it’s right there, he says and Sigve turns and points and there’s a big long white building in a little dip on the other side of the road a few hundred yards behind them and now Asle sees that it says Furniture Factory on the front of the building
That’s where I work, Sigve says
Aha, Asle says
So every single day I go past the building where you have a room now, and I’ve often wondered what kind of building it is, Sigve says
and he says that he can see it’s now an outbuilding, but it doesn’t exactly look like an normal house, he says and Asle says that there used to be a shoemaker’s workshop there, and Asle even thinks of himself as living in The Shoemaker’s Workshop and says he lives in The Shoemaker’s Workshop, he says
So that’s what it is, Sigve says
Yeah, Asle says
and then they stay standing there and neither one says anything and then Sigve says yes, well, so that’s where he’s living now, he says, and Asle says yes and he says that Father put an ad in The Hardanger Times and an old lady answered, it was the lady who lives in the green main house, she’s really old, and she walks taking little bitty steps, Asle says, and Sigve says that he’s noticed her, sometimes she’d be walking home after going shopping when he was going home from work, and she walks so slowly that almost as soon as he’s seen her he’s walked past her, he says and then he says that Asle was lucky to have found a whole house of his own and not to have to live in a room in someone’s house where other people live, he says
Yeah, Asle says
It’s much better to live by yourself, Sigve says
Of course, he says
I was lucky too, to get a little old house, and in the centre of town too, not far from The Co-op Store, he says
and Sigve says that The Boss at The Furniture Factory had told The Labour Office about the house so he was placed there, someone who’d worked at The Furniture Factory had quit and he’d been renting the house, so it was available
Aha, Asle says
and he and Sigve started walking towards The Co-op Store
The house is in a strange spot, Sigve says
Right between The Co-op Store and The Hospital, yes, all by itself kind of, he says
Yes, I’ve noticed that house, Asle says
It’s hard not to, isn’t it, Sigve says
Yes, it’s in a strange spot for a house, Asle says
and Sigve says that that’s probably why he was able to rent it, because with his history he wasn’t really the first person someone would want to rent to, and definitely not if they knew he’d grown up in a boathouse
Is it a nice place? Asle says
Yeah, it is, Sigve says
and Asle says that he just got here, his parents just now drove him and his stuff to the room in the top floor of The Shoemaker’s Workshop, and he said hello to The Landlady, and she looks really old, Asle says and Sigve says he’s really lucky he found somewhere he can live by himself, in his own house, most of the other people who come from Barmen or Stranda or wherever to go to The Academic High School have to live with
housemates, there are young people from towns and farms across half of Vestland coming to The Academic High School, and some of them go home only for Christmas and summers, and over Easter, so the ones from Barmen or Stranda are lucky because they can go home every weekend if they want
I don’t want to, Asle says
Go home every weekend? Sigve says
No, Asle says
Well then you don’t have to, Sigve says
and he says that he doesn’t go home to see his parents much either, but then again he’s quite a bit older than Asle, he says
Yes, Asle says
and they get to The Co-op Store and Sigve points to The Hotel down by The Fjord, a nice old hotel, and Sigve says that he likes to go there every now and then for a beer and he says Asle should come with him sometime and Asle says that he’s not old enough to buy beer and Sigve says that they’re not so strict about that there at The Hotel, and if they do ask for proof of age well then it’s easy enough to change his ID, yes, he did it at the post office when he got his red post-office savings-account book, Asle has one of those doesn’t he? he says, and Asle says he does and Sigve says they can just change the ID card, the date of birth, he says and Asle says that he has one of those cards and a bankbook too and Sigve says everyone does, don’t they, he says and you just need to make a little change to the last number, then he’ll be eighteen just like that and be able to buy beer at The Co-op Store and The Hotel
But I can’t just do that, can I? Asle says
Sure you can, Sigve says
It’s not hard, he says
You just need to find a ballpoint pen that writes the same, because the date of birth is always written with a totally normal ballpoint pen, and then it’s just about making sure the colours match, and then a one can be turned into a seven no problem, or a nine into a four, and other things are even easier, four to nine, you can change any number without it being noticeable, just take your time and be careful, because sometimes you need to carefully scrape away a little of the number that was there before, that happens sometimes, and it’s easy enough with a needle, an ordinary pin, but usually you don’t need to, Sigve says, and he says that Asle can come home with him and he’ll change his birthdate on the ID right now, it doesn’t take long, and then maybe they can go to The Hotel tonight and get a beer or two or three to celebrate that Asle’s a free man now, Sigve says
Because you’re a free man now, he says
You’ve left home and neither your mother nor your father can go chasing after you whatever you do anymore, he says
Yeah, it feels good, Asle says
I’m sure it does, Sigve says
and he asks if Asle wanted to buy something and he says he was thinking of buying an ashtray
An ashtray? Sigve says
Yes, Asle says
You’re starting School tomorrow? Sigve says
Yes, Asle says
and Sigve asks if he’s still painting and Asle says that he is, he paints and he draws, wherever he goes he has a sketchpad and pencil with him at all times in his shoulder bag, he says and then Sigve asks if he can hire him to paint a picture of the house he lives in and Asle thinks that he doesn’t really want to, no, he really doesn’t, but he can’t really say no either, Asle thinks and he doesn’t answer and Sigve says he’ll pay for it of course and Asle nods, or maybe I can pay for it by buying you a few glasses of beer? Sigve says, does that sound good? he says and Asle nods and he says that if he’s going to paint Sigve’s house he needs a photograph to paint from and Sigve says he has one hanging on the wall, there was an old photo of the house hanging above the sofa when he moved in, and in that photo the house is in such a pretty location, because where The Co-op Store is now there used to be just a little shop, and The Hospital wasn’t there yet either, so all you can see in the picture is the little shop that’s been torn down, but he doesn’t need to paint that, it’s fine if he just paints the house and then a little bit of the hills around the house, he says
Grandma’s in The Hospital, Asle says
Your grandma? Sigve says
Yes, Asle says
and Sigve asks if she’s seriously sick and Asle says that she had a stroke, one day she didn’t come outside like she usually did and the front door was locked so Mother couldn’t get in and then she found Father and he broke down the door and went in and then he saw Grandmother lying in bed and she was just looking at Father, he’d said, and then she tried to say something but she couldn’t, Asle says, and then Father called The Doctor and he came right away and he said that Grandmother had had a stroke, and Father tried to sit her up in bed, and she helped as much as she could, and then Grandmother was sitting there in bed and then Father and The Doctor tried to pick her up and Grandmother stood up, but she just stood, and she tried to walk and she did put one foot forward but it was like she couldn’t move the other one
Were you at home? Sigve says
Yeah, Asle says
We were on winter break or whatever, he says
and he says that Grandmother couldn’t really walk, so Father and The Doctor supported her and they walked slowly into the main room, because when Grandmother was holding Father with one arm and The Doctor with the other she could manage to move the other foot a little too without losing her balance, and they led Grandmother into the main room and sat her down on the bench there and then Grandmother managed to lie down herself on the bench and then she looked at Asle, he says
Yes, she’s a good person, your Grandmother, Sigve says
Yes, Asle says
And I’m going to go see her every day, he says
You should, Sigve says
and he says that he and his parents drove to The Hospital to see her before they dropped his things off at the room he’s renting, so he’s already been to see her today, he says
Grandma and I have always been close, he says
Yes, Sigve says
While Mother and me argued pretty much all the time, he says
and Sigve doesn’t say anything
And Father just kept his mouth shut, he says
No your father’s never been much of a talker, Sigve says
He almost never says anything, Asle says
and he says that when Mother was arguing with him, which she did constantly, she used to say that Father needed to say something and then he’d mumble something about how Mother was right, something like that, Asle says and Sigve says that Father’s a good man
I was thinking I’d buy a few beers, Sigve says
And some bread, he says
and then Sigve and Asle walk into The Co-op Store and Sigve goes and gets some bottles of beer and then a loaf of bread and he says they should look for an ashtray for Asle and then they go to the part of The Co-op Store where they sell various housewares and Asle sees an ashtray with a cover and a little bar sticking up on top and when you pull the lever the ashes and butts disappear, and there’s something like a belt of brown fur around the ashtray, and he wants to buy it, Asle thinks and he tells Sigve
That one’s not so cheap, he says
I’m buying it anyway, Asle says
and he takes the ashtray off the shelf and Asle says it’s a pain they don’t sell painting supplies at The Co-op Store and Sigve says yeah in that case he’ll still have to take the bus to Stranda, to The Paint Store there, but there’s a bus to Stranda about every hour, and there’s a hotel there too, The Stranda Hotel, and now and then he sometimes takes the bus there to get a glass of beer or two at The Stranda Hotel, and sometimes he starts talking to someone there, yes, a painter lives there in Stranda, a picture painter, and he’s usually at the hotel there, and Sigve’s talked with him a lot, he’s a smart guy, but dead broke, and he likes beer but he almost never has any money for more than a cup of coffee so he’s always extremely happy when Sigve wants to buy him a pint, one day Sigve had asked him if he was hungry and he’d nodded and then Sigve had bought him an open-faced ground-beef sandwich and he’d thanked Sigve over
and over and said he was really hungry, and he, the picture painter, yes, as a matter of fact his name is Asle too, and he can’t be much older than you, Sigve says
