Aliss at the Fire
Page 7
Can you shut the front door, Asle, Grandma says
and she looks at him going and shutting the front door
Yes, it’s cold these days, Asle, so we can’t let the warmth get out, Grandma says
And it’s slippery, it’s dangerous for an old woman like Grandma to walk out there, yes, even just stepping outside, she says
But for you, for you it’s not dangerous, you’re young, Asle, she says
No not for me, Asle says
Not for you, no, you’re young, Grandma says
and she sees that Grandma takes hold of her red
shopping bag and opens the door to the kitchen and goes in and then she sees that he goes in after her and shuts the door behind him and now she just has to go inside and lay more wood in the stove, she thinks, because it needs to be warm in the house when he comes home, now she has to just go inside and then she has to fill up the stove well, she thinks, because it can’t go out, it has to be nice and warm in the room when he comes home from the water, with the wind blowing like this, with it raining like this, it’s so dark out there, and so cold, so when he comes home it has to be warm and nice in the room here at home in the old house, she thinks and she takes off her raincoat and she hangs it up on the peg where Grandma just hung up her coat, she hangs her raincoat over Grandma’s coat, and then she goes over to the door to the room and she opens it and she goes in and she sees, lying there on the bench, herself come into the room and she sees herself turn around and go and shut the door and then she sees herself go over to the woodbox and take out a couple logs and she sees herself bend down and put the logs into the stove and then she sees herself stand up there on the floor in the room and stand there and look at the flames and she thinks, standing there, that it’s good that it didn’t go out, that it’s still burning, and here inside it isn’t so cold, so if he could just come home now, she thinks and then she sees the kitchen door open and then the smell of bacon glides into the room and then she sees him come in from the kitchen and right after him comes Grandma
Just sit down at the table, the food’s almost ready, Grandma says
You’re so nice Grandma, Asle says
You’re such a good boy, Asle, Grandma says
We are good friends, the two of us, aren’t we, Asle says
and she sees him go over to the table and he sits down at the end of the table and she sees him sit there and swing his legs back and forth and Grandma goes out to the kitchen again and he sits there and swings his legs back and forth and then Grandma comes in with a plate of bacon and eggs, and roasted potatoes and fried onions, and in her other hand Grandma has a big glass of milk
Yes now you’ll have some good hearty food, Grandma says
and Grandma puts the plate and the glass down in front of him and he starts to eat and Grandma sits down at the other end of the table and she, lying there on the bench, sees herself standing and looking at the flames in the stove and then she sees herself go over to the window and she sees herself stand there and look out the window and then she looks, standing there in front of the window, at the bedroom door and it opens and then she sees Brita stand and hold the door open and she sees her hair clinging tight around her face and then she sees Kristoffer standing in the bedroom door and in his arms he is holding a little white wooden coffin and he walks into the room
So, it has to be, Kristoffer says
Yes we have to say farewell, Brita says
It has to be, Kristoffer says
and she sees Brita shut the bedroom door and then Brita opens the hall door and stands there and holds it open and she sees that Old Aliss is standing out there in the hall and tears are running down over her unsteady face and then she sees Kristoffer walk out the door with the little white wooden coffin in his arms and then Brita walks out, shuts the door behind her and then she sees, lying there on the bench, herself go over to the bench and then she sees herself lie down on the bench and she puts her hands up under her sweater and up to her breasts and then she lies there and holds her breasts and then she pulls up her skirt with one hand and she pulls her hand up over her thigh and she puts her hand in between her legs, she lets her hand lay there, and she looks at the table and she sees him stand up
Thanks for the food Grandma, Asle says
Yes good, Grandma says
and Grandma stands up, takes his plate and he takes the empty glass
That was really good, Asle says
Thank you Asle, Grandma says
and then Grandma goes out to the kitchen and he goes after her and he shuts the door behind him and then they are gone, gone forever, she thinks lying there on the bench and she thinks that today, today it’s probably Thursday, and it’s March, and the year is 2002, she thinks and she looks at the bedroom door and it opens and then he’s standing there
Don’t you want to come to bed soon, he says
I’ve warmed up the bed, he says
and he pushes his long black hair back behind his ears, and he looks at her
You need to come to bed too, come soon, he says
and she looks at him and then she looks away from him into the emptiness and then she lays both her hands on her stomach and she folds her hands and I hear Signe say Dear Jesus, help me, you have to help me, you
JON FOSSE is the most produced living European play-wright and is one of contemporary Norwegian literature’s most important writers. In 2000, the Melsom Prize was awarded to his novel Melancholy, also available from Dalkey Archive Press. Fosse has been awarded a lifetime stipend from the Norwegian government for his future literary efforts.
DAMION SEARLS has translated many of Europe’s greatest writers: Rilke, Proust, Ingeborg Bachmann, Peter Handke, Nescio, Robert Walser, Kurt Schwitters, and others.
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