by Jon Fosse
They were nice, Gunvor and Gudleiv, Sister says
Yeah, Asle says
They gave us soda and everything, she says
But Gunvor didn’t get much dirt off your dress, Asle says
We need to wash it or else Mother’ll be mad, he says
Yeah, Sister says
We can wash it in the seawater, he says
That works? she says
Yes, it works fine, Asle says
And then Mother won’t be mad? Sister says
No, no, not if the dress is clean, he says
Well okay, she says
and then they start moving again, going to the corner of The Boathouse and now they’re far enough that Mother can’t see them from home, not from the living room window and not from out front, Asle thinks, so now they’re safe, he thinks and then Sister stops and she stands still and she says look, the path in front of them is, yes, it’s full of tall burning nettle plants, doesn’t he see them? she says and Asle doesn’t answer and he sees that some of the burning nettle is taller than he is, and the leaves are jagged and pointing their teeth at them, and Asle tells Sister to walk as close to the wall as she can, behind him, and then he walks towards the burning nettle and pulls the plants down and Sister says she doesn’t like this, it’s scary, she says
Can we go back? Sister says
But it’ll be fine as soon as we get around the corner, then we’ll see the water, Asle says
I don’t think I want to, Sister says
And anyway Mother said we can’t ever go down to the water, she says
And now we’re doing it anyway, Sister says
and then Asle starts walking again, slowly, and he moves ahead and Sister follows him holding onto his pullover and Asle looks ahead and he sees that lots of burning nettle plants are reaching their big jagged leaves across the path, big green jagged leaves, there are some farther downhill and others uphill, some of the leaves reach high above his head and are swaying a little, even when there’s almost no wind the leaves are swaying, and now he sees a burning nettle leaf coming right at his face and he stops and lifts his leg and pushes the nettle down with his foot and then they go farther and Asle sees a burning nettle leaf sticking out like it’s poking his legs and he lifts his foot and pushes that one down and then he sees a nettle with its leaves sticking almost halfway across the path, lots of leaves, so many leaves, and he needs to push those down too, Asle thinks and he lifts his foot up and pushes the nettle down and Sister says it’s so scary, she’s so scared, she says and she holds Asle’s pullover tight and he walks carefully and as close to the wall as he can and Sister says don’t go so fast and Asle starts to go slower and then he lifts a foot and pushes another nettle down and now there aren’t many burning nettles reaching across the path and the corner is just up ahead and they go towards it, him first, then Sister, and Asle goes around the corner and Sister comes after him and then they’re around the corner and Asle takes Sister’s hand and he can’t understand why it feels so good to see the water but it does, he thinks
I see the water, Asle says
Me too, Sister says
It’s so nice looking at the water, he says
Yes, she says
and they are out on the big rocks and up ahead is The Dock, the beautiful stone Dock, and there’s The Rowboat and The Fjord and everything, Asle thinks and Sister stops
But, she says
Yes, he says
Mother says, she says
and Asle interrupts her and he says that Mother says that they can’t ever go down to the water but now they’ve done it anyway, he says
Right, Sister says
and she grips his hand tight
We did what we wanted and not what Mother wanted, she says
and she says it with something that sounds a bit like pride in her voice, Asle thinks, as if now they’ve really done something big, they must be pretty grown-up to do what they did, they did what they wanted to do and not what Mother wanted and told them to do, Asle thinks and he lets go of Sister’s hand and then he walks up ahead on the rocks and he sits down and then he sits there looking out at The Dock and at The Rowboat while Sister stays standing, and then she’s standing there, Sister, and he’s sitting there, Asle, and he thinks that it’s so beautiful seeing The Rowboat floating out there almost totally motionless in the water, moored to the buoy by The Dock, and then The Fjord, it’s almost totally still today, the wind is making just a few small waves, and The Rowboat is just barely moving, a little up, a little down, a little to one side, a little back, and The Rowboat is brown and beautiful and there are so many brown colours to look at on The Rowboat that it can be totally bewildering to look at them but it’s beautiful to see how the brown Rowboat is brown in so many ways, that it has so many different hues of brown even if it’s just brown, and Asle sees before his eyes like in a vision all these brown colours as exactly what they are, brown colours, not as brown colours on a boat but as separate colours, just colours, and he sees how the different hues slip into one another and how each brown colour changes the next, in fact all of the others, and makes them something different from what they were before, and it’s unbelievable that they’re all called brown, just brown, because The Rowboat is brown, no doubt about that, and caramelized cheese, brown cheese, is brown, and Mother’s handbag is brown, he thinks, even though they’re colours that are almost completely different
Isn’t it weird that people just say The Rowboat’s brown? Asle says
What else should they say? Sister says
I mean, The Rowboat is brown, she says
Yes, Asle says
But there are so many brown colours and they just say The Rowboat’s brown, he says
The Rowboat is brown, Sister says
I know it’s brown, Asle says
But so is brown cheese, and Mother’s handbag, he says
and Asle hears in his voice that he’s a little angry, and he doesn’t know why
Is that anything to get mad about? Sister says
A brown boat is a brown boat, she says
Yes, Asle says
But, he says
and he falls silent
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sister says
If we had to say that The Rowboat is this brown and the cheese is that brown and that other thing’s this other brown then we’d never stop talking, she says
Yes, Asle says
But you do see that The Rowboat is a lot of different browns? he says
Yes, in a way, Sister says
But it doesn’t matter, she says
and she says that even if The Rowboat’s brown colour isn’t the same all over it’s still brown and so The Rowboat is brown, she says
Yes, Asle says
And you don’t feel how beautiful it is to see all the different browns? he says
They’re not different, Sister says
They’re the same really, she says
And I don’t think brown’s a very pretty colour anyway, she says
and Asle doesn’t say anything and then Sister sits down next to him and then they sit there for a while and Asle looks at what’s in front of his eyes, the browns of The Rowboat pulling away from The Rowboat, he sees the brown colours as if they’re all gathered on a single surface and he sees how everything changes if he moves any of them slightly, how all the other browns turn different
Aren’t we going to do anything? Sister says
All right, Asle says
Maybe we can pull The Rowboat in towards The Dock, I know how to do that, he says
and Sister says no, they, no they can’t do that, because then not just Mother will get mad but Father too, she says and Asle says that maybe they should just leave The Rowboat there but they can go out onto The Dock anyway and Sister says Mother says they mustn’t ever do that, go out onto The Dock, never ever, Mother said that too, Sister says and Asle says he doesn’t remember her saying that, she just said that they must never go down to the
water, to The Beach, he says and then Sister says yes she did, she did say it, she’s definitely said it lots of times and now they’ve done exactly what Mother said they must never do and Asle says yes, exactly, yes, now they’ve done what they wanted to do and Sister says she didn’t want to do it, it was he who wanted to, she says and Asle says yes yes and he says that that’s true enough but he wanted to go down to the water, at least he did, and isn’t it beautiful here? he says, it’s so beautiful with The Dock and The Rowboat and The Fjord and all the rest of it, he says and Sister says well it’s not bad but that burning nettle was horrible, and if she’d known that it was growing across the path then she would never have come down to the water, she says and Asle says he doesn’t remember the burning nettle from before, it was there of course but the plants had never been so big before
Burning nettles, Sister says
They were giant burning nettles, Asle says
and he spreads his arms as wide as he can and Sister says they were so big, that big, she says, and then she says that it’s boring just sitting here like this and Asle says they could go down onto The Beach, because there’s always something to see there, crabs, tiny fish, and plus there’s always stuff that’s drifted onto land, flotsam and jetsam, he says
Flotsam and jetsam, Sister says
Yes it’s called flotsam and jetsam, Asle says
Flotsam and jetsam, okay, Sister says
and Asle stands up and Sister stays sitting and then he goes out onto The Dock and he says come on and he unties the mooring and Sister says what are you doing? and Asle says he just wants to pull The Rowboat in and then get on board and be on The Rowboat for a little bit, he says, and he pulls The Rowboat in towards The Dock and he climbs on board The Rowboat
Be careful, Sister shouts
Okay, Asle says
and then he’s on board The Rowboat and then he starts to pull the rope to the buoy and The Rowboat moves out onto the water
You can’t do that, Sister shouts
It’s dangerous, she shouts
No it’s not, Asle says
and he thinks he’ll show Sister how safe it is, and he climbs up onto the middle seat and stands on the plank
Sit down! Sister shouts
and Asle sits down on the plank and starts rocking from side to side and The Rowboat rocks from side to side with him and he calls to Sister look how beautifully The Rowboat’s rocking, what beautiful waves it’s leaving in the water, and Sister doesn’t answer and Asle thinks he should probably get back onto land and he stands up and walks forward in The Rowboat and he pulls The Rowboat in towards The Dock, climbs out onto The Dock, and then pulls the rope to move The Rowboat out again and it floats there so beautifully bobbing up and down in The Fjord and he moors The Rowboat and then he walks over to Sister who’s still sitting where she was sitting before and she says can’t they go home now? she doesn’t like being disobedient, and they’re not allowed to go down to the country road, or to the water, she says and Asle says now they have to go down onto The Beach
Come on, he says
and Sister just stays sitting on the shore rocks
I don’t know if I want to, she says
Don’t be stupid, he says
I’m not stupid, she says
Why’re you telling me I’m stupid? she says
You’re the one who’s stupid, she says
I didn’t mean it like that, Asle says
You’re stupid, I’m not stupid, Sister says
I didn’t mean it like that, Asle says
and Sister says well then, if you didn’t mean it, that’s all right, she says and Asle says she’s not stupid and she says he’s not stupid and then he holds out his hand to her and she takes his hand and then he pulls her up onto her feet and then they walk on the shore rocks down The Beach, and it’s high tide so there’s almost nothing to see on The Beach, and the waves are coming up over the rocks with little splashes and Asle says the tide’s so high now that there’s almost nothing to look at on The Beach itself, but he always finds something or another that the sea has washed up onto land, far up onto the shore, somewhere between The Beach and where the hill starts, he says and she asks what and he says maybe a bottle, like he said before, and maybe there’ll be a letter in one of the bottles, and that’s called a message in a bottle, like he said before, he says, and Sister says okay and he says that even he has never found a bottle with a letter, a message, but he’s found lots of bottles, and outside The Bakery there’s a pile of bottles, yes, like he said, he says, yeah she won’t believe how big the pile is, it’s like a mountain, he says, and they can go down The Beach past The Bakery, till they get to The Dairy, but no farther than that, he says
Should we go all the way to The Dairy? Sister says
We can, why not, Asle says
and they start walking hand in hand across the strip between the water and where the grass starts growing and back again and they don’t say anything for a while and then Asle says look, look there, look, the sea has washed a whole log up onto land, he says and Sister doesn’t say anything and they keep walking and then there’s a screeching sound and they walk farther without saying anything
What do you think that noise was? Sister says
I don’t know, Asle says
and they keep walking
It was a really loud screeching noise, Sister says
Yeah, and like something’s grinding, Asle says
A grinding noise, Sister says
It’s kind of strange, but the sound seems to be coming from the country road, so it’s probably an old tractor, Asle says
and they’ve walked as far as Boathouse Hill and they keep walking and past Boathouse Hill they get to The Headland and then they see the beautiful rowboat that the people who live at The Headland Farm have moored to a pier there in Hardangerfjord, and up there, in the white house, that’s where Bård lives, Asle thinks, and from there, from The Headland, they can see all the way to The Dairy at the end of The Beach, below The Bakery and before The Co-op Store, but they can’t see The Co-op Store because The Dairy blocks it so that they can’t see it, and next to The Dairy is the big yellow house where The Bald Man lives, but they can’t see that either, Asle thinks and Sister says it looks really far to walk, all the way to The Dairy, and Asle says it looks like a long walk but it isn’t as far as it looks, he says
It’s a lot closer than it looks, he says
Yeah, it’s a long way, she says
and Asle grips Sister’s hand harder and then he looks up at The Headland Farm and now he sees Bård standing there in front of the house looking down at them and he doesn’t like talking to Bård because he’s always so rude, he’s always saying that their farm is bigger, their rowboat is nicer, his father is stronger than Asle’s father, stupid things like that, Asle thinks and they start walking to The Dairy
That noise must be coming from an old tractor, Asle says
But it’s really loud, like it’s coming from right next to us, or somewhere near us, Sister says
Yeah, Asle says
Can a tractor really make a noise like that? she says
A screeching grinding noise? she says
I think it can, an old one can, Asle says
and they walk on and they aren’t saying anything but it’s like an uncertainty has come over them, and they think without thinking it in words that they shouldn’t have done this, now they’re doing something they’re not allowed to do, something Mother has said again and again that they shouldn’t do, they’re doing something forbidden, and maybe that’s why they heard that screeching grinding sound? maybe it didn’t come from a tractor but just because they were doing something wrong? that’s why they suddenly heard that sound? Asle thinks, because the truth is an old tractor can’t make a sound like that, he thinks and he doesn’t like the sound, he thinks and they walk farther and then they stop and Asle turns around and he says now Bård is standing in the rowboat they just walked past, he’s standing up on a
seat, he says and Sister turns around
That looks dangerous, she says
He’s just doing it because he saw us walk by, Asle says
That Bård’s just trying to act tough, he says
and he says Bård’s a big scaredy-cat and he must be scared to death standing on the seat there and he’s doing it just to act tough for them, there’s no other reason, so they shouldn’t look at him any more, they should just keep walking, Asle says and he and Sister turn around to face forward and they walk carefully on and Asle says that when they get past where The Beach kind of bends away they won’t be able to see Bård any more, and that’s good, he says and they keep walking and they’re holding each other’s hand and they go past the bend in The Beach and now they can’t see The Headland any more and they walk towards The Dairy and Asle lets go of Sister’s hand and points
Look, there’s an oar there, he says
and Asle runs over to where the hill meets the beach and Sister stops and then Asle lifts up the oar
Look, he shouts
What’s that, Sister says
It’s an oar, Asle says
Yeah, Sister says
I found an oar, Asle says
A whole oar, perfect for using, he says
and Asle swings the oar back and forth in the air and he says maybe there’s another oar farther up The Beach, closer to The Dairy, oars come in pairs, he says and Sister says she wants to go home
I don’t like that noise, she says
No, Asle says
But we can just go to The Dairy can’t we, he says
I don’t like that noise, Sister says
We’ll go as far as The Dairy and then turn around and go home, Asle says
Well all right, Sister says
and then they stay standing there and Asle puts the oar back down on the hill and then he gives Sister a big hug and then he says well they can just go to The Dairy, and then go look at all the bottles out behind The Bakery, and then, yes, then maybe they can go to The Co-op Store, because there’s lots to see in the shop windows there, Asle says and Sister says they can’t do that, because Mother’s told them they mustn’t go on the country road, it’s dangerous, the road’s so narrow that there’s hardly enough room for both a car and people, so they can never walk there by themselves, only with grown-ups, only with Mother or Father, she said, Sister says and Asle doesn’t answer and they walk carefully down The Beach and Sister says she’s tired of walking and Asle says in that case they can sit down and rest for a bit and then they sit down, each on their own round stone, and they sit there and don’t say anything and Asle thinks that it’s boring just sitting like that, and it feels like they’ve been sitting there a long time, he thinks