Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell Read Free Book Online

sofa.
    â€˜I’d never have believed that you would become a person who lived with a dog and a cat and an anthill.’
    â€˜Life seldom turns out the way you thought it would.’
    â€˜I’m not going to ask you about how your life turned out. But I do want you to keep your promise.’
    â€˜I don’t think I could even find my way back to the forest pool.’
    â€˜I’m quite sure you could. Nobody had a sense of direction and distance anywhere near as good as yours.’
    I couldn’t challenge Harriet’s claim. I can always find my way through even the most complicated maze of streets. And I never get lost in the countryside.
    â€˜I suppose I might be able to find it if I think hard enough. It’s just that I don’t understand why.’
    â€˜Because it’s the most beautiful promise I’ve ever been given in my life.’
    â€˜The most beautiful?’
    â€˜The only genuinely beautiful one.’
    Those were her very words. The only genuinely beautiful promise. It was as if she’d started off a large orchestra playing inside my head, such was the power of her speech.
    â€˜We’re always being made promises,’ she said. ‘You make them yourself and you listen to others giving theirs. Politicians are always going on about providing a better quality of life for people as they get older, and a health service in which nobody ever gets bedsores. Banks promise you high interest rates, some food promises to make you lose weight if you eat it, and body creams guarantee old age with fewer wrinkles. Life is quite simply a matter of cruising along in your own little boat through a constantly changing but never-ending stream of promises. And how many do we remember? We forget the ones we would like to remember, and we remember the ones we’d prefer to forget. Broken promises are like shadows dancing around in the twilight. The older I become, the more clearly I see them. The most beautiful promise I’ve ever been given in my life was the one you made to take me to that forest pool. I want to see it, and dream that I’m swimming in it, before it’s too late.’
    I would take her. The only thing I might be able to avoid was setting off in the middle of winter. But perhapsshe didn’t dare wait until the spring, because of her illness?
    I thought that perhaps I should tell her I knew she was mortally ill. But I didn’t.
    â€˜Do you understand what I mean when I talk about all the promises that accompany one’s journey through life?’
    â€˜I’ve tried to avoid being taken in. One is so easily fooled.’
    She stretched out her hand and placed it over mine.
    â€˜There was a time when I knew you. We walked along the streets of Stockholm. In my memory, it’s always spring when we’re out walking there. The person I had by my side then is not the same person that you are now. He could have become anything at all – apart from a solitary man on a little island on the edge of the open sea.’
    Her hand was still lying on top of mine. I didn’t touch it.
    â€˜Do you recall any darkness?’ she asked.
    â€˜No. It was always light.’
    â€˜I don’t know what happened.’
    â€˜Nor do I.’
    She squeezed my hand.
    â€˜You don’t need to lie to me. Of course you know. You caused me endless pain. I don’t think I’ve got over it even now. Do you want to know what it felt like?’
    I didn’t answer. She took away her hand and leaned back on the sofa.
    â€˜All I want is for you to keep your promise. You must leave this island for a few days. Then you can come back here, and I’ll never bother you again.’
    â€˜It’s not possible,’ I said. ‘It’s too far. My car isn’t up to it.’
    â€˜All I want is for you to show me how to get there.’
    It was obvious she wasn’t going to give up.
    It was starting to get light. The night