The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg Read Free Book Online Page A

the iron-grey sky. Erik is standing, sheltered, on the front steps of the house. He is immobile, just blowing his hands, staring ahead. He does not seem to notice me as I walk along the edge of the yard to reach the back door. I leave my boots by the door and make my way quietly to my tiny back chamber. A bed, a chair and a small table. They were good enough to give me blinds and a miserable oil lamp. The room is cool, the stove cold. I do not know what it is like in houses of correction but probably not much better. Still, I am not complaining. Soon, if I wish, I may brick up the doorway of my room.

ANNA
    I turn, ready to climb the steps leading up from the cellar, when I collide with his brooding gaze. I do not see his eyes, he is a black statue against the snow-grey light, but I sense them. I feel his fingers on my skin, on my shoulder blades. He leans against the doorpost, tall and alert. I stare at him. I step backwards and the basket falls from my hand. A turnip rolls to his feet but he does not kick it.
    ‘Caught you,’ he says.
    ‘Don’t touch me.’
    He lets out a laugh: the snort of a tortured animal. ‘I mean I caught you in the act.’
    ‘What act?’
    ‘Playing the mistress.’
    I decide to push past him. The doorway is too small for the two of us and he makes way for me reluctantly. Then suddenly he grabs me, presses me against himself with one hand, pushing the other inside the neckline of my dress. His hard fingers grope my neck, my shoulders, my back. My nose is filled with his smell, the sweet scent of eau de cologne and the salty scent of sweat. I slap his face and free myself from his grip. I leap up the stone steps to yard level. Down in the depths of the cellar, he laughs his hoarse laugh.
    I turn and snap down at him, ‘Why did you come here? Nobody wants you.’
    ‘Just an impulse. I thought you at least would be pleased.’
    ‘Delighted.’
    ‘Oh, come on. Wait a minute,’ he says, his voice empty of laughter. He bends and disappears into the cellar. I breathe deeply, stare at the forest, hear the sighing trees. He reappears through the dark opening and hands the basket up to me. ‘You’ve got a lot here, for the winter.’
    ‘Should cover us. Can’t afford any more mouths to feed.’
    He climbs the stairs and then stops, a couple of steps away from me. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not planning to stay the whole winter. Just came to visit. It can’t be that bad.’
    ‘I suppose not. If you behave.’
    ‘Don’t I always? By the way, how’s your father?’
    I examine his eyes: grey, steady, mute. ‘My father’s well, although of course he’s getting on.’
    ‘And your siblings?’
    ‘They’ve all gone their different ways. Except…’
    He nods once, twice. ‘Except now your eldest brother is of course the young master of the house?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘That’s the usual way, isn’t it? The eldest son staying on as master.’ You can hardly detect the irony in his voice; it is like a butterfly’s wings, or a barely perceptible movement of the skin. ‘At least in respectable houses.’
    ‘Nobody told you to leave.’
    ‘But I wasn’t asked to stay, either. Since I’m here now, perhaps I should start acting the master.’
    A heavy lump begins moving in my chest, back and forth, back and forth. ‘Don’t even think about it. Your mother and Erik arranged everything long ago.’
    ‘No doubt. Still, things can always be changed.’
    ‘This thing won’t change. You knew it when you left all that time ago.’
    ‘You haven’t given any thought to why I left.’
    My breast is being crushed, it is crumbling from inside. ‘Don’t blame it on me.’
    ‘I’m not blaming anybody. It was all pure chance.’ His voice becomes lower and crawls, slithering, into my ears. ‘That’s what makes life so interesting, chance. You never know what’ll happen tomorrow. Just as well.’
    I twist round. My feet are ahead of me, my thoughts are left behind. Snow clings to my eyes. Mauri is