The Exiled by Kati Hiekkapelto Read Free Book Online Page A

done the previous evening, and waiting for someone to relieve the pressure they could already feel in their udders. The sheep spent the night outdoors, their freedom guarded only by the dogs.
    The sun would soon set behind the shimmering horizon. White speckled butterflies danced around tiny flowers; the terrain was rough, dotted with struggling grass, clusters of wild mint here and there. Réka plucked bunches of mint that hadn’t yet flowered. It makes good tea, she said. Anna knew this. As children they had picked mint when their families had gone on picnics together. Anna’s mother had dried the herbs on clothes pegs and boiled them to make tea on winter evenings.
    Anna took another sandwich. Réka had brought wine too, but because she didn’t want to drink any, Anna poured herself some juice and they decided not to open the bottle. They had already caught up on all of each other’s news; at least, almost all of it. There were some things Anna didn’t want to talk about, not even to Réka. The kilometres and the years between them were like a river without a bridge. They were like Bácska and Bánát, the regions between which the dark waters of the Tisza flowed. Yet, despite all of that, this was her best friend. Anna took a closer look at Réka. She looked tired; she’d aged. People down here seem to age more quickly, thought Anna.Was it to do with the sun? Réka had put on weight too. Her cheeks were rounder and her breasts, which had been full before, looked swollen. Yet Réka seemed happy, just as full of smiles as she always had been. She had finally found a boyfriend. Anna told herself that she didn’t feel a single pang of jealousy at this. She was genuinely thrilled at her friend’s happiness. At least, she wanted to be.
    The western sky had started to swallow the sun now and the air was cooling quickly. Apart from the bottle of wine, their picnic basket was empty.
    ‘Should we be getting back?’ asked Anna.
    ‘Yes, let’s go.’
    ‘That visit to the police station is really bugging me,’ said Anna as they walked back to the car parked at the side of the narrow, bumpy country lane.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I don’t really know. There’s something about it I can’t put my finger on.’
    ‘Maybe it’s just that the police do things differently round here,’ Réka suggested.
    ‘Maybe. But they didn’t seem at all interested in the little girl. They completely dismissed the idea. It’s odd, because the girl must know the identity of the dead thief.’
    ‘They’ll talk to the Romanies. Everything will work out.’
    ‘What use will that be if the thieves weren’t from round here or if they weren’t even Romanies? That’s what the police kept repeating: they’re not from round here, not from Kanizsa.’
    ‘Surely they must have a reason for saying that? They probably know the local pickpockets better than they do their own families.’
    ‘If the man wasn’t a local, how on earth did he ever find that spot down by the Tisza that even the locals don’t know exists?’
    ‘I don’t know. I imagine he was looking for a hiding place.’
    ‘Maybe, but it stills seems odd.’
    ‘Just forget about it.’
    ‘I asked to see the body, but they clearly don’t want me to see it.They should have automatically asked me to identify the thief. Why didn’t they?’
    ‘Because you didn’t get a proper look at him.’
    ‘I saw what size he was, saw his clothes, the colour of his hair.’
    ‘Anna, dear!’
    ‘That’s what my father’s former colleague kept calling me. Damn chauvinists.’
    ‘That’s what it’s like round here. No point letting it get to you.’
    ‘It’s as if the whole incident is dangling in front of my eyes like a piece of thread crying out for me to grab it and start winding it in. I just want some answers.’
    ‘It’s only natural the whole thing is bugging you. Your belongings have been stolen and it looks like the thief is now dead. It would be weird if it didn’t affect