Aliss at the Fire

You good little boy, you’re a good little boy, Aliss says

Don’t cry now, don’t cry anymore, that’s a good boy, she says

and Kristoffer stops crying, gives a little sob, and then he’s happy again and then Aliss puts him down on the same stone as before and she picks up the stick with the sheep head again and starts to burn it, moves it back and forth in the flames. And again Kristoffer stands up. And again he takes a careful step forward. And then another. And Aliss stands there, moving the stick with the sheep head on it back and forth in the flames. That is Aliss. That’s Aliss at the fire, he thinks and he sees Aliss standing there with her thick black hair, on her short legs, with her narrow hips. It’s Aliss. She was my great-grandfather’s mother, Kristoffer’s mother, Kristoffer whose sons were Grandpa Olaf and Asle, the one I was named after, the one who drowned when he was only seven, who got a nice little boat for his seventh birthday and drowned on the same day, playing with the boat, down on the bay, he thinks and he sees Kristoffer toddle forward, and it happens so slowly, he puts one foot in front of the other, stands there for a minute, then he takes the next step, forward, swaying back and forth a little, but forward, and then Kristoffer is standing in front of a pile of sheep heads and he feels the mouth of one of the sheep heads with his finger and then he slowly sticks his finger into a nostril and then quickly pulls his hand back again and then he stands there and looks at the sheep head, he looks into one eye, and then puts his finger right on the eye, feels it and then jerks back his finger very fast and again Kristoffer stands there and looks into the eye and again he puts his finger right on the eye and he presses his finger against the eyelid and then he pulls it down over the eye. And then Kristoffer stands there and looks at the eye. And Aliss turns around and walks over to Kristoffer waving the burned sheep head on the stick and she says do you really want to sit there and look at those woolly bloody sheep heads, you’re not the one who has to, Aliss says, and she goes over to a trough and she uses the edge of the trough to pull the sheep head off the stick and then Aliss goes over to the pile of sheep heads and she drives the point of the stick into the neck opening of the sheep head that Kristoffer just pulled down the eyelid of and she pushes in the stick and then she picks up the sheep head and goes back over to the fire and puts the sheep head into the flame and the sharp smell spreads out and Aliss says no that doesn’t smell very good my good little boy, she says, and she puts the sheep head with the burning wool into the water down off the side of the pier and then it sizzles and Kristoffer is startled and he looks scared and he looks at the sheep heads lying there in front of him and he sees that they’re lying there quietly like before and he puts his finger into an open mouth and then quickly touches a tongue, then he grabs the teeth

No leave the sheep head alone now, Aliss says

They’re not for poking and playing with, she says

Be a good boy, she says

and Kristoffer pulls back his hand and he looks at Aliss and then Kristoffer sees the pretty brown almost black boat lying there, in the middle of all that blue, and then he takes a step, and another, out on the pier, and then he goes farther and he looks at the boat, black and pretty in the blue water, and Kristoffer is almost running out on the pier and then he is at the edge of the pier and he takes another step and he is there in empty space and then he is there in the water

Kristoffer, God save you! Aliss screams

and Aliss lets the sheep head be and lets the stick be and she is on the pier and she lies down flat on the edge of the pier and she stretches out her arm and she feels around in the water finds one of Kristoffer’s feet and grabs it and pulls the foot toward her and then she finds an arm and she pulls Kristoffer up over the edge of the pier

No you’ve really done it now, Aliss says

I look away for a second and you run right into the water, she says

You can’t be trusted, she says

No how could that happen, she says

and Aliss picks up Kristoffer, who suddenly starts shrieking with all his might, and she presses him to her breast, and then she hurries over to the boathouse

It’s so cold in that water, yes, we need to get you inside so you can warm up, Aliss says

You can’t catch cold on me, you good little boy, she says

My best little boy, you can’t get sick and go away from your mama now, no, she says

You’re my best little boy, Kristoffer, she says

and Aliss rubs Kristoffer’s back and he has started to shake, shiver after shiver goes through his body

You can’t freeze, and catch cold, Kristoffer, good boy, Aliss says

No no, she says

Now you can’t catch cold on me, you’re a good boy, she says