‘What if they don’t bring the bed?’ the woman started in again.

‘Then I’ll go get it,’ said the man. He rolled a cigarette. The woman threw a stick of wood in the stove and placed the pot of potatoes on top. The wood crackled and smelled of resin and smoke. The children had gone outside. Once in a while they peeked in through the window. A sweltering heat filled the kitchen. The woman set the plates on the table. There were seven plates.

The top

Our neighbour, Rinus, was sitting by the water, fishing. I sat down beside him and looked at his float.

‘Would you like to go rowing?’ he asked. He sat perfectly still with his fishing rod in his hand and his wooden leg sticking out in front of him on the grass like an abandoned oar.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I’d like to go rowing this afternoon.’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘Just take the boat. I don’t need it.’

He’d lent me his rowing boat before because he didn’t use it very often himself. He could usually be found fishing on the banks of the canal. Ever since he’d lost a leg – in a tractor incident, as he once told me – he didn’t do much any more. I lingered for a while longer. The sun warmed my back and made me feel so lethargic that I wished I could have lain by the water all afternoon. But I needed to go to the village.

‘Look,’ said Rinus, ‘there’s another one.’

At first I thought he’d caught a fish, but he was looking at a silver speck droning through the blue sky.

‘It’s not going to last much longer,’ he said. ‘You’ll see.’ I was reminded of my father, who had always said the same thing. Rinus looked down again at his float and kept his eyes on the water even when more aeroplanes flew over. I stood up, went over to the boat, pushed it away from the bank and rowed with slow strokes to the middle of the pond while Rinus kept getting farther and farther away. The only sound was the sloshing of the water against the side of the boat. Before I knew what was happening, I’d ended up among the reeds. I pulled the oars into the boat and stayed in my seat. At that moment everything seemed normal. I was rowing on a nice summer afternoon. Off in the distance a train whistled. It was filled with people going on holiday. By peering over the reeds, I could see the greenhouses in Aalsmeer. They were full of flowers – flowers to put in vases, flowers for a birthday. Happy birthday and here’s a bouquet! I managed to go rowing this afternoon. Being on the water was glorious. Just then a frog jumped into the reeds with a loud splash. I needed to hurry. I managed to get out from between the reeds and rowed in the direction of the village.