I felt like some music. A dusty record collection was kept next to the seventies stereo music station. Jameslast everttaube svenbertiltaube abba hootenannysingers religioussongs thevikings and much more. Recordings that would never again be the right listening choice.

I went for alfhambe. A melancholic track. A song in molom.

Now the hares are aleaping in meadowgrass so white.

I sat down on the sagging old sofa. The springs poked into my back.

Now the redkite are slipping into a snowyrosebush.

Not that we ever sat on it when we were bairns. The wear and tear must have been caused by the heavy bodies of father and his friends.

In long spells full of worries my body in molom goes.

As low sunbeams over skerries are fading in the night.

When you looked more closely at the sofa it was actually quite nice. Covered in winered velvet and sweeping in a shallow semicircle. Poor sofa I said how you must have suffered.

I chose to sit there because john’s painting still in its brown-cardboard wrapping was propped up against the bergère armchair that matched the sofa.

Stars in skyom dudom delom wind goes felom playom

I found john’s number.

Hi he said long time no see.

Hi I said. Listen that painting you gave me. What is it about. 169

Can’t you see for yourself he asked.

I don’t know. I haven’t opened the parcel yet. He breathed at his end but didn’t speak.

Hello. Are you still there I asked. Yes.

Allright. Never mind. Another question. How did you find out that maria was our sister.

He breathed at his end but didn’t speak. Hello. Are you still there I asked.

Yes. Have you been drinking he asked.

Yes. But just a glass or so.

You sound tipsy.

I’m not tipsy I just want to know.

I understand he said. Why haven’t you looked at the painting he asked.

Because it scares me to think that you might have painted something I had managed to forget. I’m growing more and more grateful for the few things I can’t remember I said.

Do you want me to come over to yours. No.

I’d like to.

Maybe later. What have you been up to he asked.

Dewdrops drizzle on the darkling moonlake and stars sting holes in the sky

Tidying up your old girlfriend’s place. Finding letters. She seems to have understood the word mail in her own special way. In a way that meant postie reads the letter first and then it’s the addressee’s turn. I ended the call.

wind goes felom playom.

He called back. I didn’t answer. He left a voicemail. I didn’t listen to the message.

’cause when it does somebodies will die 170

Either or. Painting or letters. I fetched the box the wine bottle and the cheese sandwiches.