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More hot water Olai, says the old midwife Anna
Don’t just stand there in the doorway, she says No, sorry, Olai says
and he feels a heat and a chill spread all across his skin and make it prickle and he feels a joy move through all of him and force its way out through his eyes, as tears, as he hurries into the kitchen and over to the stove and starts to scoop steaming hot water into a wooden bowl, hot water like this yes that’s what she needs, yes, Olai thinks, and he scoops more hot water into the bowl and he hears Anna the midwife say that’s probably enough, yes, that should be enough, she says and Olai looks up and there is Anna the old midwife standing next to him and she takes the bowl
I can take it in myself, I’ll do it, says the old midwife Anna
and then a muffled scream comes from the room and Olai looks the old midwife Anna in the eye and he nods at her and is that a little smile on his mouth as he stands there
Not much longer now, the old midwife Anna says
If it’s a boy we’ll name him Johannes, Olai says
We’ll see, she says
Johannes, yes, Olai says
Like my father, he says
Yes, that’s a good name, the old midwife Anna says
and another scream comes from the room, louder now
Patience, Olai, says the old midwife Anna
Patience, she says
Do you hear me? she says
Be patient, she says
You’re a fisherman, you know how womenfolk don’t belong in the boat, right? she says
Uh huh, Olai says
It’s the same for menfolk here, do you know what would happen? the old midwife Anna says
Yes, bad luck, Olai says
Exactly, bad luck, yes, the old midwife Anna says
and Olai sees Anna the old midwife go straight to the door of the room and she is holding the bowl of hot water in front of her with outstretched arms and then Anna the old midwife stops in front of the door to the room and she turns around to face Olai
Don’t just stand there, the old midwife Anna says
and that scares Olai, can just standing here cause bad luck unintentionally? no that can’t be what she meant, and will something go wrong now, with Marta, the woman he loves and honors and respects so much, his beloved, his wife, now will something, no, it can’t
Close the kitchen door Olai and sit down on your chair, the old midwife Anna says
and Olai sits down at one end of the kitchen table and he puts his elbows on the table and he holds his head in his hands and it’s good he took Magda to his brother’s today, Olai thinks, when he went to get Anna the old midwife he rowed around to his brother’s with Magda first and he didn’t know if that was the right thing to do, because she’s almost a grown woman, Magda, the years go by so fast, but Marta asked him to, when it was time and he was going to row out to get Anna the old midwife he had to take Magda with him so that she could stay with his brother during the birth, she was still too young to learn too exactly what awaited her as a grown woman, Marta had said, and he had to do what she told him to do, of course, even if he would actually have liked to have Magda at home now, she’s such a smart and sensible girl, has been for as long as he can remember, good at everything she does, he ended up with a good daughter, Olai thinks, but then it didn’t seem like the Lord God would grant them more children, Marta wasn’t with child again and the years went by and eventually they resigned themselves to not having any more children, that was just how it was, that was their fate they said and they thanked the Lord God for having given them Magda because if they hadn’t had even her, no, it would have been sad and lonely for them here on the island of Holmen where they lived, in the house he had built himself, his brothers and neighbors had helped of course but he had done most of the work himself, and when he’d proposed to Marta he already had Holmen, he had bought it for a small sum and thought it all out, where their house should be built, he had thought of that, it had to be sheltered from the wind and the storms, where the boat house and landing should be, he had thought of that too, he needed those too didn’t he, and the first thing he built was the landing, in a calm bay facing inland, sheltered from the wind and storms from the sea to the west of Holmen, yes, and then he built the house, not so very big and not all that nice maybe but it was good enough and now, now Marta was lying in the room there about to give him a son at last, now little Johannes was about to be born, he was sure of it, Olai thought, sitting there at the end of the kitchen table, on his chair, his head propped up in his hands, as long as nothing goes wrong, as long as Marta has a good birth, brings the child into the world, as long as the child little Johannes doesn’t stay inside Marta’s belly and neither survives, little Johannes or Marta, as long as what happened to his mother that terrible day doesn’t happen now, to Marta, no, he can’t bear to think about it, Olai thinks, because they’ve been so good together, Olai and Marta, they loved each other from the very first moment, Olai thinks, but now? will Marta be taken from him now?
