Erwin Mortier - Shutterspeed

I stood on one leg and swore, holding my aching foot in the air.

All I wanted was to stop moving, to just stand there and turn to stone, even if I knew I looked stupid in my uncle’s flowing dressing gown with only a cotton vest underneath. In the commotion that morning I had forgotten to put on a clean pair of underpants.

There was a knock at the door.

Aunt said my name.

I kept silent.

‘Joris?’ she repeated.

I turned my back to the door and went to the window, where the glow of sunbeams suddenly breaking through the clouds lit up the weave of the curtain fabric.

‘Why don’t you say something, lad?’ She sounded fraught. Twisting the doorknob she said, ‘You’re not doing anything silly, are you?’

‘It’s all wet …’ I heard myself say in a small voice. ‘I’ve wet my bed.’

She let go of the doorknob.

I heard a sigh.

‘You poor thing. Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Come on, please open the door,’ she pleaded softly.

I turned the key, but first I buttoned up the dressing gown.

She entered, took my head in her hands and pulled me towards her.

I did not resist.

‘These things happen,’ she murmured in my ear, ‘what must out, must out …’

ERWIN MORTIER (born 1965) made his mark in 1999 with his debut novel Marcel, which was awarded several prizes in Belgium and the Netherlands, and received acclaim throughout Europe. In the following years he quickly built up a reputation as one of the leading authors of his generation. His novel While the Gods Were Sleeping received the AKO Literature Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the Netherlands. His latest work, Stammered Songbook , a raw yet tender elegy about illness and loss, was met with unanimous praise. Mortier’s evocative descriptions bring past worlds brilliantly to life.