Annika Thor - A Faraway Island

The wooden pews are hard, and Stephie’s starched petticoat is itchy around her waist.

“Most of you will be coming back to school next autumn,” the head teacher goes on. “But the pupils in the sixth grade are having their very last day of school here today. I would like to wish each and every one of you the best of luck, both those of you who are going on to grammar school in Göteborg and those who are leaving school now. Remember, no matter where you find yourselves later in life, you have a mission: whatever you do, do it well.”

But what you do and where you are are important, too, Stephie thinks. I can do the things I want to do well, but not the things I dislike doing.

“Miss Bergström and I are, of course, especially pleased that so many pupils, five of you, will continue on to grammar school,” the head teacher says. “You are a credit to our elementary school.”

Sylvia, sitting diagonally in front of Stephie, smiles with self-satisfaction, as if the head teacher were speaking to her and her alone.

“And now,” he says, “I will present the achievement awards to the sixth graders. Miss Bergström, would you come forward and assist me, please?”

Stephie’s teacher stands next to the head teacher, a little stack of books in her arms. She passes him a slip of paper.

“Ingrid Andersson,” he reads.

Ingrid walks to the front, is given a book, shakes the head teacher’s hand, and curtseys before returning to her seat.

“Bertil Eriksson.”

Stephie turns toward the side aisle and looks at a painting on the wall. It depicts an old man dressed in black, with a stiff, white collar standing straight up and encircling his face like a flower. She wonders if that collar is as stiff and itchy as her petticoat.

Britta nudges her. “Aren’t you listening?” she hisses. “That was you.”

“Stephanie Steiner,” the head teacher repeats. “Isn’t Stephanie Steiner here today?”

Stephie stands up, bewildered. “Here,” she says.

Miss Bergström smiles. “There you are. Come forward, please, Stephanie,” she says.

Stephie squeezes through the row and into the center aisle, walking up to the head teacher and Miss Bergström.

“May I say a few words?” Miss Bergström asks the head teacher.

“Of course.”

“It is always a pleasure to reward good students,” Miss Bergström begins. “But there is particular satisfaction in presenting an award to a pupil who is so gifted that she is now at the top of the class in spite of the fact that she didn’t speak a word of Swedish a year ago. I wish you the very best of luck, Stephanie.”

The book they hand her is a thick one, with a beautiful cover. The gold lettering on the cover reads: Nils Holgersson’s Wonderful Journey Through Sweden. On the flyleaf Miss Bergström has written, in her elegant script:

To Stephanie Steiner, 7 June 1940

May this book aid you in becoming even better acquainted with your new homeland and its language.

From your teacher,

Agnes Bergström

Back in the pew, Stephie leafs through the book, fascinated by the illustrations. When the organ music begins, Britta has to elbow her in the side again to stand up.

“The summer flowers are blooming…,” they sing. Stephie finds it a lovely song, although she doesn’t understand the whole text. She’s happy about the book, and about what Miss Bergström said. And yet she’s feeling sad. Ordinarily she would have been glad summer vacation was beginning. But a summer vacation that doesn’t end with going back to school isn’t a real summer vacation.

When fall comes, she’ll be taking home economics two days a week. “Learning to run a household,” as Aunt Märta puts it. But there’s so much else to learn in the world!

After the ceremony they return to their classrooms, and their teachers pass out the grades. “Final Grades,” it says at the top of the card. Her name, the date, and the grades are written in blue ink.

Mathematics and geometry: passed with great distinction. She has top marks in art as well. All her grades are good except for Swedish, where she gets only a “pass.” But in the margin Miss Bergström has written: Stephanie’s native tongue is not Swedish. In consideration of that fact, she has made excellent progress during the school year.

Biking home, Stephie smells lilacs as she passes the yards. The apple trees have almost finished blooming. White blossoms now cover the ground around the trunks like huge snowflakes.

“Take off your best dress” is the first thing Aunt Märta says when Stephie comes through the door. “We’ve got to get things ready for the summer guests today.”

“Here are my grades,” Stephie tells her.

Aunt Märta glances at the report card. “Well done,” she says, handing it back.

“I got a book, too. An achievement award.”

“You don’t say,” Aunt Märta answers. Her voice sounds a bit wobbly.

Stephie goes up to her room and changes to an everyday dress. They clean the entire house, every nook and cranny, just as thoroughly as at Christmastime. Tomorrow the summer guests arrive.

Stephie, Aunt Märta, and Uncle Evert will be moving down into the basement, which has one room and a simple kitchen. Stephie is going to sleep on a trundle bed in the kitchen.

Almost everybody on the island rents out to summer guests. Some people just rent out a room, but most turn their entire house over to the summer tenants and live in their basement. Sylvia’s family has a second house that stands empty all winter and is rented out just for the summer. So they go on living above the shop, as usual.

Stephie empties her dresser drawers and carries all her things down to the basement. There’s a chest of drawers for her in the boiler room, since there’s no space in the little kitchen.

She puts her photographs, jewelry box, and diary into an empty shoebox and stores it under the trundle bed. She leaves the painting of Jesus on the wall for the summer guests.

Their summer guests come in a taxi from the harbor the next day. The trunk of the taxi is loaded down with suitcases and boxes.

There are six people in all: an older couple, their two adult children, the daughter’s fiancé, and their housekeeper. Stephie hears Aunt Märta call the man “Doctor.” Like Stephie’s father. He has gray hair and glasses, and looks tired.

His wife is tall and graceful. She was clearly a beautiful young woman once. The daughter is nice-looking, with curly blond hair. She and her fiancé are always holding hands. The son is tall, with contemplative gray eyes and brown hair that hangs down over his forehead.

The best thing is that they have a dog, a brown-and-white fox terrier that jumps right up on Stephie and licks her hand.

“Putte likes you,” the doctor’s daughter says.

“I hope you aren’t afraid of dogs?” the doctor’s wife asks.

“Oh, no,” says Stephie, patting Putte on the head. “I love dogs.”

“You may walk him,” the doctor’s wife tells her, “whenever you like.”

Stephie helps the summer guests carry in their belongings. The son will have her bedroom. She hears his mother call him, and learns that his name is Sven. She wonders how old he is. Seventeen, maybe eighteen.

When everything is in order, the doctor’s wife gives Stephie a coin.

“Thank you for helping,” she says.

Stephie blushes. “You don’t need to pay me.”

“Oh, please don’t be offended,” says the doctor’s wife. “Buy yourself some sweets. Incidentally, where do you come from?”

“From Vienna,” Stephie tells her, putting the coin in her dress pocket. “Thank you very much.”