Daniel (33 page)

When the bread was gone he was full. He put out the candle and sat down on the bunk behind the table.

 

There were voices all around him now. He could feel their breath and sense their bodies in the darkness as the ship scraped and bumped against the quay.

‘What shall I do?' he whispered into the darkness.

But the answers were lost in the whining and screeching from the draughty portholes and from the lines slapping against the masts outside.

He lay down and pulled up the blankets. They smelled acrid from
tobacco and urine. He knew that he ought to make a decision, but he was too tired. He couldn't even think about finding a hiding place.

 

In his dreams he saw Be, who had flown up into a treetop. There was no sound around her, only water. She was alone up there in the tree, and the water was rising up the trunk. He saw that she was giving birth to a child. She called for Kiko but no one answered. Daniel wanted to climb up to help her, but he couldn't, and finally he understood that he was the one being born up there, as the water slowly rose. He saw Be bite off the umbilical cord of the bloody child and he felt himself being torn away from her. Soon the water would reach all the way to the top of the tree and the waves would sweep them away. Then he noticed that Be had wings. She unfolded them and lifted off from the tree just as the waves began to snatch at her feet.

 

He awoke with a violent start. A ray of light was hitting his eyes. A man stood leaning over the bunk with a lantern in his hand. He was unshaven, and one eyelid hung halfway over his eye.

‘Now I've seen
all
the devils,' he said. ‘Who are you?'

Daniel sat up.

‘My name is Daniel. I believe in God.'

‘If I was drunk I'd run right out of here. A little black person in the aft cabin?' The man shook his head. ‘I hear the wind picking up and decide to get dressed and go down to check the moorings. Something makes me take a look in the cabin. And here lies a person in my bunk.'

Daniel could tell at once that the man wasn't dangerous.

‘I'm on my way home,' he said. ‘I'm not afraid of climbing up masts. I don't eat much. I can sleep on deck. Just so long as it's warm.'

The man set the lantern on the table without taking his eyes off him.

‘You are really black,' he said. ‘A young black man from Africa. Who speaks Swedish. Who eats hard tack. And drinks Pilsner. And lies down to sleep in my bunk. If I told anyone about this they'd say I was crazy. Maybe I
am
crazy.'

He reached out his hand.

‘Take my hand so I can feel that you're real.'

Daniel reached out his hand.

‘You're real, all right,' said the man. ‘And you're cold. You're freezing. And your name is Daniel?'

‘I believe in God.'

‘That's not so important. But you have to understand that I'm wondering where you came from. And how you wound up here. In my cabin, in the middle of winter.'

The man sat down on the edge of the bunk and pulled the blankets over Daniel's legs.

‘My name is Lystedt,' he said. ‘This is my ship. Her name is
Elin of Brantevik
.'

He paused and pulled the lantern closer to the edge of the table.

‘You probably don't know where you are, do you?'

‘No.'

‘But you came from somewhere?'

‘From Alma and Edvin.'

‘Alma and Edvin? Do they have a last name? And where do they live?'

Daniel thought he had said too much. Even if the man with the droopy eyelid wasn't dangerous, he might still think that Alma and Edvin ought to come and fetch him.

The man waited. He had brown eyes and deep furrows in his brow.

‘You don't want to say where you came from? And you say you're on your way home? That can only mean one thing. That you're on the run. How long have you been walking in this weather?'

‘Two nights.'

‘Where did you sleep?'

‘With the animals.'

‘And you're on your way home? Where is that?'

‘It's called the desert.'

Daniel remembered something that Father had often said:
The boy comes from the far-off Kalahari Desert
.

‘I come from the far-off Kalahari Desert.'

The man nodded pensively.

‘Once when I was young I sailed on a Dutch vessel that was going to Cape Town. We almost capsized in a storm off the Skeleton Coast. I recall the captain saying there was a desert called the Kalahari.'

He leaned over and pulled the blanket up to Daniel's chin.

‘Are you cold?'

‘No.'

‘How did you come to Sweden, boy? Who was cruel enough to drag you way up here?'

‘Father.'

‘Your father?'

Daniel was forced to search through his weary and distressed memory for the name that Father used.

‘Hans Bengler.'

‘A white man? Not your real father?'

‘Kiko died in the sand. My mother was named Be. She could fly. Her arms turned into wings when the water went up around the tree. That's where I was born.'

Daniel sighed. He only had the energy to give short answers. Most of all, he wanted to go back to his dream and fly away with Be.

‘I don't understand much of what you're saying. But I know you're on the run and that you were brought here by some madman who probably wanted to exhibit you at fairs. Is that how it was?'

‘Father showed insects. Then he lifted a cloth. There I sat.'

The man leaned forward and stroked Daniel's face.

‘I understand that you want to go home,' he said. ‘Why should you be here in the cold winter when you're used to the heat? What was it he was called, the man who brought you here? Hans Bengler? Do you know anyone else here in Skåne? Because you've been living in Skåne. I can tell by the way you speak.'

‘Dr Madsen.'

‘The doctor in Simrishamn? Then it's not only unpleasant people that you've met. He helps people even if they have no money.'

Daniel could feel that he was slipping into sleep again. The man sitting on the edge of the bunk made him feel utterly calm.

‘I can raise the sail,' said Daniel. ‘And I don't get sick when the waves are high.'

‘No doubt you're a good sailor, even though you're only a boy. But first you have to get some sleep. I think you should stay here. The old woman at home would go crazy and shriek that the Devil had come into her house if I took you there. She doesn't have much patience with things that aren't familiar.'

Daniel could no longer understand what the man was talking about. Or else he didn't have the strength to listen.

‘When do we sail?' he asked.

The man gave him a long look before he replied.

‘Maybe tomorrow,' he said at last. ‘It depends. If the wind holds.'

‘I can sleep on deck,' Daniel muttered.

‘You can sleep here. You don't need to run any more.'

The man put his hand on Daniel's forehead.

‘Well, you haven't got a fever from the cold, at least. Go to sleep now, and we'll see in the morning which way the wind is blowing.'

Daniel sank quickly deep inside himself.

At one point in the night he opened his eyes. The man was still sitting on the edge of the bunk looking at him. Daniel thought that he would probably sit there until he woke up the next day. He felt completely safe now. He wouldn't have to learn how to walk on water. And he wouldn't be nailed up on any boards either.

He would go home.

 

But when he woke up it was Dr Madsen who stood there looking at him. Lystedt waited by the door and avoided looking Daniel in the eye. Madsen was grave.

‘You've caused Alma and Edvin a great deal of worry,' he said. ‘We're going home now.'

Daniel looked with horror at Madsen. And then at Lystedt.

‘I had no choice,' he said. ‘The ship is unrigged for the winter. I won't be sailing until spring. But I understand why you want to go home.'

‘The boy will stay in Sweden,' Madsen snapped.

‘I'm saying what I think,' said Lystedt. ‘The boy has the right to go home to the desert. What business does he have staying here?'

Dr Madsen didn't answer. He just pulled off the blankets.

‘Get up,' he said. ‘I really don't have time for this. There's a serious case of gangrene waiting at the hospital. But I will see to it that you get back.'

They came out on deck. It had started to snow again. Daniel looked up at the sky. Be was there, but he couldn't see her. Dr Madsen held his arm and shoved him on ahead. Daniel wriggled loose. Instead of
hopping over the railing to the quay he ran across the deck and jumped straight into the harbour.

The last thing he thought of was the antelope, which had finally managed to free itself from the rock and take its leap.

The rest of the winter, which was stormy and cold in Skåne, Daniel lay in bed. He had no idea what had happened after he jumped into the harbour. When he woke up he was lying in his bed in the kitchen again. Alma was sitting on a chair next to him, and he saw that she was happy when he opened his eyes. She called Edvin and he came in, but when the milkmaids and the hired hand wanted to see him too, she angrily shooed them out. Edvin stroked his cheek and shook his head. Daniel was warm and his heart was pounding as if he had been running in his sleep.

Then he started coughing. Edvin took a step back, while Alma did the opposite. She leaned towards his face and fluffed up the pillow behind his head.

Afterwards, when Alma explained to him what had happened, he realised that he had been asleep for a very long time. She held up a mirror so that he could see why his face hurt and he saw that he had big wounds on his forehead and across his nose that had not yet healed.

‘You hit an ice floe,' said Alma. ‘It cut up your face. But you didn't sink. For that, I have thanked God every day and every night.'

 

Daniel tried to recall what had happened. He wondered where all his dreams had gone. He couldn't remember a thing. The last thing he had seen was the black water coming towards him like the open mouth of a beast of prey.

He stopped talking during the months he lay in bed. The hired hand moved out to a room that was hastily prepared in the barn. Alma set up two screens in front of the milkmaids' beds. Even though she strictly forbade it, they used to peek at him from behind the screens. Daniel didn't mind. He listened to his heart, which was still in flight. Even though his legs had stopped, his heart kept on running. Now and then
Dr Madsen would come to visit. He felt and listened to Daniel's chest and rubbed salves on his face. Daniel always closed his eyes when he came into the room. He didn't want to see the doctor's face because he hadn't let him stay on the ship.

At the end of each visit Dr Madsen would repeat the same words.

‘The boy has a bad cold. And a cough that I don't much like.'

The fever made Daniel tired. Most of the time he slept.

 

What was hardest for those around him was his silence. Even though he didn't want to make Alma sad, he couldn't speak. In his dreams, which slowly returned, he had reverted to his old language.

 

Pastor Hallén came to visit once a week. Daniel knew when he was coming because Alma always cleaned beforehand. Hallén would sit down on a chair a short distance from the bed and ask to be left alone with Daniel. Then he would fold his hands and say a prayer. Through his half-closed eyelids Daniel would try to see if he had a hammer and nails in his pocket, but the fact that he was sick and lying in bed seemed to have saved him from the boards.

Hallén prayed that Daniel would get well and regain his ability to speak. Each time he asked Daniel the same question, whether he wanted to hear about the time when Jesus walked on the water, but Daniel closed his eyes and lay motionless.

He thought he had heard enough. Only Be or Kiko could give him the words he longed for.

 

The only person he really wanted to see during those months he lay in bed never came. That was Sanna. Once he heard Alma whispering to Edvin that maybe they ought to ask the girl to come, since Daniel obviously liked her. But Edvin was hesitant. Dr Madsen had said she was not suitable company for him. She might make him upset because she was unpredictable.

Daniel slept during the day and lay awake at night when the house was quiet and the milkmaids were snoring behind the screens. Sometimes he would get up, especially when the moon was out, take his skipping rope and silently skip in the kitchen until he used up all his strength.

One night Alma opened the door. She saw him skipping but didn't
say a word, just closed the door again, and he knew that she would never tell anyone, not even Edvin.

 

Spring was already on the way when Daniel got out of bed one day and moved to the barn. He could no longer stand the snoring of the milkmaids. Alma and Edvin were standing in he yard when he came out of the door early one morning and walked straight over to the barn. He made himself a bed underneath the stairs that led up to the hayloft and lay down. After a while Alma came in. She chased out the curious milkmaids, and for the first time Daniel heard the way she yelled at them.

‘You don't have to stare as if you'd never seen him before!' she shouted.

When the milkmaids were gone, she squatted down beside Daniel. She had a bad back and her knees were stiff.