When the Snow Fell by Henning Mankell

more. Then he noticed he was all stiff. And wet.
    Then he remembered. He sat bolt upright.
    The bed was almost entirely covered in snow. The brown quilt had a layer of fresh white snow. And the newly fallen snow had found its way into his bed andmelted. He was so cold that he felt sick. He started to panic. Had he frozen to death? He jumped out of bed. His body was creaking. He started jumping up and down and flailing his arms about. Then he packed up the bedclothes and the wooly sock with the alarm clock. He left the bed where it was. He didn’t bother about the creaking steps on the stairs. Once he was inside the flat he flung all the stuff he’d carried up with him into a heap on the floor, and sat down next to the radiator.
    He couldn’t remember ever having experienced any thing so blissful.
    The heat spread through his body. His hands softened up.
    He fell asleep, sitting there by the radiator. He didn’t know how long he slept. When he woke up he was still so tired that he could hardly open his eyes. Nevertheless, he forced himself to stand up, take off his boots and the rest of his clothes and put his pajamas on. He carried the mattress and the bedclothes into his room and put them on the bed. Everything was still wet. He took the alarm clock with him and snuggled down into Samuel’s bed. It smelled of Samuel. It ought to have been the salty smell of the sea, but in fact it smelled of pine resin and forest.
    He was woken up by somebody talking to him.
    When he opened his eyes he found himself looking straight into Samuel’s face.
    This wasn’t the first time Joel had slept in Samuel’sroom when his dad had spent the night at Sara’s place.
    “Why is there a bed down there outside the shed?” Samuel asked.
    “Is there?” said Joel.
    “The shed door was open. I was going to close it when I noticed that old bed standing outside at the back. One of the corners was sticking out. It looked as if somebody had been sleeping there last night.”
    “Perhaps it was a tramp,” said Joel.
    Samuel frowned.
    “Who sleeps out in the open when it’s snowing? He’d have slept inside the shed, of course. Why lie outside and get covered in snow when it wasn’t necessary?”
    “Maybe it was somebody trying to toughen himself up.”
    The moment he said that, Joel realized he would never be able to tell Samuel what he was doing. He’d blown that possibility.
    “It’s very odd in any case,” said Samuel. “Now you’d better hurry up or you’ll be late for school.”
    Joel got up. His body felt as if it was made of iron. Before long he really would have to go to bed at the usual time. He couldn’t remember ever feeling as exhausted as he did now.
    He got washed and dressed. He took one look at his boots and was overcome by anger. He picked one of them up and marched out into the kitchen. Samuel was sittingat the table with his cup of coffee, humming a tune. He always hummed when he’d spent the night with Sara.
    Samuel was not a good singer. Even his humming was out of tune. Joel wondered despondently if that meant that he, Joel, also sang out of tune.
    You could bet your life that Elvis Presley’s dad didn’t sing out of tune.
    “My boots are too small,” he said. “I’m getting sores on my feet.”
    Samuel looked up from his coffee cup.
    “Why’s that?” he asked.
    “I’m growing,” said Joel. “My feet are getting bigger. I’ll soon have to borrow your axe and cut holes in the boots for my toes.”
    Samuel nodded. That surprised Joel. His dad usually looked worried if they started talking about something that was going to cost money.
    “Then you’ll have to have a new pair, of course,” he said. “We’ll go to the shoe shop on Saturday.”
    Joel couldn’t believe his ears. Had Samuel really understood what he’d said?
    A new pair of boots would cost a lot of money.
    Samuel started humming again as he put on his outdoor clothes.
    Then he set off for work. It seemed to Joel that his dad’s