When the Cranes Fly South

Bo wakes with his mind racing, replaying Hans slipping Sixten’s collar on and imagining a confrontation where he tells him that “this is where [he draws] the bloody line” (181). Hans calls repeatedly; when the phone rings for the seventh time that morning, Bo ignores it again. Ingrid is in the kitchen, wiping the counter and adding logs to the fire. Her phone buzzes, and she steps out to take the call. 

Bo’s phone rings again. This time, it is Ellinor. He longs to hear her voice and ask about her summer job and a memory of Fredrika, but he assumes that she has spoken to Hans and sets the phone back on the nightstand instead. He reaches for the spit cup and works at it, stewing in silence while Ingrid takes her call.

At 8:10 AM, Ingrid writes that Bo is “feeling low” (182); Bo has asked her to write that Hans is no longer welcome in the house.

Bo wakes and reaches for Sixten, finds only absence, and drifts into a memory of traveling with his mother to Hudiksvall for Aunt Karin’s wedding. His father sat silently at the table as his mother invited her husband once again. When he showed no interest in attending an event for her side of the family, Bo and his mother set off to the bus, walking fast. They rode the bus and train and waited on the ferry, where she said that “there’s no sense tempting fate” (184)—in reference to the Vallsunda Tragedy, in which a ferry sank. She admitted that she regretted not learning to swim; Bo reminded her that he learned in Ranviken. They stood together by the rail.

Soft knocking brings Bo back to the present. Marita and Nejla’s grandsons, Aanta and Laara, arrive with their dog, Tjonne, and a tub of soft gingerbread. Tjonne sniffs the spot where Sixten used to lie. Aanta tilts Bo’s adapted bed with the remote, saying that his aajja (grandfather) has one. The boys eat cookies, add birch logs to the fire, and sit with Tjonne. Bo wipes tears when Aanta says that they thought he might be sad “because of Sixten” (186). Laara leans against the dog and then laughs when Bo blows his nose. Before leaving, Aanta turns in the doorway and conveys his mother’s message that “Sixten will be happy” in his new home (187). Touched by the boy’s seriousness, Bo believes him.

At 12:30 PM, Bo refuses to eat anything Hans has bought him. Ingrid writes that his mood has improved, but he cannot remember who bought the gingerbread.

Bo wakes to a radio segment about male contraceptive pills. A man with a Skåne accent boasts about benefits; he believes that there is “a completely different set of prerequisites to becoming a father” in the current day (190). Bo remembers that Fredrika hated the pill and insisted on avoiding another pregnancy after Hans’s birth, though Bo might have wanted more children. He wonders if Ellinor’s lack of siblings was intentional. 

The radio’s intimate talk embarrasses him and leads him to think about how Hans and Ellinor show affection. At her graduation, Hans told her how proud he was, and they hugged. Bo finds the constant hugs and declarations of love to be irritating. He compares it to his own upbringing, where his father never said such things. Bo notes that he barely touched Hans after primary school. He recalls Fredrika’s family being physically affectionate, which once made him uncomfortable.

Johanna has changed the bedding. Bo thinks about how his and Fredrika’s romantic life faded. He remembers her frightened shouts as confusion set in, as though he were a stranger. He recalls Ture once admitting that he missed physical intimacy while discreetly indicating men to whom he was attracted. Bo’s own body no longer responds. 

The “Sixten-shaped hole” sharpens his grief for Fredrika (191). When Hans took the dog, it felt almost as if Fredrika had been taken too. He lies listening for claws on the floor or the click of knitting needles but hears only the fridge and the clock.

At 5:15 PM, Ingrid writes that Bo still has no appetite and does not want to shower.

Bo refuses to look at Hans, fixing his eyes on the cornicing and using silence as his “only weapon” (193). Hans keeps visiting since taking Sixten; he stocks the fridge and repeats that he is sorry while insisting that he took the dog for his father’s sake. He squeezes Bo’s arm and asks whether he will ever speak to him again, but Bo stays mute. Hans unpacks more food, including more of the jellied veal that Bo has barely touched. He reports that Ann-Katrin says that Sixten is doing really well and gets long daily walks. Bo lies still, tracing the ceiling line back and forth. Hans urges him to talk and then tends the fire, adding logs. 



Bo almost speaks but swallows his anger. Hans says that he will return during the weekend and quietly closes the door. The moment he leaves, Bo’s tears fall.

Bo refuses to eat, glaring at the hardening mash that Johanna urged him to finish. He drinks a little water and decides that refusal is all he can do, especially since it bothers Hans. The house feels empty without Sixten. A tractor passes. Bo tries to get coffee, gets dizzy, and pours the cold pot down the drain. 

In the fridge, he finds Ingrid’s tjälaknul, elk with brown sauce and potatoes. He remembers her offering her “guarantee Hans didn’t have a thing to do with it” because she shot it herself (196). He microwaves the plate, watches Storsjön and Åreskutan through the window, and sees Tjonne running with Aanta and Laara behind him, but they turn toward the swamp. The microwave pings, startling him. Heating food leaves him short of breath. He eats everything; the sauce tastes familiar, reminding him of how Fredrika added lingonberry jam. He dumps the dishes in the sink and lies back on the hospital bed, feeling a little better. 

Then, doubt returns. He wonders how things ended up this way and what he has done to deserve it. He reaches for the jar with Fredrika’s scarf, does not open it, and sets it beside him where Sixten used to lie.

At 5:10 PM, Johanna visits and notes that Bo has again refused food and refused a shower.