Read Online White Hunger (Chance Encounter Series) by Aki Ollikainen - Free Book Online

and Gustafsson and seems to be explaining something; she tugs at moustached man’s sleeve, but the men are more interested in the lump of meat than whatever it is the woman has to say.
    The thief has attracted curious onlookers. Muffled laughter rings out from the crowd. Marja sees a young boy throwing horse shit at the thief. An icy turd hits the man’s cheek. Marja stumbles, as if her own cheek had been struck. But the thief feels nothing; he breathes only blood now.
    ‘Let that be a lesson to you. That’s what happens to thieves. Times like these, no one looks kindly on people who steal food. We’ve all got the same hunger. If beggars come, we give what we can, if we can,’ Gustafsson says. ‘Take note, don’t be tempted.’
    Marja cannot see the man’s face; she is being addressed by a lifeless wolf fur. She cannot work out if the voice is friendly or hostile. She tries to force out a reply, so that the man will go on talking. It does her good to hear another person speak. When she has to exert herself and concentrate on listening, she momentarily forgets the cold and the hunger. No matter what the other person is saying, as long as he is addressing her. Then she remembers that there are other people in the world, and that people still talk to each other. And one day, maybe, there will betalk of things other than bread, the lack of it, or hunger and diseases.
    People would talk about the coming of spring, the melting of the ice. About the swans someone spotted on the Holy Lake. About the neighbouring fields being flooded, and the floodwater taking Verneri Lenkola’s sledge, and Lenkola’s dog Musti sitting on the sledge like the captain of an ocean liner bound for distant shores. About Juhani taking Mataleena to the edge of the marsh to watch the cranes perform their spring dance.
    ‘We’re here. You can ask Hakmanni, the church warden, for a piece of bread, though he’s not likely to have any. But he will have water for you to drink. He lives over there; the almshouse is further down, towards the fields.’
    Gustafsson lowers Juho to the ground and starts back in the direction of the river without saying goodbye. A young man emerges from the woodshed and comes over to Marja. He is holding firewood in his arms tightly, as if it were a child. He welcomes Marja and Juho in the name of the Lord. This is Hakmanni. He tries to smile, and a stupid, albeit gentle, expression crosses his face.
    ‘I have no bread, unfortunately, or maybe a small piece for the child. But you can stay the night in the outhouse. Or perhaps I can let you have my own… bread, I mean – I can’t have you in the main house. It’s forbidden, because of epidemics. But that’s just my house – you can go to the almshouse, naturally, as I just said. These logs, I’ll take them later. Or no: wait here, I will take the logs,we’ll find some bread afterwards. That way, there won’t be a fight. Because everyone should have some, but there isn’t enough.’
    Half-running, Hakmanni makes for the almshouse. The logs seem ready to spill from his arms, and he has to contort himself so his gait becomes awkward.
     
    The sky is the colour of a snake’s eye. The first star lights up and Marja feels the snake watching her and Juho. She looks back at the snake, eye to eye, but she cannot fool it.
    At last, Hakmanni’s figure slowly comes into view on the snowy slope, bent and black. Marja hopes the man will banish the snake, but she realizes that Hakmanni is not up to it. The snake smiles.
    Marja stands on the step. Hakmanni starts upon seeing her, wakes from his stupor and puts the key in the lock.
    ‘Is this where I left you, outside the door in the freezing cold? The vicar tells me to keep the door locked as a precaution. These days, there are all sorts of folk wandering about. I should have let you inside, where it’s warm. Although I don’t see what I’ve got that’s worth stealing. Bread, maybe, but then we must give to those in need,