When the Night Read Online Free

that she was going crazy up there with him and took advantage of the first opportunity to get out. And some people say that Gustav caught them together and they were forced to run away. Everyone has a theory, but no one really knows.”
    “She left her three children behind?”
    “Yes. She never saw them again, and in America she started a new family.”
    I move the sheet a little bit, so he can breathe more easily.
    “What was she like?”
    “I can’t remember. My mother says she was beautiful, tall, with dark hair. She did everything. Gustav hid all the pictures of her. There were pictures on the walls at the lodge, with her three boys. Everyone was shocked that she left them behind. Manfred wasn’t even ten years old. They all went to school together. He was a sweet boy. He didn’t say much, like now. I felt sorry for him. The three brothers were always together; they never made friends, and after school they went back up to the lodge.”
    “He never married?”
    “Who, Manfred? The funny thing is, the same happened to him!”
    “His wife left him for someone else?”
    “No one knows, but she left. She took the kids with her. People say the Sane boys drive away their wives. Bianca is the only one who’s still here. Stefan, the brother who runs the ski rental shop, isn’t married, but he has broken up with so many women that no one in the area will go out with him, even though he’s handsome and good in bed.” She laughs and asks, “Do you want a
krapfen
for your little boy?”
    “Yes, thank you. If you wrap it up for me I can give it to him for his afternoon snack.”
    She takes it from the case and goes on: “Luna, Manfred’s wife, left out of the blue. Something happened between them, and she ended up at the hospital. The police questioned Manfred.”
    “He hit her?”
    “Who knows? Manfred is crazy. He would only buy one pair of shoes for the kids—one for the winter and one for the summer. No television, and everyone in bed by nine. Who can live like that?”
    “He’s a loner.”
    “A loner? Once he came in here and I asked him, ‘How are you, Manfred?’ And he answered, ‘I’m in heaven. No wife, no kids.’ That’s what those Sane boys are like.”
    I pay for the
krapfen
. Best to leave before he wakes up.
    “Could you please hold the door so I can get through with the stroller?”
    ANOTHER HALF HOUR of walking, trying hard not to jolt the stroller, and then he’ll eat without fussing.
    What a strange story! The tall, dark-haired mother had probably been unhappy with her husband for a long time. Maybe she was afraid of him or she didn’t like him anymore, but she didn’t have the courage to leave him. She faked it for years; children fill your days, and then they grow up. What do you do when you don’t get along with your husband anymore?
    This hill is tiring, and so long! Here we are, we made it. The landlord’s car isn’t there. I’ll leave the boy in his stroller in the entryway so he can sleep. No one ever comes up here anyway. That way I’ll have time to cook his lunch. I can see from the window if he wakes up, and after all, he’s strapped in. I can always run down and get him. I’ll cover his face, so the light doesn’t bother him.
    I’ve already cooked the vegetable broth, with a little pasta and chicken. He doesn’t like it, he spits it up, but the pediatrician insists that it’s good for him.
    “He has to get used to eating everything, and to chewing. No more mush, he’s too old for that.”
    I’d like to see him feed my baby.
    I open the curtain and look out. The sheet over the stroller is perfectly still. If he sleeps long enough for me to prepare the pasta, then I can change him and I don’t have to do two or three things at once, and he won’t cry because I’m not holding him. While the broth warms up I’ll pee; I can never go when he’s around. Just one more peek out of the window.
    Still sleeping. He’ll be in a good mood when it’s time to