Luís’s Reviews > In the Heart of the Heart of the Country > Status Update

Strange. Absurd. I am the wife of the house. This point of view I tremble in is that of a god. I feel certain, somehow, that I could give myself entirely to it, were I not continuing a woman, I could disarm my life, find peace and order everywhere; and I lie by my husband, and I touch his arm and consider the temptation. (...)

(...) The wintertime had finally got them all, and I really did hope that the kid was as warm as I was now, warm inside and out, burning up, inside and out, with joy.

Then Pa took the gun away and put it in his pocket. He had his shotgun hanging easily over his left arm, but he slapped me, and I bit my tongue. Pa was spitting, I turned and ran down the path we'd come, putting one arm over my face to ease the stinging.

I heard the dripping clearly, and I heard Hans swallow. I heard the water and the whiskey fall. I listened to the frost on the window melt to the sill and drop into the sink. Hans poured whiskey into his glass. I looked past Hans, and Pa was watching from the doorway. His nose and eyes were red, his feet in red slippers.
What's this about the Pedersen kid? he said.
Ma stood behind him with a mop.