Daniel leapt up from the pew. But he didn’t get past Edvin, who seemed to be ready and grabbed him.
‘We’ll take him into the sacristy,’ said Hallén.
Edvin held him tight. When Daniel tried to bite him to get loose, Edvin shouted at him to settle down. The man who had carried the offering pouch and pointed at Daniel and accused him now took hold of his legs and held him so hard that Daniel screamed in pain. He managed to get his legs free and kicked the man in the face so his nose started to bleed. But Edvin didn’t release his grip until they were in the sacristy. Alma followed, but Hallén told her to wait outside.
‘I didn’t see any snake!’ she shouted. ‘It must have been somebody else.’
‘He’ll confess soon enough.’
‘I don’t want you to hurt him.’
Hallén shooed Alma away without replying and pulled the heavy door shut.
‘Let the boy go and give him a box on the ear,’ said Hallén. ‘That’ll calm him down.’
Edvin did as he was told. The blow was so hard that Daniel fell to the floor. His cheek burned and his eyes began to water.
Hallén bent over him. He was breathing hard, panting as if he had been running.
‘Did you put the snake in the offering pouch?’
Daniel thought that Hallén was a beast of prey and he had to avoid looking him in the eye at all costs. Next to him was a window and outside he caught a glimpse of Sanna, with her nose pressed against the glass.
For the first time since Father left he felt that he wasn’t alone. It gave him the same power as when he was small and Be or Kiko sat next to him. That was the first thing he had learned, that a human being who is alone is not a real human being. Sanna was waiting outside, his pain was hers, and he was no longer afraid to look Hallén straight in the eye.
‘I was offering to the gods.’
Hallén promptly stood up as if Daniel’s reply had given him a jab in the chest.
‘Did you put a snake in the collection pouch as an offering?’ Hallén shook his head and looked at Edvin. ‘This was the Sunday we were taking a collection to support the mission in Africa, and so this little black devil puts a snake in the offering pouch.’
Edvin stood with his cap in his hand. Daniel could see that he was afraid of Hallén.
‘He probably had no idea what the collection was for.’
‘He put a snake in the bag!’
Hallén was talking very loudly, as though he were in the pulpit letting his words hail down over the congregation. Edvin shook his head.
‘I’m sure he doesn’t understand.’
‘A snake in the offering pouch is not merely blasphemy. It is a mark of shame for you and Alma, who have not succeeded in teaching him how to behave.’
‘He probably doesn’t even know what behave means.’
Hallén pointed at Daniel’s feet in a rage.
‘He doesn’t have shoes on his feet. Even though it’s winter. He goes to church barefoot. And you allow this?’
Edvin tried to hold his head high when he replied. ‘He had shoes on when we came. He must have kicked them off in the pew.’
Hallén shook his head. ‘I’ve tried,’ he said. ‘I’ve spoken to him several times. But he says nothing. He only asks about the water.’
Daniel was sitting on the floor looking at Sanna. Each time Edvin or Hallén moved, her face disappeared, but then it would pop up again.
Hallén stood with his back leaning against the big wardrobe and regarded Daniel.
‘Next Sunday he will have to make a full confession in front of the congregation. He will have to beg their forgiveness.’
‘Perhaps we should realise that he doesn’t understand,’ said Edvin. ‘He comes from a place where there’s nothing but sand. Here we live in mud. Perhaps a person like him thinks differently.’
Daniel thought that Edvin was right. He had understood something that even Father had not grasped.
‘What do sand and mud have to do with snakes?’ Hallén enquired. ‘The boy must be disciplined. He does indeed come from a desert. But the mission has shown that people can become civilised. The most important step on this path is to give testimony and beg for forgiveness.’
‘I’ll try to talk to him. But I must still ask the pastor to help.’
‘I shall talk to him. Tomorrow. You can go now.’
They left the sacristy. Alma was waiting in the centre aisle. The man Daniel had kicked in the face lay on a pew with a rag over his nose to stop the flow of blood.
The snake was gone.
‘His shoes,’ said Edvin.
Alma looked under the pew where they had sat. She bent down and pulled out his clogs. Daniel bowed to the shoes and then put them on.
Alma looked at Daniel’s cheek. ‘Hallén hit him.’
‘No. It was me,’ said Edvin.
‘Was that necessary?’
‘How should I know what’s necessary? How can I make sense of what I don’t comprehend? Where are the hired hand and the milkmaids?’
‘I sent them home.’
‘And the church green?’
‘It’s probably full of curious folks.’
Edvin tossed his cap to the floor and sat down heavily on one of the pews. ‘Then we’ll have to run the gauntlet.’
Alma gave him an astonished look as she stroked Daniel’s hair. ‘Surely we don’t have anything to be ashamed of?’
‘I might get so angry that I punch some of them on the nose.’
‘There’s been enough hitting here today. We should be able to walk home without thinking of falling to the ground in shame, shouldn’t we?’
Edvin kept shaking his head. Daniel waited impatiently to go outside with them. He longed for Sanna. Even though he couldn’t talk to her, she would at least see his face.
Alma took Daniel’s hand. ‘We’re going now,’ she said. ‘You can either sit here or come with us.’
Edvin gave her an entreating look. ‘What shall we do? Maybe it was a mistake to take him in.’
‘We’ll talk about that later. Right now we’re going home.’
Edvin bent down to pick up his cap. The man lying on the pew sat up. He was holding the rag to his nose.
‘He just about kicked off my nose,’ he said in a thick voice.
‘There’s a doctor in Simrishamn,’ replied Alma. ‘If you hadn’t yelled and pointed so much this never would have happened.’
Daniel had never heard Alma speak so firmly before. The man on the pew said no more and lay back down.
When they came out of the church the green was full of people. Edvin groaned and Alma took a deep breath. A silent path opened before them as they walked, led by Alma. Daniel looked around for Sanna. When he didn’t see her he began to worry. Had he been imagining it? Was it not her face he saw outside the window?
When he finally found her she was standing on the churchyard wall. She waved cautiously to him. Daniel raised his hand but Alma pulled it back down. The people around them were silent. Edvin trudged along behind. He didn’t catch up with them until they reached the road.
‘Did you see?’ he asked.
‘I saw,’ said Alma. ‘And I felt it. But I don’t care. I care about understanding why he did it.’
Edvin stopped. ‘A viper in the middle of winter? Where did it come from?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Alma. ‘But I don’t want you ever to hit him again.’
Daniel wondered what had actually happened. He thought that Sanna was the only one who would be able to explain it.
Slowly he could feel himself filling with joy. He had found someone who pushed away his loneliness. Someone who might understand him.
He thought about the water, about the wet pelt that would grow accustomed to his feet.