Homeland
The door hit a small bell hanging from the frame above it, and the wood floor creaked as Anders walked into the post office. There was an overhead fan that spun slowly enough that he wondered if it had been turned off and was just spinning out, or just moving that slowly on purpose. The postman who was previously hunched over a table towards the back of the office looked up and smiled.
“Good morning Anders! Got a package to drop off? Or is there…”
The old man pulled a pair of glasses from the front of his shirt and put them on the end of his nose while he walked towards the counter.
“Good morning Rolf! No, I’m just here to see if there is any mail, I forgot the key’s and I’m on my way in. I was just hoping I could avoid a trip later.”
Rolf nodded slightly while he listened then looked back at Anders.
“Of course, I think I saw some mail for her today. What P.O. Box was it?”
The old man walked over to a wall of boxes made of old blue metal and started glancing up and down the rows.
“It’s box number seventy-seven.”
Rolf smiled and rubbed his chin.
“Seventy…seventy… seven… Ah! Here it is!”
He pulled a few flyers and envelopes from the metal box and walked back to the counter.
“Here you go Anders, anything else?”
Anders flipped few a few of the letter’s then looked up and smiled.
“No, but I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow Rolf, she always has more letters to send. Thanks for your help.”
Anders nodded politely and smiled. Rolf waved goodbye then walked back to the table. Anders watched him for a moment as he stood above the table trying to recall where he left off, slowly rubbing his hands on his sides while he thought. Anders pulled the door toward him, and sounded the bell.
“Have a Good day Anders, and tell your Bestemor I say hello!”
“I will Rolf, have a good day.”
Anders stepped out onto the gravel parking lot of the post office. He rubbed his face and put the letters into his jacket pocket. The summer heat had faded and falls cold mornings were a sharp reminder of what was coming. Anders looked up at the tree hanging over the post office. It’s green leaves were freckled yellow, like someone had taken a giant paintbrush covered it in yellow paint and waved it through the air a few times. He opened the door to his car and heated air pulled out against him. The radio was still on, and one of his favorite bands was playing. Anders took a deep breath and smiled deeply and slipped into his seat.
The radio started to get fuzzy as he pulled into her driveway. Anders pulled in front of the garage and turned the car off. The engine ticked a few times and things started to cool down. He took a deep breath and looked into the front window. There were some lights on, and he could see a silhouette moving around from window to window. Anders pulled his keys from the ignition and opened his door. The cool air from the pond next to the house made everything feel like it was ten degree’s cooler at his bestemor’s house, but he still felt that same inner peace and happiness that he had felt when he was a child when he looked at it. Anders slammed the car door shut and walked up to the house.
From where he stood Anders could see into the kitchen window and saw that his bestemor was wandering around the kitchen moving things around and from the look of it, rearranging her spice cabinet. Anders knocked on the window and waved to her. His bestemor looked up and smiled like she hadn’t seen Anders in Months. She waved him towards her and he opened the front door. Before Anders had even fully walked through the door way he could already hear her yelling from the kitchen.
“God morgen Anders, hvor er du i dag?”
Anders laughed and started to take off his jacket.
“Good Bestemor, I’m fine, how are you feeling today?”
Before he had a chance to put the jacket down, she was already pulling it from his arms with one arm, and hugging him with the other.
“Føler fin, komme inn før du blir syk”
His bestemor folded his jacket over a chair in the hallway and was already back in the kitchen before Anders had shut the door.
“Bestemor I’m fine! I like the cold, it helps me wake up!”
Anders walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. His grandmother grabbed an old metal percolator from the stove and poured some coffee into a short white mug, then turned and put it onto the table in front of him.
“Du ønsker å våkne opp? Ha litt kaffe. Stående i kulden er for dyr.”
Anders took a sip and laughed.
“Bestemor is there anything you need me to do around the house for you? The family wants me to make sure everything is okay for you.”
She took a few more steps around the kitchen, then paused and looked around.
“The family… oh there’s my coffee… The family just wants to make sure I’m happy so I don’t re-write the will and leave them all out.”
She held the coffee to her face then sipped gently. Anders always loved how for a few minutes after she switched from Norwegian to English she would still have a small accent. Even after all the years of living in America. She sat down at the table and smiled at Anders.
“You can tell them that I am fine and happy. I haven’t started eating cat food yet, or forgetting where I left my house key’s. My mind is just as sharp as always and unless they want to come up here and see for themselves I’m in perfectly good health.”
Anders held up his mug towards his grandmother.
“To your health!”
She smiled and tapped her mug against his.
“You know, you remind me a lot of your Bestefar. Have I told you that before?”
Anders nodded and sipped on his coffee.
“Yes, you said we would have gotten along very well.”
His grandmother leaned back in her chair and smiled.
“He was a great man, your Bestefar. I loved him so much.”
Her words trailed off, as she looked in the distance. Her smile faded just a little then she took another sip of coffee.
“Rolf told me to tell you hello! Oh, and here is all your mail.”
Anders walked back to his jacket and pulled the letters from the pocket and brought them back to the table, placing them lightly on the table in front of his Bestemor.
“Thank you, Rolf is so nice. Remind me later to make him some julekake.”
Anders nodded and put his mug down.
“How many pen pals do you have Bestemor? You get more letters than anyone I know!”
She smiled and pulled the letters out and put them in a pile next to her coffee cup.
“Everyone likes getting letters Anders, I don’t care what technology there is, nothing is more personal or heartfelt than a handwritten letter.”
Anders pulled the letters towards him and looked at the return labels.
“Most of these are from Norway. How is the family back in the homeland doing?”
His Bestemor smiled and rubbed his hand.
“They are good! You should go visit them! They all hear about you and how good you are to me, they would love to meet you.”
Anders walked back to the coffee pot and poured another mug full.
“Well, hopefully someday I will. Right now I’m still busy trying to get my post-graduate life in order, find a job, get a girlfriend…”
Anders sat back at the table and looked at his Bestemor. She shaking her head and laughing.
“What? I do! This is a hard economy! I need a good job, someday I want to own a nice house like this and be able to support a family, and I never will unless I…”
His grandmother held up a finger to her lips and hushed him.
“Do you know what you sound like?”
Anders crossed his arm’s and looked out the window.
“A sensible man?”
“You sound like a cranky old man! You’re too young to talk like that!”
Anders rubbed his face and groaned.
“Bestemor I’m twenty-seven years old. I need to start getting my life together now, or I’ll spend the rest of my life wishing I had done the right thing.”
His Bestemor pulled his hand towards her and smiled.
“Have I ever told you how I met your grandfather?”
Anders shook his head and listened.
“I met your grandfather when we were both twenty-three. I was going to school in Oslo for nursing and home to Tromso visiting on holiday. A few of my friends had decided that we all needed to go out skiing, so we headed up to the mountain with our boot’s and ski’s. While we were headed down the hill, one of my girlfriends saw a boy she knew, and he was with some of his friends. Anyway, we all were skiing and having a good time when we came across an old path that was barely even clear enough for one person to get through, and some of the boy’s wanted to go down it. They were trying to convince us girls to go with them, but we were nervous. We were concerned that if we went off the trail that we might get lost. Your grandfather stood up tall and said something I’ll never forget!
‘It may look like the wrong path from here, but who knows what it will look like at the bottom. You can stay on the trail if you want, but I’ve seen the bottom of that hill before and it’s boring.’
He jumped up after that and slid down the trail. A couple of his friends followed behind him and before my ski’s had a chance to know what they were doing, I was right behind all of them. I fell in love with your grandfather that day, and I never would have if I didn’t go with him down that old deer trail”
His grandmother rested her eyes on Anders and her old wrinkles pushed back to her ears from the smile on her face.
“You know what is at the bottom of the trail you’re on, why not try a different one?”
Anders stood up and walked around the table and hugged his grandmother.
“Thank you Bestemor, I… I… don’t…”
His grandmother held his hand and rubbed gently.
“Jeg elsker deg Anders.”
Anders hugged his Bestemor again and laughed.
“I just need to find my path I guess.”
His Bestemor gently pushed him aside and walked into the other room. Anders could hear her shuffling around for a few moments, opening doors and pushing boxes around.
“Do you need help with something Bestemor?”
Her happy voice was muffled behind some door or box, but he could hear her well enough to know she was okay. A few seconds later she came back around the corner and sat back down.
“Found it!”
“Found what Bestemor? What were you looking for?”
His grandmother pulled an envelope out from her house jacket and placed it on the table.
“Before your grandfather died, he put this money aside, so that in case I ever needed it without the family knowing I could use it. I want you to have it.”
Anders shook his head and laughed nervously.
“No Bestemor, there is no way I can take this. It’s your money.”
“Exactly, it’s my money and I’m giving it to you. Your Aunts and Uncles all watch my bank account like vultures, waiting for me to die so they can swoop in and take what they want, but they don’t know about this. Take it and find your path.”
Anders placed his hand on the envelope and looked at his grandmother. As he started to slowly pull it towards him she placed a hand on his.
“There is one condition. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you have to write me a letter every day!”
Anders nodded and smiled.
“I promise, I will.”
“Now, go, and when the family asks how I am tell them I said they all need to come ask on their own.”
Anders stood up and hugged his Bestemor again.
“I love you Bestemor, Thank you so much.”
She hugged him back and laughed.
“Go boy, the world is waiting for you at the bottom of the hill already!”
Anders pulled his coat from the chair and walked out to his car.
There were a few yellow leaves spinning around in the pond next to the house, and he smiled. He opened the car door and looked back at the kitchen window. His grandmother was standing next to the window with her coffee cup waving goodbye. Anders waved once more, then honked his cars horn once. He closed the door and placed the key into the ignition. He looked back and watched his grandmother sit down and smile. He put the car into reverse and pulled out of the drive way.
The next day Anders walked into the airport with a single bag of clothes and a computer. The woman at the counter waved him forward with a smile and Anders approached the counter.
“I would like to buy a one way ticket to Oslo please.”
My Collective Conscious 