Agnes turns to Lucas. "What's wrong?"

Lucas says, "Mathias has probably gone to look for something in his room. Start cooking the pancakes, Agnes. I'll be back in a moment."

Lucas goes into Mathias's room. The child is lying on his eiderdown. He says, "Leave me alone. I want to sleep."

"You invited them, Mathias. It's bad manners."

"I invited Agnes. I didn't know he was her brother."

"I didn't know either. Make an effort for Agnes's sake, Mathias. You like Agnes, don't you?"

"And you like her brother. When I saw you all come into the kitchen I knew you were a real family. Beautiful, blond parents with their beautiful, blond child. I haven't got a family. I haven't got a mother or a father. I'm not blond. I'm ugly and crippled."

Lucas holds him tight. "Mathias, my little boy. You're my whole life."

Mathias smiles. "Fine. Let's eat."

In the kitchen the table is set, and there is a large pile of pancakes in the middle.

Agnes talks a lot, gets up frequently to serve the tea. She pays the same attention to her little brother as to Mathias.

"Jam? Cheese? Chocolate?"

Lucas watches Mathias. He eats little and never takes his eyes off the blond child. The blond child eats a lot. He smiles at Lucas when their eyes meet, he smiles at his sister when she hands him something; but when his blue eyes encounter Mathias's dark stare, he lowers his gaze.

Agnes washes up with Mathias. Lucas goes to his room.

Mathias calls him later. "Time to walk Agnes and her brother home."

Agnes says, "We're really not afraid to walk home on our own."

Mathias insists. "It's good manners. Walk them home."

Lucas walks them home. He bids them good night and goes to sit on the bench in the insomniac's park.

The insomniac says, "It's half past three. At eleven o'clock the child lit a fire in his room. I took the liberty of calling out to him, something I wouldn't normally do. I was worried that he might set fire to something. I asked the child what he was doing, but he told me not to worry, he was just burning the rough notes from his homework in a metal pail in front of the window. I asked him why he didn't use the stove to burn his papers. He said he didn't want to go to the kitchen to do it. The fire went out shortly after, and I didn't see the child or hear any sound after that."

Lucas goes up the stairs, enters his room, then the child's room. In front of the window there is a metal pail containing some burned paper. The child's bed is empty. On the pillow lies a blue notebook, closed. On the white label is written: MATHIAS'S NOTEBOOK. Lucas opens the notebook. There are only a few empty sheets and the edges of ripped-out pages. Lucas pulls open the dark red curtain. Alongside the skeleton of his mother and her baby hangs the little body of Mathias, already cold.

The insomniac hears a long scream. He goes down into the street, rings at Lucas's door. There is no reply. The old man goes up the stairs, enters Lucas's room, sees another door, opens it. Lucas is lying on the bed, clutching the child's body against his chest.

"Lucas?"

Lucas doesn't answer. His eyes stare wide open at the ceiling.

The insomniac goes back down into the street, he goes to call on Peter. Peter opens a window.

"What's going on, Michael?"

"Lucas needs you. Something terrible has happened. Come."

"Go home, Michael. I'll take care of everything."

He goes up to Lucas's apartment. He sees the metal pail, the two bodies stretched out on the bed. He pulls open the curtain, discovers the skeletons and, on the same hook, the end of a rope cut with a razor. He turns back to the bed, gently pushes the child's body away, and slaps Lucas on the face.

"Snap out of it!"

Lucas closes his eyes. Peter shakes him.

"Tell me what happened!"

Lucas says, "It's Yasmine. She's taken him from me."

Peter says firmly, "Don't ever say that again to anyone else but me, Lucas. Do you understand? Look at me!"

Lucas looks at Peter.

"Yes, I understand. What do I do now, Peter?" "Nothing. Stay where you are. I'll bring you some tranquilizers. I'll take care of the formalities."

Lucas hugs Mathias's body.

"Thank you, Peter. I don't need any tranquilizers."

"No? Well, try to cry at least. Where are your keys?"

"I don't know. Maybe I left them in the front door."

"I'll lock up. You mustn't go out in this state. I'll be back."

Peter finds a bag in the kitchen, unhooks the skeletons, slips them into the bag, and takes them away with him.

Lucas and Peter walk behind Joseph's wagon, which is carrying the child's coffin.

At the cemetery a gravedigger sits on a mound of earth eating some bacon with onions.

Mathias is buried in the grave of Lucas's grandmother and grandfather.

When the gravedigger has filled in the hole, Lucas himself plants the cross, on which is engraved MATHIAS and two dates. The child lived seven years and four months.

Joseph asks, "Can I give you a lift, Lucas?"

Lucas says, "Go home, Joseph, and thank you. Thank you for everything."

"There's no point in staying here."

Peter says, "Come, Joseph. I'll go back with you."

Lucas hears the wagon depart. He sits down by the grave. The birds are singing.

A woman dressed in black comes by silently and places a bouquet of violets at the foot of the cross.

Later, Peter comes back. He touches Lucas on the shoulder.

"Come. It will soon be dark."

Lucas says, "I can't leave him here on his own at night. He's afraid of the dark. He's still so little."

"No, now he's not afraid anymore. Come, Lucas."

Lucas gets up, he stares at the grave. "I should have let him go with his mother. I made a fatal mistake, Peter, in wanting to keep the child at any price."

Peter says, "Every one of us commits a fatal mistake sometime in his life. When we realize it, the damage is already done."

They go back down into town. Outside the bookshop Peter asks, "Do you want to come to my place, or would you rather go in?"

"I'd rather go in."

Lucas goes in. He sits at his desk, looks at the closed door of the child's room, opens a school notebook, and writes, "Everything is fine with Mathias. He is always first at school, and he doesn't have nightmares anymore."

Lucas closes the notebook. He leaves the house, goes back to the cemetery, and sleeps on the child's grave.

At dawn, the insomniac comes to wake him.

"Come, Lucas. Time to open the bookshop."

"Yes, Michael."

8

Claus arrives by train. The little station hasn't changed, but there is now a bus for the passengers.

Claus doesn't take the bus. He goes on foot to the town center. The chestnut trees are in blossom; the street is as quiet and empty as it used to be.

Claus stops in the main square. There is a large three-story building in place of the simple, low houses. It is a hotel. Claus goes in and asks the receptionist, "When was this hotel built?"

"About ten years ago, sir. Would you like a room?"

"I don't know yet. I'll come back in a few hours. Could I leave my case here?"

"Please do."

Claus continues walking, he goes across town, passes the last of the houses, takes an unpaved road that leads to a playing field. Claus crosses the field and sits on the grass next to the river. Later, some children start playing ball. Claus asks one of them, "Has this playing field been here long?"

The child shrugs his shoulders. "The field? It's always been here."

Claus goes back to town. He goes up to the castle, then the cemetery. He searches for ages but can't find the grave of Grandmother and Grandfather. He goes back down into town. He sits on a bench in the main square. He watches the people doing their shopping, coming home from work, going for walks or bicycle rides. There are only a few cars. When the shops close, the square empties, and Claus goes back into the hotel.