“May I borrow it tomorrow after school?”

“Certainly.”

“Thank you.”

The next day Stephie hurries home from school. She leads the bike back up the hill again, and down to the meeting place. Vera’s already there.

“Come on,” she says, taking Stephie to a little side road. “This is a better spot. You have to practice on flat ground first. We’d better start by lowering the seat.”

Vera’s brought a wrench, and she loosens the bolt that holds the seat in place, twisting the seat gently downward and then tightening the bolt again.

“Give it a try,” she says.

Stephie tries to mount the bike as she did yesterday, but she can’t seem to make it balance.

“You have to start pedaling right away,” Vera instructs. “I’ll hold you from behind. Try again.”

Vera holds the carrier in a firm grip. Stephie swings up into the seat and starts to pedal.

“Not so fast,” Vera pants as Stephie picks up speed. “Now put on the brakes, but gently.”

Stephie backpedals and feels the bike slow down. She puts one foot on the ground.

“Again,” Vera tells her. “Steer, and apply the brakes softly when you start going too fast.”

Stephie picks up speed again. Vera runs behind the bi cycle with one hand on the carrier. Suddenly, though, Stephie stops hearing her footsteps. There’s only the crunch of the tires on the gravel. The pedals keep going around, the bi cycle follows the curves in the road easily. She’s riding all on her own!

A rock in the middle of the road is her downfall. But she manages to put one foot down so that she doesn’t crash; she isn’t hurt.

Vera comes biking up from behind.

“You’re doing fine,” she laughs. “You’ll be able to bike to school by Monday.”

Stephie bikes back and forth along the road all afternoon. Vera helps her get started at first, but after a while she can get her own balance, and Vera bikes alongside her. Their hair and skirts flutter in the spring wind. The salty sting of the sea blends with the scent of earth warmed by the sun. Light green grass is sprouting up alongside the road and between the outcrops of rock.

When they get tired of riding, Vera teaches Stephie how to pump the tires. They crouch down next to each other, hands and arms touching. The wind blows wisps of Vera’s hair so it brushes Stephie’s cheek.

There are so many things Stephie would like to ask Vera. Why she’s always clowning around in class and pretending to be dumber than she is. Why she’s friends with Sylvia and her crowd. Whether the two of them, Stephie and Vera, could be friends for real.

But she doesn’t ask anything at all. Vera gets up.

“I’ve got to get home,” she says, “and help my mother with the washing.”

They bicycle side by side out to the main road.

“Will you be able to bike home now?” Vera asks.

“I think so.”

Stephie mounts the bike. She manages to pedal all the way up to the top of the hill, but she leads the bike on the steep downhill, just to be on the safe side.

thirty-three

Stephie spends all Sunday afternoon practicing, up and down hills, and riding the road in both directions. Aunt Märta, who is otherwise quite strict about keeping the Sabbath on Sunday, and who always wants Stephie to do something quiet after Sunday school, agrees immediately when Stephie asks to borrow her bicycle again.

On Monday Stephie bikes to school. Having struggled up the steep hill from the white house, she has a steady decline for the next half mile, and the wind at her back. She doesn’t even need to pedal, the bike just rolls on its own. The wind brushes her face gently and the air is full of new smells.

On her way to school, she imagines arriving at the schoolyard, gently applying the brakes at the gate and then leading the bicycle over to the stand, with Sylvia, Barbro, and all the others gaping in astonishment. She plans to act as if there’s nothing unusual about her having biked to school. If they continue to stare she’ll ask, “What are you staring at? Haven’t you ever seen a bike before?”

Then she’ll look right at Vera and they’ll smile conspiratorially. Vera won’t give her away. She’s promised.

Intentionally, Stephie takes the last stretch slowly. She wants everyone to be there when she arrives.

As soon as she has put on the brakes at the gate and set one foot on the ground, she begins to look around for her classmates. They’re huddled between the bike stand and the outhouse. Sylvia, Barbro, Gunvor, and Majbritt.

And Vera. She’s at the center of the crowd. Apparently she’s doing one of her imitations. The others are watching her and laughing.

Stephie walks the bike over to the stand. No one notices. She glances furtively toward the group surrounding Vera.

Vera’s holding one of her arms as if it’s hurt. “Ow, ow!” she cries. “My arm! I think it’s broken!”

At that very moment, Gunvor catches sight of Stephie. “Here she comes!” she shouts.

Stephie feels a lump forming in her throat. At first it’s ice cold, then it feels hot. It grows larger and larger.

Everybody’s staring at her.

“Well, look at her,” Sylvia says in her most affected voice, like an adult talking to a child. “The old lady let the little girl borrow her bicycle. Be careful you don’t end up in the ditch. Next time there might not be anybody around to rescue you.”

Stephie forces herself to ignore them, looking straight ahead as she walks toward the bike stand. She has heard and seen enough: the mocking mouths, the scornful gazes. And Vera’s pale, embarrassed face, framed by her fluffy red hair.

On the stairs up to the classroom, Vera catches up with her. “Stephie,” she pants. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to-”

The lump in Stephie’s throat bursts. “Leave me alone!” she exclaims. “You’re just like all the rest. I despise you!”

In the fraction of a second before Vera turns away and continues on up the stairs, Stephie sees something in her eyes and recognizes it. She can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but it makes her feel like bursting into tears.

After school Stephie delays leaving the hallway. She doesn’t want to arrive at the bike stand at the same time as all the others just to hear more taunting remarks.

When she finally leaves the building, she finds herself hoping to see Vera’s mane of red hair somewhere in the schoolyard, hoping Vera waited for her all the same.

But no one is there. Only six bikes remain in the stand. Aunt Märta’s looks very old-fashioned and awkward next to Sylvia’s blue one and Ingrid’s green one.

Stephie rolls the bicycle back out of the stand. Something doesn’t seem right. She feels the tires. They’re almost flat. The valve caps are off.

They must have done it at recess, since all the air has had time to leak out. It was probably Barbro. Or Gunvor. Or Majbritt. Or even Sylvia, though probably not. She’s always cautious about doing anything she might get caught and punished for. Sylvia gives the orders, the others obey.

Stephie searches the ground for the valve caps. She sees something gleaming. A little tack.

Pfff, says the air as it exits from Sylvia’s tire. Stephie presses the nail even farther in, until the head is visible only as a shiny little dot. It would be difficult to see it if you didn’t know it was there. It’s pressed all the way in, as if Sylvia had happened to bike over it on her way to school.

Stephie finds both valve caps, and luckily Aunt Märta keeps a bike pump attached to the frame. Stephie pumps up the tires and rides home.

The next morning they are at the bike stand, waiting for her. When Stephie parks her bike they close in around her. She’s their prisoner.

Sylvia is holding something between her thumb and forefinger, so close to Stephie’s face she can barely see it. A shiny object.