Stephie and Nellie’s first week on the island is sunny.

Every day, Stephie goes on a long walk from the white frame house at the end of the world to the yellow house with the enclosed veranda.

Every day, Auntie Alma takes the girls along with her own children to the beach.

Every day, Stephie sits on the blanket, fully dressed, watching Nellie and the little ones splashing at the shore, and the older children diving from the cliffs out on the headland.

Auntie Alma probably thinks Stephie doesn’t know how to swim and is ashamed to show it. In any case, she doesn’t make any further attempts to persuade her to go into the water.

One morning Stephie wakes up and doesn’t see the sun shining in; she’s relieved. It’s a cloudy, gray day, and windy, too. She puts on a sweater before walking to Auntie Alma’s. Aunt Märta points to the suit and towel on the line, shaking her head and saying something. Stephie catches the Swedish words for “swim” and “cold.”

“Not swim,” Stephie says. “Nellie…” That exhausts her Swedish vocabulary.

Aunt Märta nods, ushering Stephie into the room with the wall clock. She points to the three.

“Come home. Three o’clock,” she says.

Stephie nods. “Three o’clock.”

“Evert,” Aunt Märta says. “Uncle Evert’s coming home.”

Stephie pretends to understand. It’s easier that way.

In Auntie Alma’s kitchen Nellie and the little ones are sitting around the table drawing, and Auntie Alma is mixing something in a bowl.