Read Frozen Music for Free Online Page B

every first of Advent for years. Then they would gather round the kitchen table and Bertil would read the nativity story as Linus lit the first of the four Advent candles. But as he stood there, barefoot in the kitchen, about to measure out the coffee, he thought suddenly that he was probably too old for all of that too. He had left the measuring spoon in the coffee jar and gone back to bed. And Christmas lost its tinsel-twinkle magic. To make matters worse, they had stayed at home on Christmas Eve itself instead of going to Aunt Lisa’s, as they had every Christmas that Linus could remember. It was no one’s fault, he thought again. After all, he was sure that Aunt Lisa had not
meant
to die the week before Christmas, but nevertheless she had. And because of it Uncle Gerald, who was Aunt Lisa’s brother and really Linus’s father’s uncle, and Aunt Marie, his wife, and their daughter Kerstin, who was exactly Linus’s age, had decided to go abroad for a change of scene. This meant that on Christmas Eve, Linus and his father and Olivia had been left with only Aunt Ulla. Now she was no one’s aunt, not really, but Linus’s mother’s cousin. Linus had been surprised at how much he had missed the others. Kerstin was just an annoying girl and he got quite cross with her for following him around in the summer holidays when they were all out on the island, but at Christmas he liked her there. She was part of the tradition, like the gold star they fixed on top of the tree. And Uncle Gerald told funny stories about Bertil as a child, which embarrassed Bertil but made Linus marvel at how normal his father had once been. They always played lots of games too. They never did much at other times of the year, but at Christmas it was as if everyone took on an extra shine, becoming more of everything. Uncle Gerald’s stories became funnier and Ulla too was funny when she struggled to know the answers to the trivia quiz. She still hadn’t worked out that Gerald and Bertil rigged it every year. Aunt Marie sang songs to go with the schnapps, although normally she was really quiet. But not this year. Instead, they were left with Ulla, whom he liked, but she wasn’t enough. It was like having the Christmas dinner with just the baked ham but no smoked eel or herring or redcabbage or boiled sausage or any of the other things that showed it could not possibly be any other day than Christmas Eve. Still, Ulla knew interesting stuff and this year she had told him that knowledge was the single most attractive quality a man could have. Linus felt very unattractive at that particular time so he set about reading his Christmas books with greater interest than ever, especially the one with Shakespeare’s sonnets. If Ulla was right Lotten, in the year below him at school, could be his by Easter. Linus sighed and helped himself to some soured milk to go on his cereal.
    â€˜Audrey called while you were in the bathroom,’ Olivia told her husband. ‘Wishing us all a happy Christmas.’
    â€˜Is she still angry?’ Linus wanted to know.
    â€˜Audrey? Audrey isn’t angry.’
    â€˜I meant Esther,’ Linus explained, his mouth full of cornflakes. He felt his father’s disapproving glance on him and hunched up as if ducking under a low-flying object.
    â€˜What do you mean, is she still angry?’ Olivia asked.
    Linus swallowed and wiped his chin before answering. ‘Every photo I’ve seen of her she looks angry. In that fairy one and the one from her last birthday when she’s holding the puppy and well, every one
I’ve
seen anyway.’
    â€˜I haven’t really thought of it,’ Olivia said. ‘But now you mention it, she is rather a cross child.’

Three
    I had been sent to Coventry by the whole upper school. It was all so unfair. I really liked Jenny Wilde in Upper Fifth and I had only been trying to help. We were all supposed to sew our own aprons