Andre smakebit fra Crow lake – Vann som terapi

Crow lake av Mary Lawson har ligget uåpnet en tid mens jeg har vært opptatt med å lese diverse annet. Det var herlig å dykke inn i den igjen. Det ble nesten et dykk bokstavelig talt. Jeg kan i hvert fall svært levende forestille meg søstre og brødre som ligger på magen og stirrer på livet i vannet i et forsøk på å holde sorgen unna tanker og følelser den stunda.

Matt’s idea of baby-sitting, of course, was to take Bo and me back to the ponds, and as long as the fine weather lasted – and it lasted well into October that year – we went almost every afternoon. I recommend it, by the way – pond watching - as therapy. There is something about water, even if you no particular interest in the life forms within it. It is the medium we came from, after all. We were all rocked by water at our beginnings. (Side 101)

…

 I wonder, now, if Matt was hit harder by our parents’ death than any of us. Everyone assumed that I was the one most affected, but I wonder if that was so. I had Matt to turn to. He had nobody. He’d turned eighteen at the beginning of September, and it was assumed – by him as well as everyone else – that he was adult and would cope.

I hope Bo and I were of some comfort to him. I’m sure the ponds themselves were. I’m sure he drew comfort from the continuity of life there. The fact that the loss of one life did not destroy the community. The fact that the ending of life was part of a pattern. (Side 102)

Vann er en god ting. Hvis jeg måtte velge mellom alle ting, ville jeg ganske sikkert ha valgt vann.

Erlend Loe (f. 1969)

Vannet er det hellige i naturen.

Nils Johan Rud (1908-1993)