The Half Brother

Fred made a deep sigh and I was afraid he would get cross again. I could have bitten my tongue off and swallowed it. But instead he put his arm around me, while squeezing the last drop from the bag of syrup into the gutter. 'Do you remember what I asked you yesterday?' he asked. I quickly nod, almost too afraid to breathe. 'No, ' I whisper. 'No? Don't you remember?' I do remember. But I don't want to remember. And I can't forget it either. I'd rather wish that Fred hadn't started talking again after all. 'No, Fred.' 'Do you want me to ask you again?' I whisper, 'Yes'. And Fred grins. He's not cross, not when he's grinning like that. 'Do you want me to kill your father for you, Barnum?' he asks. My name is Barnum. Barnum and Fred are half-brothers, growing up in sixties Oslo. Barnum seems to have stopped growing, while his half-brother, frustrated by learning difficulties, is sent away to a special school. Theirs is an ordinary Norwegian family of the time, set apart by extraordinary family members.Their father is no better than a con man, giving the appearance of a travelling salesman; while the three woman in the family (mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, the 'Old One') are all unwed mothers. Then the Old One is killed by a hit and run driver - and Fred becomes mute as a result. The two half-brothers embark on their separate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, hoping to create a new genre in film, 'the northern' (as opposed to 'western'). The brothers won't meet again until at their mother's deathbed, many years later..