Page 25 of The Secret to Belonging

you search the list of Norwegian cities

for the name of their town

find the coordinates

follow your fingers to a dot near the very top of the page

your host family lives

above

the Arctic

Circle

SEVEN (SYV)

you’re doing homework and listening to West Side Story

(the 1957 Broadway cast recording)

is there a place for you?

peace and quiet somewhere above the Arctic Circle?

your brother appears in the doorway

leans against the wall

you jump

he almost never comes upstairs

you can tell he’s sober, but it’s early

you turn off the record

uh, Mom said you’re leaving

… yep

going to Finland or somewhere

… Norway, actually

okay, yeah, Norway. reindeer, right? North Pole?

… yeah, something like that

listen, uh…

… yeah?

i’m sorry for everything

…

i mean, i know life around here