What does one do at the ends of the earth?

I sell books and maps, and I knit. Lydia feeds people--at the bakery in Kirkenes, at a little coffee shop in Puerto Williams. Alex builds furniture in Norway and then down south picks up whatever work he can--whatever appeals to him at the moment.

Henry is in the darkness, so he writes. And he translates--Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Spanish. I love the idea of being fluent in so many languages--not like my high-school French and the get-by Norwegian and Spanish I use. Henry insists I'm too hard on myself. In seven years, I must have become comfortable with the language.

But among ourselves, we speak a lot of English. It's a crutch I lean on.