The Healer Read Online Free PDF

sign that surprises were in the offing.
    â€œWe should have told you about this before,” Ahti said. He stood with his hands in his pockets behind Elina’s chair. Tears glistened on her face.
    â€œWhat?” I asked.
    Elina quickly wiped her eyes as if the tears were in her way.
    â€œWe’re leaving,” she said. “We’re going north.”
    â€œWe have a year’s lease on an apartment in a little town up there,” Ahti said.
    â€œA year?” I said. “What about when the year’s over?”
    Elina’s eyes filled with tears again. Ahti stroked her hair, she lifted her hand and held his. The eyes of both wandered the room, unable to latch onto anything. A more paranoid person might have thought that they were being evasive about something, but what could they have to be evasive about?
    â€œWe don’t know,” Ahti said. “But it can’t be any worse than living here. I lost my job for good six months ago. Elina hasn’t had regular teaching work for a couple of years now.”
    â€œYou haven’t said anything about it,” I remarked quietly.
    â€œWe didn’t want to because we thought things would get better.”
    We sat for a moment in silence. The smell of fresh coffee floated into the room. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it.
    â€œI’ll go see if the coffee’s done brewing,” Ahti said with audible relief.
    Elina wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. The loose sleeve wrapped around her wrist and she had to straighten it with her other hand.
    â€œWe really believed we would think of something,” she said, again so quietly that I had to lean forward to make out the words that fell from her lips, “that there was some solution, that this had all been some kind of horrible, sudden crisis that would work itself out and life would go on like before.”
    I didn’t know if she was talking about their situation or the whole world’s, but it probably didn’t make any difference.
    Ahti came back with the coffeepot. His movements were as smooth and precise as always as he poured the coffee into cups painted with flowers like mementos of a time forever lost. Which, of course, they were.
    â€œHave you sold this place?” I asked, waving a hand and looking around to indicate the apartment. Ahti shook his head.
    â€œNo,” he said quietly.
    â€œTell him the truth, Ahti,” Elina said, wiping away the two or three more tears trickling down her cheeks with her sweatshirt sleeve.
    Ahti sat at the other end of the sofa and pulled his cup closer, obviously going over the matter in his mind before speaking.
    â€œWho would buy this place?” he said, sitting up straighter. “There are holes in the roof, there’s water in the basement, mold everywhere, rats and cockroaches. The electricity goes out all the time, and so does the water. The city’s about to collapse. No one has any money, and the ones who do sure don’t want to move in here. There are no more investors, and even if there were, why pay rent when you can live someplace for free? And who really believes things are going to get better?”
    Elina stared straight ahead, not crying anymore.
    â€œWe believed,” she said quietly, looking at Ahti.
    â€œWe believed for a really long time,” he agreed.
    I couldn’t think of anything to say. I drank my coffee, watching the steam rise from it, warming my hands on the cup.
    â€œJohanna’s certain to turn up,” Elina said suddenly, waking me from my thoughts.
    I looked up at Elina, then at Ahti. He was nodding to her, as if to confirm what she’d said, and stopped suddenly when he noticed me staring at him. I didn’t let that, or the trace of uncertainty I saw again in his eyes, trip me up. I knew that if I didn’t ask, I might regret it.
    â€œAhti, I could help you out with a little money and buy something from you at the same