دانلود رمان انگلیسی “قایقران و همسرش”

AT A QUARTER PAST FIVE in the morning Nils Vik opened his eyes, and the last day of his life began. He lay there somewhere between dreaming and waking, sure that he would slip back into sleep, as was his habit. But now the day was here. He turned over, becoming aware of the room, the clock radio, the cold drifting in through the open window. There were no bloodstains on the pillow today, as far as he could see. What had he been dreaming about? A hand through his hair, fingertips brushing his cheek, a voice that reached him through the darkness. I’ll wait for you downstairs, sweetheart. He set his feet on the cold floor, went into the bathroom, pulled down his pyjama bottoms and emptied himself of the weight of the night’s piss, which poured into the toilet bowl in a single, long sigh. He began to do what had to be done. He was still capable of performing his morning ritual with efficient movements: get himself upright, find clothes, make coffee, eat breakfast, go down to the boat whatever the weather. These movements, drilled into him over the course of a long life. In the shower he watched the water as it gushed over his pale skin. At the sink he dragged his razor across his cheeks and jaw, down his throat and over his Adam’s apple. His right hand was trembling slightly – he had to be careful. He didn’t want to cross the fjord with a plaster on his upper lip or a bloody scrap of toilet paper stuck to his chin. What else? Teeth? Hands? Pomade? He considered omitting the aftershave. But this day couldn’t be any different to yesterday, or the day before that, or any other day before that one. The man in the mirror. A man of medium height, stocky and strong; hair once dark but now streaked with grey. A deeply furrowed face, high forehead, narrow eyes, brows that could do with a trim. Gravity had played its part; he would often joke that only his feet still looked like their full and true selves. He held his own gaze. The man in the mirror stared back at him, lowered his arms, attempted a smile. He was a man who liked to know everything about what went on around him: the weather, the wind, the tides. He was now looking at a man who no longer knew where he was going.