"I think it's weather for manuring." "Belli!" "What have they done to the boy?" "Belli!" "Come over here!" "That is not normal." "If it had got in his eyes he could have been blinded." "You idiots!" "It's true." "You just laugh." "You should buy your face in shame." "Why?" "You're spoiling the boy." "You're both the same." "But there's nothing wrong in that." "No one can see up here." "Nobody?" "What about us?" "For him, it's not wrong to be naked." "You couldn't teach him that yet." "You don't know what you're saying." "Me neither." "Now you know." "My God!" "What brats!" "You swallow evemhing." "So he has got no respect at all." "Evemhing, evemhing..." "The boy works for more than he eats." "What about me?" "Do I eat more than I work for?" "Ifyou had become a teacher, no doubt." "They all eat more than they work for, down there." "With the wages I get up here, you couldn't feed a rabbit down there." "Don't start on that again." "He would freeze to death." "Will he ever grow up?" "You don't want him to." "He's there!" " Looks starving." " Let him eat." "He's got school this aRernoon." "He must help me a bit on the land." "Then I'll send him." "Mother is in the garden." "That's where I'm going too." "...and give it to my little tree." "I will fetch rain water from the barrel and give it - to my little tree." "I hope the electric fence has arrived at last." "Just don't forget the coffee." "I don't mind about the rest." "I'll send the boy to meet you." "Otherwise I can cary it myself." "Give me the post." "Have the books come at last?" "Can't wait, as usual?" "Another letter with no sender." "I know who it's from." "Behind my back." "You and your "notions"." "Lunch time!" ""Notions"..." "She would do better reading less of those stories." "She'd be more content." "We cherish happy memories ofthe dear deceased." "And may the Almighty give her Eternal Peace." "Eveyone will be going to her funeral." "That'll still depend on the weather." "What does granny write?" "Ifwe're coming over for Whitsun." "Greetings to eveyone." "Nothing else?" "Ifyes, hang out the flag." "Otherwise, evemhing's as usual." "It's nearly melve." "Father will be looking out to see ifthe bees' wax has arrived." "They're already at the window." "You could go over there alone once." "I'll go some time during the week." "Or else she won't let anyone help." "The grass is growing and we're hoping for a good summer." "God bless you all and a kiss for the dear boy." "Your Granny and Grandfather." "Belli?" "Have you hung out the flag?" "The boy already did it last night." "Damned tie!" "Can't we go yet?" "I'm just ready." "I think we'd better take some money." " They won't need much." " Can you get it?" "And something for the poor clerics." "I say, Belli!" "Look at that!" "What's going on here?" "Have you packed my prayer book?" "I think so." "You'll need it over Whitsun." "It's taking so long today." " I think I'll put on the other shoes." " We'll go on ahead." " Hello, Belli, how's evemhing?" " Hello, Gran." "Fine and you?" "Goodness, how he's grown!" "Green gardens already at Whitsun." "In ours, at this time ofyear, the grass is hardly green." "He replanted the pear tree." "In front ofyour mother's window." "Blocking her whole view." "Your view, not Hanni's." "I'm not saying anything." "Your mother surely felt her heart with the last winds." "Her asthma is also worse again." "Look at the boy." "It's because we're talking too much." "Either he gets raging mad or like this, as just lately." "Recently he threw father's radio in the dung hole." "Grandfather," "do something with him." "We women have our rest day." "I'd have put the tree somewhere else aRer the winds had pulled it out." "You don't know the boy." "When he's got something in his head, he's stubborn." "That's what I mean." "He's planted it in front of his window, not mother's." "Yes, Hanni." "It isn't from us that she's got her moodiness." "She used to be so cheerful." "She just hasn't been the same since the boy." "If she worked more and prayed less she'd be better off." "You mean the boy's to blame?" "No one's to blame." "For 3 years nobody noticed that he didn't hear." "I'll never understand that." "When he was small he laughed and screamed like all children." "Some children talk earlier than others." "That can happen." "The doctor also said that." "Yes, even the doctor said that." "But it was like that, he'd been deaf from birth." "Your mother never got over it." "What about father?" "You know what he said to the doctor?" ""I'd rather beat him to death than let him be put away in a home."" "He was so hung on him." "We're all hung on him." "But when your father took you out of school your mother wasn't pleased." "She'd have liked you to be a teacher." " It's all right now." " All right... no properjob, nothing." ""If Belli's so clever, she can teach the boy to write, and maths." "Then she'll also be a teacher."" "That's what he said." "He's right." "School makes stupid." "So we're mo ofthe clever ones." "No looking at me under the glass." "Go to Belli." "I'll let him keep it." "What's the boy doing with the pigs?" "The big sow has got another one." "Is that normal?" "Gran," "COVel yOUI ealS." "Me?" "Yes, cover your ears." "It's normal to hear." "Did you say something?" "It's normal to hear, I said." "For us it's normal to hear." "We don't know ifthe boy finds it normal not to hear." "I'm too stupid for all that." "But you'd have been a good teacher." "Granny, I'm sory." "I think it's like that." "He's like a man when he works, and he works a lot." "He's like a child when he plays." "He's both at the same time." "What's going on out there?" "I can't hear anything." "They should have married earlier." "Your mother 35, your father over 40, that's too late." "Many nights your mother cried because of Franz's mother." "She ruled the house till the end." "All the children leR home quickly." "Franz was the youngest, so he had to stay." "Engaged for 15 years." "She didn't let another woman near as long as she lived." "At the engagement they gave each other binoculars." "Don't talk so much." "When the view was clear they made signs at the window." "I never guessed what it all meant." "You must make the candles before winter." "When the wax is old it burns slower." "I'll make the lunch." "He's got the wax on the bed-table." "The whole room smells of it." "That's ok." "I'll start the fire or we won't be eating for a long time." "Franz working on a holy day?" "Let's have a look." "Jesus!" "It's really close." "It's hard to find better ones." "But is Whit-Monday also a holy day?" "Yes, it is, but the Irascible were never specially pious." "They haven't done badly either." "I don't know any ofthat family who was really a bad sort." "Why have we got that nickname?" "What nickname?" ""Irascibles" that's not a nickn!" "ame." "They've been called that for ages." "Ever since that farm was there." "One ofthem perhaps was like that, some hundred years ago." "But mother can't stand it when we're called this." "She's never spoken the name." "Better be proud of it." "The Irascibles were the only ones who planted their own barley field." "They wanted to be free of their masters in the valley." "So they always went a little hungy." "But never vey hungy." "I'm coming." "Take the spray." "Let it go." "Relax." "Where's the boy?" "He's outside with father." "I'm coming." "Has the dog eaten this morning?" "No." "He makes a big circle round his plate." "I suppose you're proud ofthe rascal?" "Bastard!" "A bath tub would sometimes be nice." "Is it really not working?" "Maybe the batteries go wet." "He's broken it." "An_ay, that music is no loss." "Your radio is no loss either." "That's something else." "His mind isn't on the game." "That boy has never had a bad conscience." "He's such a charmer." "I go to bed." "I prefer that to the radio music." "Now you won't go to bed with wet hair." "Today I won't get up." "The devil's in him." "The damned bastard!" "Shit!" "Get him," "I'll break his neck." "We must do something." "Perhaps we should go down to the valley with him." "And what else?" "I can also turn his head" "and send a bill aRerwards." "He's coming to the age..." "Yes, exactly." "when things slowly ..." "That's what I've been saying." "He should let out his temper on the rocks." "There are enough rocks an_ay." "Enough rocks for more boys." "You think so?" "Just like his father." "Now you can see whose son he is." "Is it true about the barley stoy?" "And that the Irascibles built such walls a hundred years ago?" "When your voice broke you had to go splitting rock." "That wall behind is mine:" "1940." "Franz, do you want another coffee?" "It won't do any harm." " I think he's got the knack." " Is there still any?" "Stop it!" "Leave it!" "Hail May, full of grace, the Lord is with you." "You are blest among women and blest is the fruit ofyour womb," "Jesus." "Holy May," "Mother of God, you're right, it's true." "I remember" "The wind rattled the house, and the beds were moving." "I can hear it again, just like that." "There was a knocking just like that." "I'd hoped it was a shutter banging." "But there was a knocking on the door," "I did hear it." "I was afraid it might be the ghost of someone once living there, a troubled soul, wandering." "One of our mountain neighbours." "Ask her want she wants." "Wait!" "I'm coming." "What's wrong?" "He's up there on our alp, splitting rock." "Thank goodness!" "I thought we hadn't eaten 3 loaves since yesterday." "So, he's been stealing bread." "He should stay up there till it's clear down here." "3 loaves." "That wasn't stealing." "Some tinned food is still up there." "Tomorrow I'll go to see him." "Or you." "He's stolen the tools as well." "He's not setting foot in this house, the god-forsaken son of a devil." "Belli, he's coming, but alone." "Did you hear?" "Heavens Belli, what's the matter?" "The boy wants to finish his work up there, your father said." "Wait, I'll get you warm water." "He'll come home when he's hungy." "The boy!" "It's sure to be warm near the stove." "You think" "I should take him with me?" "Of course." "He's also got to know where the money comes from." "You're probably right." "And that there are other people." "You mean different kinds." "I always thought at the market there were only cattle, or men, until now." "You thought." "There are women." "They come from far, just for us." " Going to bed already?" " Good night." "Have you marked the things you want in the catalogue?" "He'll take it to the post." "It's done." "Good night." "Not even a coffee if she isn't eating." "She's got moody again." "Takes aRer me." "And the boy... takes aRer me then?" "She's marked a lot." "Show me." "Look at that." "What does she want those for, up here?" "I'll have to sell 2 more cows." "Look at him!" "What a handsome boy!" "What does the finance minister say?" "Have we cheated?" "You'd be afraid of someone like that." "For that amount you could already buy a T.V." "Belli would like to have one." "The ones run by gas cost a bit more." "If it were leR to you we'd still be in the Stone Age." "If it's leR to those down there, we'll soon be back there too." "What's that?" "The spiced breads are finished." "It gave me a fright." "I almost couldn't get him away from the pipe stand." "He didn't want to show it to Belli." "He's got shy." "We leR him alone too long up there." "You could have changed the hundreds." "They'll start wondering in the shop." "He bought Belli a bag of breads." "We'll put that on the side, alright?" "Where is he?" "Not here." "When did he leave?" "Holy St. Tony, help us to find the boy  and send him home." "Let St. Tony go to sleep." "And let nothing happen to him." "Our Father, which art in heaven..." "He's surely up on the alp." "With his little towers - before the snow comes." "... on earth as it is In Heaven." "Ifyou'd ever been up there once, you would understand." "The man at the market said:" "Your boy's good at splitting rock." "You may not believe it, but I've seen him." "... the power, and the gloy, for ever" "and ever." "Amen." "Did I choose the right colour?" "He's smearing." "It went down the wrong way." "You meant well." "That's not always the best." "Isn't it a pity for such a prem skirt?" "Listen..." "Yes?" "Tell me Belli." "I'm expecting." "I know." "I've known a long time." "I've prayed." "But now I'm pleased." "And you be too." "Belli's expecting." "A child?" "Where from?" "Who from?" "From the boy." "The Irascible!" "The Irascibles' Franz!" "What are you doing?" "Don't touch it, leave it," "wake up!" "Listen to me!" "I'll kill them, kill them both." "Father..." "Mother..."