"THE HALF BROTHER" "When they came home from Røst, Fred only saw a mother, a father, and a half brother who had taken his place." "Maybe that's why he wanted to kill my father, because he wasn't his." "But, as the great Barnum who I was named after once said," ""What matters is not what you see, but what you think you see."" " You're walking with me today, right?" " Why?" "You know." "Bye Mom." "See you!" "Fred, come here." "Look!" ""B"." "There." "That's for the hand you box with." "And "D"." "See, it goes the other direction." "Are you teaching the boy how to cheat?" "Let's see what she wrote." "The letter "B"." "Well, that's a start." "There are only 28 more letters." "And "D" is for dickhead!" "Fred, wait!" "Fred, wait!" "Fred!" "Barnum!" "Mom..." "Barnum." "Where are going?" "I'm going for a walk." " Are you all right, Barnum?" " Not really." "I once acted in a film called "The Maid and the Visitor"." "You haven't seen it." "No one has." "We'd been shooting for three days and done 18 scenes." "They built a little studio in a field outside Copenhagen." "My eyes burned after all those hours in the bright light, but I was happy." "Because this had to be a success, it had to be a sensation!" "We all knew it, everyone was happy, from the editor to the director to the pianist to the hero." "But then we heard a shout from the photographer." "All of a sudden he started crying." "He..." "He'd forgotten to put film in the camera." "It was impossible." "That kind of thing can't happen." "But it did." "Everything was gone, lost, as if it never existed." "I feel forgotten too." "I just sit here all day, waiting." " Waiting is an art." " No one needs me anymore." "That's not our money, Fred." "How can it not be ours when I'm sitting here holding it?" "A beer and a pot of tea." "And two..." " Two rizzwiches." " What's that?" "That's what civilized people call rissole sandwiches." "Let it steep a while." "Cheers." "When you stand outside it sounds like he's right in the room!" "Come, Barnum!" ""We were to bring back a muskox."" ""And we found a herd of oxen eating the bark off of the polar willow."" "Sometimes it's good to be hard of hearing." ""...the polar willow, which is nearly the only plant here."" ""The Captain and I and five men went ashore to try and capture a calf."" ""There was a calf, but we couldn't get close to it"" ""before the other oxen saw us." "There were 15 or 16 of them,"" ""and they moved in close together with the calf in the middle,"" ""and all of them began snorting and scraping like mad bulls." "Snorting and scraping." ""Then we returned empty-handed..."" "Who i K. Schultz?" " Is that Granddad?" " No." "No..." "He was our doctor." "He went out skiing." "That's why you were born in a taxi, Fred." "The idiot died of fresh air." "So you visit him because I was born in a cab?" "Dr. Schultz saved your life." "How?" "He stopped the bleeding." " What do you mean?" " He allowed you to be born." " Was I not supposed to be born?" " Of course you were, Fred." "I'm not a child anymore." "I don't even know who my father is." "I only know he died during the Liberation." "We don't even have any photos." "I want to know who I am." " You are Fred Nilsen." " I am not." "I know that." " Who was he?" " I don't know." " What do you mean?" " I never met him." "What, was he married?" "Was he German?" "Answer me, damn it!" "I want to know who he is, can't you see?" "Mom says nothing," "Boletta says nothing." "You're th only person in the family who talks." " Vera doesn't know who he is." " What?" "She never saw him." "You said you wanted to know." "That just makes you all the more precious to us." "Do you understand?" "Come, Fred!" "Let's go home." "How could this happen, Fred?" "Weren't you watching out for her?" "Out!" "get out!" "Now!" "The Fred Nilsen mystery!" ""Boxer Fred Nilsen disappeared from Oslo 22 years ago."" ""Rumored to have two lives on his conscience."" ""His brother, budding screenwriter Barnum Nilsen, says.."" "Budding screenwriter." "I'm 30 plus and still "budding"." "Jesus." "Don't take it so hard, Barnum." "Things change so quickly." "I was budding watch pen investor, now I'm a watch pen millionaire." "Write a script, Barnum." "Write about Fred disappearing." "People love that." "I'll be your financier." "You'll go from budding screenwriter to screenwriter millionaire." " People will want to know more." " I don't think so." " What are you writing, then?" " Certainly not about Fred." "What are you playing at?" "Your great-grandmother's death was an accident!" "Fred didn't speak for a year after that." " Do you want him to come back?" " Of course!" "Now he'll never come." "Fred won't say anything." "I can't remember the last time he said a word." "He had a shock when his great- grandmother died, but it will pass." " As long as he comes here and learns." " Learns?" "He can barely read or write." "Look at this!" " I've called the Stenersgata School." " Fred will not go to an idiot school!" " It's called special education." " Is that supposed to make it better?" "Is there something wrong with being special now, too?" " Fred!" " Fred, sit down!" "Fred!" "Maybe we can give Fred a chance?" "He comes from a family where silence is a virtue." "Ellen Jebsen, the silent film star, isn't she Fred's great-grandmother?" ""The beautiful Ellen Jebsen has stepped out of her human role"" ""and left the swaying backdrops of our time."" ""We who knew her feel a deep sorrow in our hearts"" ""that can only be eased when we follow her into the darkness."" ""She was born in Køge in 1880, but, as the great poet wrote,"" ""The greatest love leads to the greatest sorrow."" ""They never had a chance to marry." "Wilhelm set sail on the SS Antarctic,"" " "which sailed to Greenland..." - "..." "To bring a muskox for the zoo."" " "He never came home."" " And we're supposed to believe that." ""She could have become another Asta Nielsen, or the next Greta Garbo."" " Congratulations!" " Thank you!" ""The Honorable Fleming Brandt."" ""Hotel Gammel Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark."" "Fleming Brandt, who's that?" " Maybe we can visit him." " Yes, and got to Denmark this summer." "A car trip to Denmark!" "Exciting!" "I've never been outside of Norway." " Me neither." " Nor Fred." "Barnum, how about a drive?" "Want to come, Fred?" "We've driven here before." "You remember that?" "Fred?" "It was a nice drive, despite the rain." " It's when Vera fell in love with me." " Despite the rain." "All we had to do was put the roof up and drive indoors." "Remember, Fred?" "I think someone is following us." "You've got a great imagination, Barnum." "Look at that!" "Let me." " Thanks!" " My pleasure." "This is the life, boys!" "It's nice for men to be by ourselves a while." "Women are hard to understand." " How much?" " How much what?" " How much can we understand, Dad?" " Two percent." "If that." " He doesn't talk to you either?" " No." "Doesn't he ever talk in his sleep?" " How are tings at school?" " I'm the smallest in class." "I was the smallest too, Barnum." "And look how I turned out!" "I once knew the world's tallest man." "He wasn't at all happy about it, quite the opposite." " How tall was he?" " Reports differ." "But he couldn't reach his own shoes." "What matters is not what you see, but what you think you see." " Arnold Nilsen?" " Yes, that name sounds familiar." "Uh-oh..." "Dad!" "Ladies and gentlemen!" "A big hand to the man who was declared the world's tallest by a medical conference in Copenhagen." "Measuring 2.74 meters... in his stocking feet!" "Ladies and gentlemen, the Icelander Paturson!" " And who are you?" " Arnold." " What are you doing here?" " I got separated from my parents." " Did you come here with them?" " No." "I thought not." " Let him sleep in Paturson's room tonight." "Thanks!" "Come." "I wonder..." "That Paturson..." "He's not 2.74 meters." "He's only 2.04 meters." "Paturson is 2.04 meters lying down." "But when he stands up he's 2.74 meters." " How old are you?" " I'm 15." "And how old are you when you're lying down?" "Wait!" "Wait!" "Come back!" "Ladies and gentlemen!" "I promised you a sensation and I'm going to give you a sensation!" "Please, dear audience, have a seat!" "Barnum was king of America." "Greater than Alexander the Great and Napoleon." "He made the world his circus." "He said, "The world wants to be deceived."" " What is greater than Paturson?" " God?" "God is four centimeters shorter than Paturson." "It's imagination!" "What matters is not what you see, but what you think you see!" "Never forget!" "There..." "You are now Paturson's mute, deformed, Icelandic daughter." "Paturson has been reunited with his daughter!" "She speaks not a word, but the heart beating in her chest is all the greater." "Dad?" "Dad?" "Let's not say anything about this to Vera." "You'd better not start talking now." "Keep up with your aphasia." " The car is in the shop?" "Why?" " The hand brake jammed." "You think you're a car expert?" "Then shut up!" " I probably shouldn't have said that." " No, you shouldn't have." " I sold the car." " You sold the car?" " We're planning a car trip!" " Maybe next summer." " I promised Barnum a trip to Denmark!" " I've been to the insurance company." "The Old One's policy is only worth a few thousand kroner." " She wasn't worth enough for you?" " Our premiums have been to low." " Or Fred has been plundering the box." " You can't always blame Fred!" "You're such a wheeler-dealer." "I can't take all this talk about money!" "I thought you could have this in your room." "He doesn't mean it." "He just can't always control himself." "Fred, you can talk to me." "Answer me!" "Answer me, Fred!" " Vera, leave the boy alone." " What do you mean by that?" "Fred, you talk to me now." "Talk to me!" "Talk to me, Fred." "You talk to me now." "I've been to the doctor." "There's nothing wrong with me." "Maybe it's you." " You didn't say anything to me?" " I'm saying it now." " I want to have a baby." " What if it turns out short?" " Is it so terrible being a bit short?" " Yes, it is, actually." " I don't get that." " No?" "Then you don't get me." "Of course I do." "I totally get you." "I think about all your wonderful qualities that should be carried on." "And what's that?" "Apart from you, of course." "You make me look smart." "When people see us they think," ""That guy, he must be very smart if he got her."" " Don't belittle yourself, Barnum." " You don't care if our child is tiny?" "I just hope they can swim." "Can't we just try it the old-fashioned way?" "It doesn't really happen, does it?" " Why can't we go on holiday?" " I don't want to drive a stolen car." " How do you know it's stolen?" " That's his field..." "I promised Barnum, and now we have a car and cash." " Fred can't say where he got it." " He doesn't talk" "And why doesn't he talk, have you thought about that?" "Arnold, I'm 37 years old." "I've been to Røst once, and since then I've just sat here waiting." "I want to go." " Where?" "Where are we going?" " To Denmark." "To visit Fleming Brandt." "And don't say a word about how you got that car!" " Are you sure this is it?" " Yes." "Fleming Brandt, Hotel Gammel Strand." "I'll go in and get him." " An ale, please!" "And two coffees and two mineral waters." "They knew exactly who Fleming Brandt is." " They call him "Redskin"." " Excuse me?" "Redskin?" "Yes." "He's on his way now." "Well, there we have him." "Fleming Brandt." " We came to thank you." " For your tribute to my mother." " Ellen Jebsen." " Boletta?" "It's been ages." " Were you an actor, too?" " No, no, I was the editor." " My name is Arnold Nilson." " I have this rash on my hands." " Exzema." "I got it from handling the film." " Right, they call you Redskin." " Excuse me, did you see my Mom act?" " Oh, yes." "Every single frame." " And you are...?" " Fred." "That is so amazing." "Come with me." "Come, let me show you something." " My word..." " Fred?" "This is Wilhelm, the polar explorer." "He used to come and visit her." " Mom..." " She's beautiful." " Look how in love they are." " That must be Great-granddad!" "He looks just like you, Fred." "We once shot a film called "The Maid and the Visitor"." "We'd been shooting for three days and done 18 scenes, and we were happy." "Then we heard a cry from the photographer." "He'd forgotten to put film in the camera." "How did she die?" "Fred pushed her in front of a truck." "Why did you kill the Old One, Fred?" "She really cared about you." " Barnum?" " Yes?" "Don't you want me to kill your father for you?" "That night Fred sat down on the edge of my bed." ""I was with the Old One," he said." ""I saw her in heaven."" ""She forgave me."" " What did she forgive you for?" - "Can you keep a secret?"" ""Yes," I said." "And I've always kept it." "Right up until I talked to that reporter." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?"