Pets (17 page)

Armann's suggestion seems to go unnoticed. I hear Havard say something about music. Since Armann is in the bathroom, I imagine that he will play something that he has chosen himself, no doubt to please the lady.

“I don't mind,” Greta says, and it becomes obvious—contrary to what I expected—that Havard suggested they play some Viennese waltzes, probably my Janos Ferencsik edition. I imagined that he would carry on with Elvis Presley, but I wouldn't be surprised if Greta's presence had influenced his choice.

“Maybe it's too loud,” he says, and though I don't hear Greta agree, the volume is lowered, almost down to nothing.

I don't see if Armann succeeds in squeezing the spot on his face, but suddenly, as he starts whistling along to “The Blue Danube,” he has a comb in his hand—which probably came out of his pocket; I don't own a comb myself—and he runs it through his tobacco-colored hair, from his forehead down to the nape of his neck. He seems to be having trouble getting his hair to stay in place, so he wets it with water from the tap, tries again, and seems to have more success this time. Then he puts the comb in the side pocket of his jacket, bares his teeth at the mirror, and walks out of the bathroom.

“Now I wouldn't mind getting one of those food trays that we had on the plane,” he says on the way into the living room. “Wouldn't that be good, Greta dear?” he adds, like he's addressing his wife.

Greta says that she isn't hungry enough to want airplane food and she thinks that they should wait for me, if they are thinking of eating at all. She then gets the idea that I probably have a cell phone and suggests that we try to find out, I must have one on me. While she phones information and asks for the cell phone number of Emil S. Halldorsson, I try to remember where I left my phone. I took it out of my jacket pocket when I came in, but I can't for the life of me remember where I put it. I expect it is in the kitchen or the living room, but then it starts ringing here in the bedroom. I remember now: I put it down beside the computer when I was looking at my email.

“Where is the ringing coming from?” Greta asks excitedly, as if she expects the telephone to tell them where I am.

Which it actually does.

Havard doesn't take long to track down the sound; he rushes into the bedroom and grabs the phone.

“Emil here,” he says in a gruff voice.

Greta doesn't answer him. Instead she comes into the bedroom and switches the cordless phone off. I'm relieved that I didn't have my cell phone on me.

“I don't find this at all amusing, to tell you the truth,” Greta complains. “I'm beginning to fear that something has happened to him.”

“It's not a bad phone,” Havard answers. I'd give it to him if he would just get out of my home.

“What about his father?” Greta asks. “Do his parents live together?”

“That I can't tell you,” Havard says. “But, I found the number of his father Halldor today and his mother answered the phone.”

As soon as Greta sits down at the foot of the bed, right above my head, she asks Havard to call my mother to find out if I have gone there. The mattress sinks down uncomfortably close to my head and just misses touching me. Havard tells her that my mother has already called, and then Greta asks whether he knows of some friend I could have gone to visit. “We can't stay in his flat all evening, you can't finish all his wine, I mean, he has only just gotten home from abroad.”

“
We
?” Havard seems to be rather offended. “Who are
we
?”

“I mean all of us,” Greta says apologetically.

“I don't know any of Emil's friends,” Havard says. “I haven't seen him for a long time, we never really knew each other very well.”

“You do
know
him, don't you?” Greta seems to grow suspicious.

“Of course I know him. We were in London together. We also worked in the same place.”

“And was he expecting you here today? Did you speak to him first?”

Armann's whistling drowns out the quiet waltz in the living room; “Künstlerleben” is just about to begin.

“Well, he didn't really know that I was coming, I just came home from Sweden unexpectedly. It wasn't really planned at all.” I hear him press on the keyboard.

“What were you doing in Sweden?” Greta asks. “Hey, you shouldn't read his email,” she adds accusingly.

“I'm not doing much at the moment. You mean am I working or something like that?”

“Stop reading his email,” Greta repeats angrily.

“I'm not reading it, I'm just
. . .
” He is interrupted by my cell phone, which starts ringing. The first person I think of is Saebjorn; he's the only person I know who prefers to call a cell phone number before a home number, even though he knows that I am at home. “Hey, now he's calling!” Havard shouts. “He's seen that someone has called him from here.”

Oh yes? I say to myself, and Greta makes a similar comment; she asks if he really thinks so.

“Emil?” Havard seems convinced that it's me. “Hello? Who is that? Saebjorn? Yes, this is Emil's place. It is Emil's. Who am I? I am Havard.”

I can feel Greta move her behind around on the bed, and then I hear her pick up something from my son Halldor's toy box. It sounds like she is looking at a fire engine I gave him last summer.

“Yes, Saebjorn, I think so. I think he just nipped out. Yes, yes, do that
. . .
”

Greta lets out a sound, as if she has pricked herself on something, and for a moment I feel as if it is I who has hurt myself, that she has sat further in on the bed and made the springs poke into the back of my neck. She probably pinched her finger in the ladder on the fire engine; I have done it myself.

“Vigdis?” Havard asks in surprise. “No, it isn't Vigdis. It's Greta, Emil's friend. What? Do you want to talk to her? No, alright. Yes, I think he'll be back soon. Shall I tell him you called? No, probably just out to the shop, but he has been rather long. Yes, just knock, we are here looking after his house. OK? Alright, Saebjorn. Goodbye, Saebjorn.”

“Who is Vigdis?” Greta asks.

“Emil seems to know some girl called Vigdis,” Havard answers, and I beg him, for God's sake, not to say any more about it. “How did you manage to hurt yourself on that?” he asks, and I'm really thankful that he steers the subject away from Vigdis.

“I pinched myself,” Greta answers.

“Hey, I want to show you something in the other room,” Havard says. I imagine he is going to show her the ship and the book.

He stands up from the computer table, and, as he goes towards the door, I get ready to make the most of the opportunity and tap Greta on her foot while she's still sitting on the bed. But just when Havard goes out of the room, Greta stands up, and before I can do anything it is too late to touch her. I curse myself for being so slow, but I am convinced that it would be less risky to try to get her attention when she goes to the toilet by herself, which she must do soon.

I think back to our first conversation in front of the toilet on the plane. If we get to know each other better (that is when this nightmare is over) that trip to the toilet will be a shared memory of our first conversation.

“I was beginning to think that you had both gone,” Armann says when they come into the living room. I haven't heard much from him, apart from the occasional whistle to the Viennese waltzes. He seems to have forgotten that he was hungry.

“Here's what I want to show you,” Havard says eagerly. “See here, isn't she beautiful?”

“Is she your daughter?” Greta sounds surprised.

“Don't you think she is pretty?”

“Yes, she's a very pretty girl. How old is she?”

“She's
. . .
what
. . .
she'll be eight this summer.”

I had no idea that Havard was a father. I don't even know if I should be happy for him, I haven't a clue about the circumstances in which the poor child was conceived.

“She is very pretty, Havard,” Greta repeats.

For some reason I feel I can believe what Greta is saying, even though she seems to be something of a tease. It's no doubt because I trust her; she is the only sensible person in here—apart from myself, that is. If she says that Havard's daughter is pretty, then I believe that she is pretty. But I still find it difficult to accept the fact that he has a daughter.

“May I see, Havard?” Armann says, though I can't imagine he is very interested in children.

3

“Is she holding a Bible?” Armann asks, and Havard sounds rather annoyed when he answers:

“Yes, is there anything wrong with that?”

“Absolutely not. The Bible is as good as any other book,” Armann says and adds that she is a pretty girl.

“Was the photo taken abroad?” Greta asks. “The atmosphere seems to be so foreign somehow, especially those heavy dark curtains in the background. Was it taken in America?”

“In America?” Havard hesitates for a moment and then tells Greta that yes, the photo was taken there; the girl's mother, with whom he no longer lives—understandably, I say to myself—had gone off to America with the girl, but he sees her now and again. She visits him regularly, last time in Sweden.

Sounds likely, I think to myself.

But I think it is very strange that Havard never mentioned his family to me. If his daughter is nearly eight, she must have been two or three when we were in London. Now I recall that he told me once that he didn't have any children; that children were better off without a father like him, as I think he put it.

“Well, my friends,” Armann barks after Havard has told them about his daughter and her mother. “One can't just survive on photos. Isn't it time we had something to eat?”

“What's the matter, aren't you happy here, Armann?” Havard asks, as if he is addressing a little child. “Didn't I give you coffee and cognac. You had a cigar too, and can have another if you want. You just came here to fetch your glasses. Don't you think it is a bit much to suddenly expect food?”

Good fellow, I think to myself and mentally thank Havard for putting Armann in his place, even though I suspect it was done to impress Greta.

“Havard, my good fellow,” Armann says, “I don't mean to sound ungrateful for what you have offered here
. . .
”

“What
Emil
has offered,” Havard butts in.

“Yes, what our friend Emil has offered here,” Armann says and is again interrupted by Havard, who suddenly starts singing:

“
Where the Lord provides / blessings come from above
. . .
”

Greta laughs; she seems to recognize the hymn.

“I am not talking about a four-course meal or anything like that,” Armann adds. Havard carries on singing:

“
Where holy words are recited / there is heavenly peace and love
.”

These religious words don't seem to make any impression on Armann; he is more interested in finishing what he is trying to say: “I was only wondering if Emil had a little something in the freezer that we could heat up. It is not very sensible to drink on an empty stomach, you know that, Havard.”

I'm not so sure that Havard does know it. At Brooke Road his breakfast consisted of two or three large cans of Carlsberg Special Brew, and normally he didn't eat anything solid until later in the day, out of dire necessity. He doesn't seem to bother answering Armann, and leaves it to Greta to find a solution to the problem.

“Why don't you just run out to the sweet shop?” she suggests.

“Sweet shop, you say?” He is upset; he hadn't expected this kind of reaction. “Once it was called a confectioner's, if I remember correctly.”

There is a knock on the front door.

“Have a look out the window and see who it is!” Havard calls out in a whisper, no doubt to Greta, and before they find out who it is, there is another knock.

“I don't think it's Emil,” I hear Greta say in the same kind of loud whisper.

“Wait a moment then,” Havard says in a warning tone. “Don't open straight away.”

I hear him go into the living room. Armann asks him what he is doing; Havard signals to him to keep quiet and comes, almost running, into the bedroom, where he puts something down on the floor near the toy box. The knocking continues. Havard rushes out again; it sounds as though he slides on the floor when he goes into the hall. He pauses to catch his breath before he opens the front door.

The person outside—clearly a man, judging from his voice—says something I can't hear and Havard answers:

“Yes, that's me.”

I can feel cold, fresh air flow in along the hall and into the room. I recognize Jaime's voice straight away; he asks if I have come home yet, and Havard says no but why doesn't he come in.