Dancing in the Dark: My Struggle Book 4 Read Online Free PDF Page B

He lives with his mother.’
    ‘He’s from the “or” time,’ Frank said.
    They laughed. Then they both looked at me.
    ‘Well, we shouldn’t bother him any more on his first day here,’ Remi said and got up. Frank got up too. They took their jackets and went into the hall.
    ‘Think about the party tonight,’ Remi said. ‘We’ll be at Hege’s if you change your mind.’
    ‘He doesn’t know where Hege lives,’ Frank said.
    ‘You walk up the top road. Then it’s the fourth house on the left. You’ll see it straight away. There’ll be cars outside.’
    He stuck out a hand.
    ‘Hope you’ll come. Thanks for the coffee!’
    After I had closed the door behind them I went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. Stretched out my arms and legs and closed my eyes.
    A car came up the hill and stopped outside.
    I opened my eyes. More visitors?
    No. A door banged somewhere else in the house. It was my neighbours, whoever they were, coming home. After shopping in Finnsnes perhaps.
    Oh, I was dying to ring someone I
knew
for a chat!
    I couldn’t sleep, which I was also keen to do, to get away from all of this. Instead I went to the bathroom, undressed and had another shower. It was a way of tricking myself into believing something new was beginning. Not as good as sleeping, it was true, but better than nothing. Then, with wet hair and my shirt sticking to my back, I sat down and went on writing. I had the two ten-year-olds walking around in the forest. They were scared of meeting foxes and had cap guns in their hands to frighten them away if they showed up. Suddenly they heard a shot. They ran over to where the sound had come from and saw a rubbish dump in the middle of the forest. There were two men lying on the ground shooting at rats. Whereupon something seemed to flash through me, an arc of happiness and energy; now I couldn’t write fast enough, the text lagged slightly behind the narrative, it was a wonderful feeling, shiny and glittering.
    The men shooting at the rats went on their way, the two boys pulled up two chairs and a table in the forest and sat there reading porn magazines. One of them, the one called Gabriel, stuck his dick in a glass bottle and suddenly felt a terrible stinging pain, he pulled it out and there was a beetle on the end. Gordon laughed so much he fell back into the heather. They forgot all about time, then Gabriel realised, but it was too late, his father was furious with him when he got home, punched him in the mouth, which began to bleed, and locked him in the tiny room with the hot water tank, where he had to stay all night.
    When I had finished, it was getting on for eight, and seven closely written pages lay in a pile beside the typewriter.
    So great was my sense of triumph that something inside me screamed out to tell someone. Anyone! Anyone!
    But I was all alone.
    I turned off the typewriter and buttered some slices of bread, which I ate standing in front of the kitchen window. A figure hurried past on the road under the greying though still blue sky. Two cars emerged from the tunnel, one right after the other. I had to go out. I couldn’t stay inside any longer.
    Then there was a knock at the door.
    I answered it. A woman of around thirty, dressed in only a T-shirt and slacks, stood outside. Her face had gentle features, her nose was big though not obtrusively so, her eyes were warm and brown. Her hair was dark blonde and tied in a knot at the back.
    ‘Hi!’ she said. ‘I just had to say hello. We’re neighbours. I live upstairs. And we’re also colleagues. I’m a teacher too. My name’s Torill.’
    She proffered her hand. Her fingers were thin, but her grasp was firm.
    ‘Karl Ove,’ I said.
    ‘Welcome to Håfjord,’ she said with a smile.
    ‘Thank you,’ I said.
    ‘You arrived yesterday, I hear?’
    ‘Yes, by bus.’
    ‘Yes, well, we’ll have to talk another time. I just wanted to say that if there’s anything you need just ring the bell. I mean, sugar or