Death By Water Read Online Free PDF

in bed blue in the face, with his fat tongue poking out of his gob. Maybe he’s turned over in his drunken stupor and smothered Mother as well. In that case Jo will have to take Truls and Nini and leave there. Sit next to Ylva on the plane. You can live with me , she says. What about Truls and Nini? he asks. I have to take care of them. They’ve got no one else. She leans up against him. My parents can adopt them. They’ll be well looked after.
    He does it without any more thought. Sneaks out, over to the neighbouring door. Knocks. No answer. Is he maybe not meant to speak to her? Knocks again. Suddenly shuffling footsteps inside.
    – Who is it?
    Ylva’s voice. He’s struck again by something he noticed at the pool the other day. She has a sort of Bergen accent. The thick way she rolls her rs. Bergen or somewhere round there. He feels a desire to say her name, but controls himself.
    – It’s me … I live next door.
    She opens up. She’s wearing a tank top and shorts. A towel round her head, like a turban.
    – Hi, says Jo.
    – Hi?
    – I live next door, he says again.
    – Yeah?
    She says it as though she’s never seen him before. I live next door , he’s about to say for the third time. Can I come in?
    Sit on their sofa. Hold her hand. The look in her eyes doesn’t suggest anything like that.
    – Can I borrow a tin opener? he says, rescuing himself, relieved at how natural it sounds. Tin openers are things anyone might need, any time. A common thing to borrow from a neighbour.
    – Tin opener? She glances towards the kitchen. – Let’s see if we have one.
    She pushes the door to. Doesn’t ask him in. No wonder, considering how surprised she was.
    Next moment she’s back again, holding out a metal thing, a combination bottle opener and tin opener, with a corkscrew you fold out. Exactly like the one that was in their own kitchen drawer when they arrived and which is now on Mother’s bedside table.
    Suddenly he feels brave. Looks into her eyes for a long time. They’re brown, with black flecks.
    – Be right back, he says, and turns away.
    – No rush, Ylva says. – You can bring it back later.
    He stands there in the half-dark of the kitchen and squeezes the opener in his hand, the little point against his palm. He presses it so far down it goes through the skin and the pain shoots up through his fingers.
    Then he hears Mother’s voice from the bedroom. Snuffling and full of sleep. Next moment she emerges stark naked on her way to the toilet. He slips back out into the light. Ylva’s bathroom window is open. Maybe she’s standing in front of the mirror. Combing her long wet hair. He knocks again. This time she opens straight away, without asking who it is.
    – Finished already? she says with a little smile.
    – Tin of tuna, he explains, couldn’t think of anything else. – Nice place, he adds quickly, because he can see she’s about to close the door again.
    – Very, she says.
    – Good beach, he says.
    She nods. – I’m going down in a minute. Just need to get ready first.
    He feels his face prickle. What she says is nearly Shall we meet down on the beach? He raises a hand to touch her, can’t bring himself to, rubs his lip.
    – See you, he says.
    She raises her eyebrows, mostly the right one, he notices.
    – Sure … yeah, she says, and closes the door.
    He stands outside her door and realises he has forgotten to give her the tin opener. She forgot too. Too busy talking to him. But it would be a mistake to knock again. Jacket would advise against, Jo feels certain of that. Instead he puts the opener in his pocket; it gives him the chance to go back later. He jogs away. The cats are still there in the little playground with the swing and the slide. Some slinking round, some climbing the trees. The one-eyed creep is by itself over by the fence. Jo lets himself in. The creep recognises him, slinks across and starts to rub itself against his bare leg. The fur is scruffy but still feels soft.