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one by one from every angle. “You’ll get a present tomorrow as well. We’ll go to the toy store.”
    Simon clapped his hands. “But can we afford it?” he asked.
    â€œYes, tomorrow we can afford it. I’ve been given a present, so you should have one too. And now I’m going to put on a drop of Chanel Number 5.”
    She unscrewed the square cap from the bottle and dabbed her index finger on the top, and then she rubbed it lightly on her left wrist.
    â€œWhy do you put it on your arm?”
    Bonnie put the bottle down and explained: “Well, because the skin is so thin there. And under the skin there’s a big vein, so the skin is very warm just there. And when it’s warm, it smells better. Come on now, let’s build a huge tent.”
    Â 
    Four chairs and four sheets later, Simon had his own beautiful tent in the middle of the living room. He took some cushions from the sofa and crept inside. Bonnie got down on her knees and crawled in after him. For a while, they sat there in silence.
    â€œI’ll go and get
Where the Wild Things Are,
” she said. “You stay here. And we have to have a flashlight.”
    She found the book on the shelf and went back in, settling down on a cushion.
    â€œCan we get a real tent one time and sleep out in the forest?” Simon asked hopefully.
    â€œYes,” she said. “I promise. But it may be a while before we can do that. Here, you hold the flashlight.”
    She read the whole of
Where the Wild Things Are.
Her voice rose and fell and Simon could vividly imagine all the scary monsters. He loved it just as much as always. It was only a story, after all. And it had a happy ending: little Max always got home safely.
    â€œCan I sleep here tonight?” he said suddenly. “I want to sleep in the tent.”
    â€œBut the floor’s stone hard; that won’t be very comfy, will it?”
    Simon was adamant. After his evening snack, he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth very carefully. Bonnie got his comforter and pillow, found the cushions from the garden furniture in the cupboard, and then crawled into the tent and made up a simple bed for him. He said goodnight and crept in, lying on his side with a hand under his cheek. She could see the beam from the flashlight through the sheets. She then sat down in front of the TV and watched the news. She knew that he wasn’t asleep, but she pretended he was. We’ll get by, she thought, comforting herself. I must thank Erna. I suppose she’ll pooh-pooh it because that’s just the way she is.
    She turned the TV off at ten o’clock. Simon had switched off the flashlight and she sat there listening. She smiled at the thought that he was lying there holding his breath, because he was listening too. Then she got up and turned out the light, thinking as she did that it would now be pitch-black in the tent. But he had asked to sleep there, inside the warm den with all the cushions. She went into her bedroom but left the door ajar. She lay in bed listening for a long time because she knew that he’d be there soon enough. He wouldn’t want to go to his own room. He would creep in when he thought she was asleep, and she would hold open the comforter for him and hug him to her.

4
July 2005
    THE DOG, FRANK, lay down under the desk, where he had an old comforter. But before lying down, he turned around and around, making a kind of nest. Sejer went over to the window. From his office, he had a view of the river, which was now busy with big and small boats and the odd keen kayaker. He spotted a family of swans and an old man feeding bread crusts to the ducks, and he saw some children swimming in the strong ice-cold current.
    Sejer was fifty-five, but women still turned to look at him when he walked through town. He was tall, lean, and gray with strong features. He knew that he would have to step down in a few years—that others were waiting, ready