The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules Read Online Free PDF Page A

without Nurse Barbara were the calm before the storm. On the surface, everything seemed normal, but inside each of them, something had changed. The five friends sang ‘Happy as a bird’ and the first movement from Lars-Erik Larsson’s
God in Disguise
, just as they had done before Diamond House took over, and the staff applauded and smiled for the first time in ages. Nineteen-year-old Katia Erikson from Farsta, Nurse Barbara’s temporary replacement, baked some cakes for afternoon coffee, found some tools for Brains and let everyone get on with their own thing. The guests at DiamondHouse became all the more self-confident and when the day came for Katia to cycle home for good and Nurse Barbara returned, a defiant rebellious seed had started to sprout.
    ‘Oh well, I suppose we must prepare ourselves for the worst,’ Brains sighed when he saw Nurse Barbara on her way in through the glass doors.
    ‘She’s probably all set to make even more cuts for Director Mattson,’ said Martha. ‘On the other hand, it might help our cause,’ she added with a barely discernible wink.
    ‘Yes, you can say that again,’ said Brains and he winked back.
    Nurse Barbara had barely been back at the retirement home for a few hours before doors could be heard slamming and her high heels echoed down the corridor. In the afternoon, she asked everybody to come to the lounge. Once she had them there, she cleared her throat and placed a pile of papers on the table.
    ‘Regrettably, we must make some cuts,’ she started off. Her hair was nicely done up and there was a new gold bracelet visible on her wrist. ‘In bad times we must all do our bit. Unfortunately, we must cut down on staff costs, so starting next week there will be only two members of staff. Besides me, that is. This will mean that you can only go out once a week for a walk.’
    ‘Prison inmates can get exercise every day, you know. You can’t do that,’ Martha protested loudly. Barbara pretended not to hear.
    ‘And we must cut costs for food, too,’ she went on. ‘From now on, there will only be one main meal a day. At other times you will be served sandwiches.’
    ‘Over my dead body! We must have proper food and you should buy more fruits and vegetables too,’ Rake roared.
    ‘I wonder if the upstairs kitchen is locked,’ whispered Martha.
    ‘Not that kitchen again,’ said Christina, dropping her nail file.
    Later that evening, when the staff had gone home for the day, Martha went up to the kitchen anyway. Rake would be so pleased if she could get him a salad. He was rather downhearted because his son hadn’t been in touch, and he needed cheering up. Martha often wished that she had a family too, but the great love of her life had left her when her son was two years old. Her little boy had had dimples and curly blond hair, and for five years he was the joy of her life. The last summer in the countryside they had visited the horses in the stable, picked blueberries in the woods and gone fishing down at the lake. But one Sunday morning, while she was still asleep, he had taken the fishing rod and disappeared off to the jetty. And it was there, next to one of the jetty posts, that she had found him. Her life had come to a tragic halt and if it hadn’t been for her parents she probably wouldn’t have found the strength to carry on. She had relationships with several men after the death of her beloved son, but when she had tried to get pregnant again she had miscarried. In the end she grew too old, and gave up on the idea of having a family. Childlessness was her great sorrow, even though she didn’t show it. Instead, she hid her pain, and a laugh can disguise so much. She found people were easy to fool.
    Martha shook off her thoughts, tip-toed into Nurse Barbara’s office and opened the key cabinet. She remembered the smell of food and expectantly pulled out the master key. But when she got to the first floor her plans came to an abrupt halt. Instead of the keyhole,