‘Grill just opened,’ I say to David. ‘Quick pizza? Might be able to swing you a discount advert in the Posten if you play your cards right.’

He yawns and scratches his nose and says, ‘I got nothing better to do.’

Am I losing my touch? How about a little enthusiasm?

We walk outside and he shields his eyes with his forearm. He smells of supermarket deodorant and fabric softener.

‘My first and favourite customers,’ says Luka Kodro, inviting us inside with a sweep of his forearm.

‘Hello chief,’ says David, rubbing his eyes.

We sit down. David orders two Cokes with ice, and a Vegetariana with cranberries. I get a Spicy American Sausage. David taps his fingernails on the table fast like a drumroll. I stare at them and he stops and rubs his hands together instead.

‘Too much caffeine? RSI?’

‘What?’ he says.

‘Repetitive Strain Injury? I used to get that when I gamed too much.’

‘You gamed too much?’

‘Way, way too much. What were you playing in there?’

‘Beta of a new Halloween game that drops tomorrow night. It’s called Massacre 31st. Some zombie-apocalypse bullshit. But it’s pretty realistic. They’ve made a good effort.’

‘You gonna be busy tomorrow night on Halloween, then?’ I say. ‘Kids won’t be out trick-or-treating?’

‘Busiest night of our year if a decent game drops,’ he says. ‘Last year we got Hunted 2.0.’

‘Never played it.’

He rubs his eyes again. ‘Stick to Doom. Trust me.’

‘Not good?’

Our pizzas arrive, hot and steaming.

‘Thanks,’ I say.

Luka Kodro and David exchange looks. I can’t quite decipher it, but these two know each other well. Was that look a warning or an acknowledgement?

‘Hunted 2.0 is the best game I have ever played,’ he says. ‘Because it’s ultralocal.’

I take a piece of charred sausage with my fingers and eat it.

‘Ultralocal?’

‘Swedish designer. Swedish made. It’s modelled on the forests of Norrland. The early levels are all hunting groups. You start with smaller weapons and smaller game. Birds and rabbits. Work your way up to roe deer and beaver, if your aim’s good enough, if you stick to the hunt etiquette. The guns change. Bigger calibre. You get to hunt wild boar, elk, brown bears even. It’s incredibly realistic, that’s the thing. You’re involved in skinning, hanging, butchering, gutting. You get dogs you need to feed, and maps with hunting towers, but the graphics are so good it’s like you’re out there in Visberg forest. Everything is in Swedish which makes it feel real. I don’t know how to explain it: the ferns, the ditches, the mushrooms. It’s like you’ve walked out of town and started hunting.’

‘Do you hunt for real?’

‘You mean in the actual forest?’

I nod and eat a big mouthful of pizza.