What if she needed to sneeze? Cough? She couldn’t, quite simply. Not now. Why was she even thinking like that? It would only become a self-fulfilling prophecy—and now she suddenly felt the urge to cough even though she hadn’t at any point during the day.

A smoke, she thought to herself instead. She was dying for a drag. Now. Surely no one would notice if she sparked up in this weather?

Nanna would go round the twist if she knew what Jeanette was up to, how nuts she was, and how little self-control she had.

She spotted a movement between the rainwater barrel and the wall. Somewhere further off on the plot, beyond the crack. All she could see through that gap was part of the back of the slaughterhouse unless she bent forward from behind the barrel, which would give her away to anyone paying attention.

What on earth was going on? There was something behind the slaughterhouse, something at ground level that seemed to capture the interest of the visitor. Of course—it was a root cellar that she and Nanna would have checked last of all. Bolted from the outside but without a lock. It was probably full of garden spiders and other nasties that liked being in the darkness.

Jeanette didn’t seem to be alone in those thoughts. After sliding back the bolt and standing there as if in contemplation for about half a minute without pushing the door open, it was apparently time for the visitor to leave the root cellar behind. And the place as a whole. Less than a minute after the squelching steps had once again passed by Jeanette’s water barrel, the car door slammed again. Then the engine was started up and the car left.

Without anything much at all having happened.

64. Kerstin

64

Kerstin

KERSTIN HELD HER breath as she stood there, counting the seconds, but the door to the privy never opened. After a while, she realised that the visitor must have turned right in front of the car, changed course from one that appeared to be heading straight towards her, and instead headed into the yard between the cabin and the outbuildings. Shortly afterwards, when she dared to nudge the door ajar, her suspicions were confirmed. There was no one to be seen between the car and herself.

If it hadn’t been raining, she might have been able to hear something and form an understanding of what the visit was for. Given the situation, she could only be grateful that she hadn’t been discovered, hope for the best on behalf of Jeanette, and dutifully wait in the darkness until the visitor had left again. Preferably without taking any interest in the two stinking packages outside the privy door.