The diesel engine roared its way to the office of the local homecare service and I knew I’d be late. He swung in to stop in front of the entrance just as my colleagues were leaving for their daily round. They stopped and stared. Said things to each other and nodded.

Jana he said and grabbed my hand before I could shut the door. Don’t take on he said. They know nothing.

About what I said pretending I had no idea what he meant.

About maria. They’ll say that I did it. They want a whipping boy even though just about everyone carries some guilt. Maria wasn’t exactly popular.

I’m already fed up hearing about maria I said.

That I can understand. I’ll pick you up at quarter to five.

No need I said. I’ll walk home. See you then he replied. 59

The women in my workteam were scattering. I went inside to collect my list and sets of keys. Märitljungqvist was cross and didn’t seem to believe in the flat car battery.

It’s only your second day and you’re already late. Don’t make a habit of it.

It is my second day I thought and you should just be grateful that I’m going to put up with this for a few more days.

The same round. The same people more or less. Ingelahansson’s nappy lay next to her in the bed. She asked for maria. I helped her to get up and though she protested led her into the shower. More protest as I showered her wrinkled crotch with warm water and used plenty of soap. She leaned against me enjoying it.

I even found the time to change her bedlinen and stuff the washingmachine before ingelahansson’s halfhour was over. When I left she waved and looked happy.

My fourth call that day scared me. He lived in our part of smalånger. Allanberg. I would have guessed he’d be dead but seemingly he wasn’t. Like the decent pigs human swine also have a remarkable capacity for survival.

His unpainted timbered house was near ours but higher up and a bit into the forest. I parked on the strip of snowcleared ground and knocked before I entered. He was sitting on a chair in the kitchen with an oxygen cylinder next to him. His skin was as grey as the stains on his trousers.

There was nothing left of the allanberg who never missed a chance to armwrestle. If there had been a wife I didn’t remember. Nor that his house had hardly any furniture in it or that some of the walls were papered with newspapers.

He looked at me without any sign of recognition. His long 60yellow nails were tapping against the tabletop. When he spoke a solitary tooth in his lower jaw bopped up and down.