Yes. But I cycle to the village library every day. And to the garage. Perhaps you’ve met petra. John’s daughter. She works there. We usually get on. You might say we’re going out together.

What about the second car I asked to get him off the goingout idea.

It became too tight in one so I picked up another one. For free. The gearbox is useless but that doesn’t matter. The luggage space is just fine as a kitchen and the backseat works as a kind of bestroom. Sometimes when I feel like a change I sleep in the front seats.

I thanked him for the coffee and said I had better get on. 163

It was nice to speak with you janakippo he said. Come by some other time. I’d like that.

When I passed the other car I saw that he really had done the backseats up as a bestroom with pictures and ornaments. There was even a small chandelier in the rear window. Taped to the speedometer was that photo of maria.

164

THIRTYONE

Katarina’s upstairs floor was warm and stale. The potplants in the bedroom were drooping in the sunlight. I wondered if they should live or die. She had plants everywhere often in pots standing on the floor. Some of them like the palms and cactuses wouldn’t mind dry conditions but others would. In any case the plants hadn’t harmed anyone. I carried them outside into the shade and watered them.

I got it into my head that someone had been here. A chair had been moved. The bathroom cabinet was empty but I wasn’t sure if it had had things in it before. A rolledup rug was leaning against the wall in the hall.

The letters were still in their box. I took it downstairs and put it on the kitchen table.

I spent the rest of the day clearing up and tidying. It was a straightforward job. Thoughts came and went but nothing meaningful. The sorted heaps grew. Rubbish bags piled up on the veranda.

When we were children magnus lived in the same house as katarina. Magnus had been given a prefix just like nicenora bigsture raiderragnar. He was hunkymagnus.

Hunkymagnus had many siblings. His parents spoke finnish. They cleaned themselves in the sauna.

Katarina and I had been competing for his attention ever since the autumn when we were fifteen. Sometimes he chatted with us. 165Sometimes not. Not was more usual. It was almost summer again before something happened.

Hunkymagnus was more into football than girls. The days went by without him caring much for either of us and that was allright. But a few weeks before the end of summer term I went down with the flu. When I was back at school magnus and katarina were a couple.