‘First of all,’ he said, ‘they’re not materialising out of nowhere, they’re from Malmberget. And second of all, Gudrun, you have to understand that these boys are very special. They’re not like other people.’

‘What do you mean, not like other people; are they retarded?’

‘You might say that. But only in a positive sense.’

‘Have you told them? About the trolls?’

He had fished out a sweet from the glass bowl on the counter and was trying to unwrap it.

‘You can hardly think I’d ask them to help us with something like this without informing them about the risks?’

Aska had delivered a package that morning; I started tearing at it to give my anxious fingers something to do. It was a stack of table runners. I picked one of them up and ran my hand over the cloth, studying the pattern, which consisted of long rows of yellow, blue, red and green squares. She had attached a note saying the pattern was called Kiruna.

‘And what did they say to that?’

He tore off the sweet wrapper with his teeth. Then he stood there, picking flakes of plastic out of his mouth. I was apparently not going to get an answer.

‘What kind of people are they?’

‘Their names are Harr and Ensimmäinen. Harr is my second cousin.’

‘Harry?’

‘Harr.’

‘I don’t think that’s a real name.’

‘You’re clearly wrong about that, since it’s his name. Harr is a bus driver, but I think he’s retired now. He’s a troubadour as well. He’s recorded a real CD. I’m not sure what Ensimmäinen gets up to these days, but he used to work at Gällivare Tractors.’

‘You think he’s retired? If you’re such good friends, shouldn’t you know whether he’s retired or not?’

‘With really good friends, regular contact’s not a requirement. You know the other person’s there for you come rain or shine and that’s enough. The bond is so strong it doesn’t need maintenance. It’s a maintenance-free friendship.’

‘I still don’t think we should involve them.’

‘Oh well. Too late.’

‘Just tell them they don’t need to go out there.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because they were already there.’

I glared at him.

‘You don’t have to worry, Gudrun.’

‘That’s easy for you to say!’

‘We can trust them.’

‘But what did they do with him?’

‘Do you really want to know?’

‘No, I suppose I don’t.’

‘The only thing Susso needs to do, when she gets back,’ he said and popped the sweet in his mouth, ‘the only thing she needs to do is to ponder who dug a potato patch in her garden.’

‘A potato patch without potatoes.’

‘They planted potatoes.’

‘Why? That’s a bit over the top, don’t you think?’