‘I don’t know.’

‘Me neither.’

*

He walked up the stairs and into the room she had assigned him. In it was a desk and a chair and a bed. He sat down on the bed and after gazing out the window for a while, he lay down. There was a lamp with a pressed glass base on the desk. It was on; he looked at the matte light inside the shade.

Minutes later, he heard the patter of soft little feet outside his door. He lay stock-still, listening. Then he stood up and opened the door. The hare was sitting outside, pointed back the way it had come. Its nose was working frantically. Lennart stood with his hand on the handle, watching it.

‘There’s no getting rid of you, is there?’

Diana tapped her nails against…

Diana tapped her nails against the doorpost before stepping into the room.

‘Hello?’

Susso had looked asleep, but now she opened her eye.

‘I see you brought the whole town.’

The little girl hung back at first, but then marched over to a chair and took a seat. She kicked her legs and studied the walls, a framed painting of mountains in pastel colours, the ceiling-mounted TV, the intricate system of steel pipes and springs under the bed, the trapeze on its chain. She studiously, however, avoided looking at the patient.

‘How are you feeling?’

Susso reached for the handle and pulled herself upright.

‘I feel like there’s something in my eye.’

‘You’re going to need surgery to get it out. But not here. They’ll send you to Sunderbyn. Then they’ll fit you with a prosthetic.’

‘Really? That’s great.’

‘But not for another few weeks.’

‘I’ll have to be patient.’

‘Indeed.’

‘Did you know that when you have only one eye, you can see your own nose all the time? It’s super annoying.’

‘Are you wearing contacts now? I mean a contact. No.’

Susso shook her head.

‘I haven’t worn contacts in a hundred years.’

‘Then we’ll have to get you some. Do you know what strength you need?’

‘It was my good eye they gouged out. Bastards. This one’s minus three.’

‘I’ll sort you out. We can’t have you lying around here blind as a bat.’

‘I can in fact see well enough to know you don’t exactly look radiant yourself.’

‘My nose is broken. They’re fixing it tomorrow. What?’

Kiruna was pointing to the plastic cup with the bent straw sitting on the bedside table.

‘It’s squash. I’m sure Susso doesn’t mind sharing.’

‘Go ahead,’ Susso said.

The little girl went over to the bed, picked up the cup with both hands and put the straw in her mouth.

‘You do seem better, though.’

‘People generally do when you give them morphine. It’s kind of inevitable.’

Diana reached out and gave the plastic strip around Susso’s wrist a tug.