When they approached him, a lone wolf rose from the ground. Anders stopped instantly, but Stava continued. She sank into a squat in front of the animal, who looked at her and then withdrew.

Stava spoke to her father, but it was in Sami, so he didn’t understand a word. Eventually, she reached for the old man. That made the wolf lunge at her and push her to the ground. Then Erasmus left and the wolf followed.

Anders rubbed his cheek. There was something weird about his cheek. It was like touching someone else’s cheek. He went closer to the small, rolled-up body and standing there looking at her, he felt like an animal coming across roadkill by the side of a highway. A certain level of wonder and a dash of worry. Other than that, nothing. Her black hair wound through the grass like some kind of strange and suffocating plant. He sat down and looked at it; then he touched it gingerly.

Lennart stood there with…

Lennart stood there with the boy on his arm, turning the sunglasses display rack.

‘What about these, how do you like these?’ He turned his face to the boy, whose hand instinctively shot out, but he was prepared and pulled his head away. He leaned forward and studied himself in the small mirror.

‘Not these? All right. Aren’t you the picky one?’

He pushed the temples back into the holes in the rack and pulled out another pair.

‘What do you say to these then? Like a rock star, eh? Like Elvis Presley!’

He went over to the till, pulled out his wallet and threw it down on the counter. It was made of leather with a gold clasp. The man picked it up and looked inside.

‘This is Norwegian money, I can’t take that.’

‘Sure you can.’

‘No, I can’t.’

‘You can take as much as you like.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Without taking his eyes off the man, he put the sunglasses and the yoghurt pots and the bananas in his pocket. Then he picked up his wallet and walked toward the exit.

The man had caught up by the time the doors slid open to let him out. Another man was approaching at a run between the shelves. They started circling him.

Lennart could hear himself breathing heavily through his nose.