Håkan pulled the cling film off the bowls; the little girl climbed onto her Tripp Trapp chair. But he ordered her back down: first she had to turn off the TV and wash her hands. In that order. He held out the breadbasket with the taco shells. Diana said thanks, but then he put one hand behind his ear and she corrected herself. It was an idea of his, that you weren’t allowed to say thank you when you ate tacos, you had to say gracias. Kiruna thought it was hilarious and became unusually polite, so that was good at least. Though she didn’t eat much. The mince and sweetcorn went down okay. And some cucumber she munched away on.

‘Then I’m going out to Vittangi tomorrow.’

‘You’ll miss the festival.’

‘Oh no.’

She turned to the little girl.

‘I’m going to go see a friend.’

‘Who?’

‘Her name’s Susso.’

‘I didn’t know you had a friend called that.’

‘But I do. When we were little, people called her Myran.’

‘Because she was small?’

‘No, because her last name was Myrén. And do you know what they called me?’

The girl shook her head, full of anticipation.

‘Sillen. Because my name is Sillfors.’

The little girl giggled.

‘And do you know what I was called?’ Håkan said and took a big, crunchy bite. ‘I was called Håkan.’

‘Håkan Hellström,’ Diana whispered.

The little girl giggled. Then she said: ‘If you hadn’t named me Kiruna, my name wouldn’t have been Kiruna.’

‘True,’ Håkan said, ‘then your name would have been something else entirely.’

The little girl nodded.

‘Is that weird to you?’ Diana asked.

She nodded again.

‘Yes, it’s pretty weird. When you think about it.’

‘Can I come with you?’

‘To Vittangi? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I haven’t

seen her in so long. And she’s not feeling too well.’

‘Is she sick?’

‘That’s what I’m going there to find out.’

Anders was sitting on the sofa…

Anders was sitting on the sofa in the living room, trying to figure out why he was home alone. He was, quite clearly, at home. In his living room. He was sitting in it. In the middle of the day. But it wasn’t a weekend, because then Johanna and William would have been home too. He knew he had a lot of leave saved up. Was he on leave, was that why he was sitting there? He swallowed hard and made a new attempt at driving his thoughts forward, but he didn’t get anywhere.