Arthur by Mikael Lindnord

Author:Mikael Lindnord
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greystone Books
Published: 2017-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Swedish Aggro

‘If Arthur is so committed to us, we will commit to him’

When I woke at dawn the next day I felt exactly as bad as I did when I’d gone to sleep. But there wasn’t time to worry about feeling sick or tired, because now I had a new mission and I couldn’t afford to waste a second. And this was a mission with a difference: I had less than three days to accomplish it, and I hadn’t the faintest idea how to do so.

Our flight back to Stockholm left Quito on Wednesday afternoon. And Helena was going to book Arthur on to that flight. It was now Sunday morning, and it would take the whole of Monday to make the journey from Mompiche to Quito. That gave me effectively forty-eight hours to resolve . . . whatever it was I had to resolve. The more I thought about it, the more I realised what a huge undertaking it was to bring Arthur to Sweden with me – there would be vets, bills, piles of unfamiliar paperwork, complicated logistics, and all in a language I didn’t understand. Added to which, I was still terminally exhausted, possibly on the verge of collapse.

As we emerged from the room, blinking into the still-dark dawn, Arthur got to his feet. I supposed that he had slept while we were inside, but it seemed to me that he was always awake, always making sure we were still nearby.

The five of us set off to get something to eat – refuelling with real food would be important in the days to come, I knew that much. I looked at Arthur as he trotted along by my side. No, I thought to myself, you have never had a home, have you? We’re so far from where we met, and I can’t kid myself you’ve anywhere to go if you don’t come with me. You’ve staked everything on me, and I can’t let you down. Whatever it takes.

Just at that moment Arthur looked up at me. Completely calmly and trustingly. As if he knew what I was thinking, and that somehow he was sure I’d sort it out and we’d always be together.

I bent down and scratched his ear. ‘Arthur,’ I said under my breath.

We settled down, Arthur sitting at our feet, and ordered some food. Moments later, I saw Krister heading our way.

‘OK,’ he said, without any of the ‘how are you’s or ‘morning’s people usually say. ‘It’s all kicking off. Everyone’s picked up on the TT News story and wants to do an interview. Ecuadorian TV want to do something. Swedish too. Come on, come on, there’s no time to lose.’

My brain was just starting to wake up, but all I could think about was who we could get to help with the paperwork and how we could get to a vet in Quito as soon as we got there.

But moments later I found myself back at Krister’s hotel – he’d somehow found one with a room with a phone line that worked and which they were making available for interviews.

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