Doppler by Erlend Loe

Author:Erlend Loe [Loe, Erlend]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781770893016
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc.

The next morning I hear sounds outside the tent. I take Bongo with me and go out and see a right-wing voter dressed in weekend breeches with a dog. He eyes the tent with annoyance.

You know you can’t have a tent up for more than three nights in the same place, he says. I know, I say.

I suspect this tent has been up for much longer, he says.

Maybe, I say. And while we’re at it I would prefer it if you didn’t walk by here again.

You have no right to stop me, he says.

Of course not, I say. I’d just like to make the point that I would appreciate it if you took another route next time you went out walking.

We’ll see about that, he says.

Who is it, Daddy? Gregus shouts from the tent.

Just a reactionary, I say. Go back to sleep.

I’m quite sure that I’ll pass this way again, the man says. And I’ve made a note of today’s date.

And what date is it? I ask.

The thirteenth of December, he says.

And spontaneously I begin to sing. Years of school parties have left such a deep mark inside me that as soon as the date is mentioned I begin to sing.

Night goes with silent steps, I sing quietly, Round house and cottage. Over the earth that the sun forgot, I continue as I am joined by Gregus’s voice from the other side of the tent, Dark shadows linger, Then on our threshold stands, we sing with increasing passion, Whiteclad with candles in her hair, Saaaaantaalucia, Santa Lucia! We sing all the verses, and as the song fades away the reactionary says he’s going to ring Løvenskiold if the tent’s still here in two days’ time.

Clearly the Christmas message of love doesn’t have much effect on you, I say.

He doesn’t answer.

And I suppose Løvenskiold is a friend of yours, I say.

Yes, fancy that, says the reactionary.

But who owns the air we breathe and the trees in the forest? I ask. Who owns the water in the stream and the song of the birds? Shouldn’t I as a citizen of this country have a right to linger in the forest if I so wish?

Not in this forest, says the reactionary.

You’re a true guardian of the status quo, I say, whereas I’m an enemy of the people. You want to conserve tradition while I want to break it down. You want everything to stay as it is while I want it to change. You have a dog and I have a moose. You want to buy, I want to barter. There you have some of the differences between us in a nutshell, I say. And you can come here with your dog and kick up a stink, but you should know that I don’t like your way of thinking, I don’t like your clothes, I don’t like your dog and least of all that self-satisfied smirk on your face. It’s a smirk that only immense material security and prolonged right-wing voting can produce. And I not only don’t like it, I can’t stand it, and now you can clear off, I say.

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