Into Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason

Author:Arnaldur Indridason
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2015-12-22T16:00:00+00:00

Some time later Erlendur stood on the pavement by a high wooden fence, looking into a playground and watching people coming to collect their children. Grandmothers in overcoats and headscarves, with handbags on their arms. Mothers in anoraks and peasant blouses. They lingered, maybe smoked a cigarette. There was the odd father too. Some of the children were playing with teenage helpers who joined them in the sandpit, on the swings or see-saw, aware that soon it would be closing time and they would be free to go home. He heard the sound of the mothers’ voices, the shrieking of the children, and watched the woman in charge comforting a little girl who had hurt herself falling off the see-saw. The woman dusted the dirt from her red waterproof trousers and told her she was all right, then took her to the sandpit and encouraged her to play with the children who were building a sandcastle there. The little girl, who was five years old, instantly forgot her woes and started patting sand into a green plastic bucket. He saw that the woman in charge was keeping an eye on her as if she didn’t want the girl to be left out. Erlendur had noticed that she had a tendency to wander about on her own.

He watched her pottering about in the sandpit for a while, then turned away and walked off with a heavy heart. He knew the little girl well but thought she was probably starting to forget him. He had only himself to blame. One day he hoped they could be friends, so he wouldn’t have to watch her from afar, like some kind of outcast. Every so often he stopped by, like now, but didn’t talk to anyone, especially not to the little girl, because he didn’t want to cause any trouble. Nor did he hang around long, for fear people would mistake him for some kind of pervert.

Erlendur hunched his shoulders against the cold and headed back to his car, thinking about the little girl and himself and what a mess he had made of things. One day he hoped he would have a chance to explain to his daughter who he was and why he’d had to leave.

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