Norma by Sofi Oksanen

Author:Sofi Oksanen
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2017-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Norma didn’t understand the sheet of paper on the table, even though this had to be the “unpleasant business” Lambert had wanted to talk about at the cemetery. She recognized her mother’s handwriting and signature. Next to it was the name Max Lambert. Norma had inherited her mother’s debts.

“Have you decided what payment system would be best?” Alvar asked.

“My mother didn’t even borrow sugar from the neighbors. What would she have done with this much money?”

“Bought a new kidney for your grandmother.”

Norma put her hand to her mouth. The laugh was unintentional and inappropriate for the situation. The zeros still danced in her eyes. Alvar put a glass of red wine in Norma’s hand and offered her a match. Norma had forgotten to light her cigarette. Because she had to play the role of a person who didn’t have anything to hide, she didn’t resist when Alvar invited himself over. She would have preferred to meet with him in a public place, but now she understood the reason for the house call. Alvar had thought this might agitate her, and news like this was best to deliver away from prying eyes. The turban choked her head like the hoop on a barrel.

“Apparently there wasn’t much time, and Anita wanted to speed up the process.”

“Where could she have gotten a kidney?”

“Anita visited Romania to buy hair for Alla. Maybe from there. At least she saw how easily poor women will sell their hair or their kidneys or anything else anyone wants to buy.”

“This is illegal.”

“Necessity knows no law. Do you intend to go ahead with the operation?”

“For the kidney? No!”

“Not even for your beloved grandmother?”

Alvar cocked his head, and Norma instinctively took a step back. The windowsill got in the way. Her mother had lied to Lambert again. There was nothing wrong with her grandmother’s kidneys, and her mother wouldn’t have sullied herself like this for her anyway. Every word about Elli Naakka in the videos—including the bitterness in her mother’s voice, the wrinkle in her brow—was evidence of that. She would have taken such a crazy loan only for Norma or Helena, not for anyone else.

“As you can see from the contract, the first payment comes due in July,” Alvar said.

The wind blowing through the open window didn’t clear Norma’s head. The fans she had placed strategically around the apartment before Alvar’s visit weren’t helping, either, and the wine and tobacco didn’t make her feel any better. There was no solution. There wasn’t enough time to scrape anything together. The estate inventory coming up in August would give her only worthless personal effects. Her mother’s apartment deposit was too small, and you couldn’t get a payday loan that large. Asking for a loan from a bank would be pointless. Her wildcat years were over, and Norma had a terrible credit rating, from a time when her life had been more reckless and she thought she deserved everything because she was unique. She preferred not to remember those days, but this was the price.

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