Trolls by Stefan Spjut

Author:Stefan Spjut [Stefan Spjut]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571341078
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2019-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

When I entered the kitchen that morning, Roland was sitting there with the newspaper open in front of him. But he wasn’t looking at the paper, he was looking at me, and he was very clearly trying to get a read on me. My entire body ached, but I didn’t let on because I had no desire to be interrogated. I poured myself coffee and sat down. Glanced at the headlines.

‘Any news?’ he said; I shook my head.

He closed the paper.

‘They must have gone somewhere on a whim,’ he said, ‘over to Narvik or something. Like a fun getaway. After all these years.’

He stood up, refilled his coffee cup and sat back down.

‘I don’t understand what’s with you,’ he said. ‘They’re fine and on their way home. And here you are, moping around.’

‘Yes, I know. I should be happy.’

‘I don’t know about happy, but you should breathe a sigh of relief at least. Not heaving dark sighs of anxiety. You were tossing and turning all night. And sighing. And sighing.’

‘I couldn’t sleep.’

‘Not even after you had that text from Diana’s bloke. And what time was that? Five?’

‘I can’t just turn off my worries. They have a life of their own.’

He studied me for a long moment.

‘Gudrun,’ he said, ‘didn’t we agree we were going to be open with one another, about our thoughts and opinions, even though we may not always agree? That we weren’t going to keep secrets from each other?’

His words were like knives. He might as well have used the word murderer. I kept a straight face and sipped my coffee. But evidently, my acting skills were less impressive than I had thought.

‘How am I supposed to help you,’ he said, ‘if you don’t trust me?’

‘I don’t trust you? I’ve told you everything, what we went through, me and Susso. Do you think those are things you’d tell a person you don’t trust?’

‘Then tell me what’s wrong.’

‘Nothing.’

He leaned back in his chair.

‘You’re limping around here, grimacing, looking like you’re walking on nails. And you’re normally loath to miss any opportunity to update me on exactly how much pain you’re in. Take your feet, for instance. I get up-to-date observations from the southern regions of Gudrun twice an hour. But now, not a word.’

‘That’s just because you’re being like this.’

‘Like what?’

‘Poking fun at me. For being in pain.’

‘What I mean to say is that I can tell you’re keeping something from me. It’s obvious. So spit it out.’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘If it can make you bite your tongue when you’re in that much pain, I don’t believe it’s nothing.’

‘What if you’ve made a promise to someone? Then do you think it’s right to tell you? I would like to know so I can decide whether I’m right to trust you with things in the future.’

‘Who did you make a promise to?’

‘Just answer my question. Isn’t it right to keep your promise?’

‘That depends on the situation. In my opinion.’

‘If I make a promise, I keep it. You have to respect that, Roland.

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