Free The Journey to the End of the World (Joel Gustafson Stories) by Henning Mankell Page A

house.
    I’m not going to walk along that, he told himself.
    Then he started walking.
    The building was very large, with lots of windows. Most of them were dark, but there were lights on here and there. Very bright lights.
    Autumn Light , he thought. The light of Autumn. What kind of a building could this be?
    There was a large garden at the back. He paused outside a shed. The doors were standing open, and inside were several old wheelchairs.
    Curiouser and curiouser. No doubt he would have been scared stiff some years ago. But not now.
    It was just odd.
    He continued walking and came to a side door. He noticed immediately that it was ajar.
    I’m not going to go in, no matter what, he told himself.
    Then he found himself taking hold of the door handle. The door creaked. But only a little. It was light inside. He let go of the handle and the door closed.
    Then he opened it again.
    I can always say I’m lost, he thought. They’ll hear that from the way I speak. Here’s a young man who’s very lost indeed. He’s come all the way from the north of Sweden.
    I can also say that I’ve been sleepwalking. And that I’m staying at a hotel, but can’t find my way back.
    He listened. There was a single ceiling light. Not a sound. He slipped in through the door and made sure it didn’t close of its own accord. For safety’s sake he placed a small twig between the door and the jamb.
    There was a strange smell. Musty. Old. But something else as well. Then it dawned on him what it was. Hospital.
    He remembered the smell from the time when he’d been almost killed by a bus and had to spend some time in hospital.
    But how could a hospital be called anything but a hospital? Autumn Light ? It seemed strange. He tiptoed along the corridor and came to a wide double door. He opened it carefully and peeped inside. There was a stretcher trolley along one of the walls, and next to it a wheelchair.
    Now he knew it was a hospital. He listened. Somewhere in the distance he could hear a door being opened and then closed again. Then all was quiet once more. He stepped cautiously back into the corridor. How would he be able to find the woman in the green coat among all these doors? He crept along the corridor, expecting somebody to appear at any moment. He was rehearsing his excuses all the time. That he was lost, had come all the way from Norrland. Or that he was a sleepwalker who had gone astray while taking a nocturnal stroll.
    All the doors looked the same. He decided to open one at random. He peeped in and could see that it was almost completely dark. Just a faint light from a lamp in one corner. He went in. His eyes got used to the darkness, and he saw that he was in a room with a lot of beds.
    The room was filled with snores. There was a squeaking and sighing and grinding and singing. He took another couple of paces forward, and saw that there were very old people in each of the beds.
    A hospital, he thought. Or an old people’s home. Or a mixture of the two.
    There was a strong, pungent smell. In one of the beds was an old man who wasn’t snoring. Joel suddenly had the feeling that the man was watching him through half-closed eyes.
    And then he thought the man was dead.
    The panic came from nowhere. Joel raced out of the room and paid no attention to the fact that the door creaked.
    As he hurtled into the corridor he heard voices. A door opened and closed. The voices were getting louder. Joel turned round and ran back along the corridor. But he no longer knew which door he’d just come out of. There were lots of double doors. The voices were very close now. Joel ducked in through the nearest door. He heard footsteps going past in the corridor. Two women talking. And then all was quiet again.
    The room was suddenly lit up. Joel whipped round, but there was nobody there. Then he realised that he must have brushed against the light switch with his shoulder. He was about to switch off again when he saw that he was in some kind of changing