Free Shadows in the Twilight by Henning Mankell Page A

the
Highways Department workshops, with his mum. He
does any work that comes along.'
    'What do you mean, any work that comes along?'
    'I mean what I say! Any work that comes along!'
    Joel realised that Otto didn't know.
    'What about the other one?' he asked.
    'I think his name's Lundberg,' said Otto. 'He works
for the council, catching rats.'
    Joel was very doubtful. He'd never heard of anybody
being paid for catching rats.
    'Come on, nobody works as a rat-catcher!'
    'Of course they do! Are you suggesting that I'm
telling lies?'
    Otto took a step forward and looked threatening.
    'Of course I don't think you're lying,' said Joel, but
he couldn't stop his voice from shaking.
    'He keeps the sewers clean. He lives in a shed in Lasse
the Cabbie's back yard. If you know where that is.'
    'Of course I know where Lasse the Cabbie lives!'
    Otto held out his giant-sized hand.
    'The picture cards,' he said.
    Joel took them out of his jacket pocket and put them
in Otto's hand. Otto put them in his inside pocket. Then
he stepped forward and grabbed hold of the lapels of
Joel's jacket.
    'Now you're going to get a good thumping,' he said.
    At that very moment the bell rang. Break was over.
    Otto let go of Joel's jacket.
    'Another time,' he said. 'I'll give you a good thumping
some other time. Because you ask too many questions.'
    The rest of the day Joel had no time to think about
what Otto had told him. Miss Nederström was in a bad
mood, and Joel was no longer sure that his miracle
would protect him from her wrath.
    After school Joel went with some of his classmates to
take a look at a new car that was on show in Krage's Car
Showrooms. It was a shiny black Pontiac, and they
stood for ages gaping through the window, wondering
who would be able to afford a car like that.
    It was quite late by the time Joel got home and started
peeling the potatoes.
    Only then did he remember that today was the day he
ought to have collected his bicycle that had been in for
repairs.
    How on earth could he have forgotten his bike?
    He looked at the kitchen clock. If he ran he still had
time to get to the cycle shop before it closed. But then
he remembered that he'd forgotten to ask Samuel for
some money that morning. And he knew that the owner
of the cycle shop never allowed credit.
    The bike would have to wait until tomorrow.
    He sat down on the kitchen bench and thought about
what Otto had said. But which one should he start
with? Rolf or David? Before he could make up his
mind which of them was best for Gertrud, he would
have to spy on them.
    He jumped down from the kitchen bench, went into
the hall and started to search through Samuel's pockets.
He found a five-öre piece in one of them. He took it
into the kitchen and decided that Rolf was heads, and
David was tails. Then he spun the coin round on the
kitchen table.
    Heads. He would start with Rolf . . .
    'Are you going out again? You go running off every
night nowadays!' said Samuel after dinner, when Joel
started pulling on his wellingtons.
    'I won't be long,' said Joel.
    'Where are you going?'
    Joel thought quickly.
    'To Eva-Lisa's,' he said. It was the best answer he
could come up with.
    Samuel lowered his newspaper and peered at Joel
over his reading glasses.
    'You're spending a lot of time round at her place.
Have you started getting interested in girls already?'
    Joel blushed.
    He turned his back on Samuel as he buttoned up his
jacket.
    'Yes,' he said. 'I'm probably going to marry her in a
few years' time.'
    Then he left.
    He could see from the corner of his eye how Samuel
gaped in astonishment and his chin almost hit his neck.
    Serves him right for asking an unnecessary question,
Joel thought cheerfully.
    It was cold outside. The sky was clear and the stars
twinkling. Joel didn't really know how he was going to
go about spying on Rolf, to find out if he was a suitable
man for Gertrud.
    Should he ring the doorbell, introduce himself and
explain how things were? That he was looking for a
suitable