The man showed no signs of wanting to start a conversation, so Lacke cleared his throat and said, "Some cold weather we're having."
Yes.
"Could snow soon."
"Mmm."
Then the whisky arrived and made further conversation unnecessary for the moment. Even Lacke got a double, and he felt the eyes of the gang burning in his back. After a few sips he raised the glass.
"Cheers. And thanks."
"Cheers."
"You live around here?"
The man stared out into space, as if this was something he had never thought about before. Lacke couldn't determine if the nodding of his head indicated an answer to the question or if it was part of an inner dialogue.
Lacke took another sip and decided that if the man didn't answer the next question then he wanted to be left alone, not talk to anyone. If that was the case, Lacke would take his drink and return to the others. He had done his duty. He hoped the man wouldn't answer.
"So, then. What do you do to make the time go by?"
The man furrowed his brow and the corners of his mouth were lifted spasmodically into a grin, then relaxed again.
"… I help out a little."
"I see. With what kind of thing?"
A spark of alertness flashed under the man's transparent cornea. The man looked straight at Lacke, who felt a shiver at the base of his spine, as if a black ant had bitten him just above the tailbone.
Then he rubbed his hand over his eyes and pulled a few hundred kro-nor bills out of his pocket, laid them on the table and stood up.
"Excuse me, I have to…"
"OK. Thanks for the drink."
Lacke raised his glass to his host but he was already on his way over to the coat rack. He got his coat down with clumsy hands and walked out. Lacke stayed put with his back to the gang, looking at the heap of bills in front of him. Five one hundred kronor bills. A tumbler of whisky cost sixty kronor and this outing had consisted of a total of five, maybe six.
Lacke looked surreptitiously to the side. The waiter was busy settling the bill of an older couple, the only dining customers. While Lacke stood up he crumpled one of the notes into a ball, slipped it into his pocket and walked back to his regular table.
Halfway there he turned back, emptied the remaining whisky from the man's glass into his own, and took it with him.
A successful evening all around.
***
“But Nutcrackers is on tonight!"
"Yeah, but I'll be back for it."
"It starts in… half an hour."
"I know."
"Where are you going?"
"Out."
"Well, you don't have to watch Nutcrackers, of course. I can watch it by myself. If you really have to go out."
"But… I'll be back for it."
"I see. I guess I'll wait on heating up the crepes."
"No, you can… I'll be back later."
Oskar was torn. Nutcrackers was one of the highlights of their TV week. Mom had made crepes with shrimp filling to eat in front of the TV. He knew he was disappointing her by going out instead of sitting here… and sharing the anticipation with her.
But he had been standing by the window since it got dark and just now he had seen the girl come out of the building next door and walk down toward the playground. He had immediately pulled back from the window. He didn't want her to think that he…
Therefore he had waited five minutes before putting on his clothes and heading out. He didn't put on a hat.
***
He couldn't see her on the playground. She was probably sitting high up on the jungle gym somewhere, like yesterday. The blinds in her window were still drawn but there was light coming from the apartment. Except for the bathroom window, a dark square.
Oskar sat down on the sandbox ledge and waited. Like he was waiting for an animal to come out of its hole. He was simply planning to sit here for a while. And if the girl didn't come out he would go back in again, play it cool.
He got out his Rubik's Cube, started to twist it in order to have something to do. He had gotten tired of having that one corner piece to
worry about and so he mixed up the cube completely so he could start over.
The creak from the Cube was amplified in the cold air; it sounded like a small machine. In the corner of his eye Oskar saw the girl get up from her perch in the monkey bars. He kept working, creating a new one-colored side. The girl stood still. He felt a flicker of worry in his stomach but took no notice of her.
"You here again?"
Oskar lifted his head, pretending to be surprised, let a few seconds pass and then:
"You again."
The girl said nothing and Oskar twisted the Cube again. His fingers were stiff. It was hard to tell the colors apart in the dark and so he only worked with the white side that was easiest to differentiate.
"Why are you sitting here?"
"Why are you up there?"
"I came here to be by myself."
"Me too."
"So why don't you go home?"
"You go home. I've lived here longer than you."
Take that. The white side was done now and it was harder to keep going. The other colors were one big dark gray blur. He kept moving pieces, at random.
The next time he looked up the girl was standing on the railing and getting ready to jump. Oskar felt a quiver in his tummy when she hit the ground; if he had tried the same jump he would have hurt himself. But the girl landed as softly as a cat, walked over to him. He turned back to the Cube. She stopped right in front of him.
"What's that?"
Oskar looked up at the girl, at the Cube, then back at the girl.
"This?"
"Yes."
"You don't know?"
"No."
"It's a Rubik's Cube."
"What did you say?"
This time Oskar overenunciated the words.
"Ru-bik's Cube."
"And what's that?"
Oskar shrugged.
"A toy."
"A puzzle?"
"Yes."
Oskar held the Cube out to her.
"Want to try it?"
She took the Cube from his hand, turned it, examined it from all sides. Oskar laughed. She looked like a monkey examining a piece of fruit.
"You really haven't seen one before?"
"No. What do you do?"
"Like this…"
Oskar got the Cube back and the girl sat down next to him. He showed her how you turned it and that the point was to get the sides to be one color. She took the Cube and started to turn it.
"Can you see the colors?"
"Naturally."
He snuck glances at her while she was working on the Cube. She was wearing the same pink top as yesterday and he couldn't understand why she wasn't freezing. He was starting to get cold from sitting still, even though he was wearing his jacket.
Naturally.
She talked funny too, like a grown-up. Maybe she was older than him, even though she was so puny. Her thin white throat jutted out of her turtleneck top, merged with a sharp jaw bone. Like a mannequin.
But now the wind blew in Oskar's direction and he swallowed, breathed through his mouth. The mannequin stank.
Doesn't she ever take a bath?
The smell was worse than old sweat; it was closer to the smell that came when you removed the bandage from an infected wound. And her hair…
When he dared to take a closer look at her-she was completely absorbed by the Cube-he noticed that her hair was caked together and fell around her face in matted tufts and clumps. As if she had put glue or… mud in it.
While he was studying her, he happened to breathe in through his nose and had to suppress the urge to vomit. He got up, walked over to the swings, and sat down. Couldn't be close to her. The girl didn't seem to care.
After a while he got up and walked over to where she was sitting, still preoccupied with the Cube.
"Hey there, I have to go home now."
"Mmm…"
"The Cube…"
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