John Lindqvist - Let The Right One In aka Let Me In

Since the incident with the whips the day before yesterday they had left him alone. Not that they had gone so far as to apologize or anything, but the wound on his cheek was very visible and they probably felt it was enough. For now.

Eli.

Oskar bunched his toes up inside his shoe in order to keep it on, marching toward the gym. Where was Eli? Oskar had kept a lookout from his window last night to see if Eli's dad made it home. Instead he had seen Eli slip out around ten o'clock. Then he had had hot cocoa and rolls with his mom and maybe he had missed seeing her come home. But she had not answered any of the messages he tapped into the wall.

The class lumbered into the changing room and the line dissolved. Mr. Avila stood waiting for them with crossed arms.

"Well, well. Today physical training, with bar, pommel horse and jump rope."

Groans. Mr. Avila nodded.

"If it is good, if you work hard, next time we can play spock-ball. But today: physical training. Get a move on!"

No room for discussion. You had to make do with the promise of ghost-ball, and the class hurried up and changed. As usual Oskar made sure he had his back turned to the others as he changed his pants. The Pissball made his underpants look a little strange.

Up in the gym hall the others were busy putting out the pommel horses and lowering the bars. Johan and Oskar carried out mats. When everything was arranged to his liking Mr. Avila blew his whistle. There were five stations, so he divided them into five groups of two.

Oskar and Staffe were grouped together, which was good since Staffe was the only kid in the class who was worse at gym than Oskar. He had raw strength but was clumsy. Chubbier than Oskar. Even so, no one teased him. There was something about the way Staffe carried himself that told you if you messed with him something bad would happen to you.

Mr. Avila blew his whistle again and everyone set to work.

Pull-ups on the bar. Chin over the bar, then down, then up again. Oskar managed two. Staffe did five, then gave up. Whistle. Sit-ups. Staffe just lay on the mat and stared at the ceiling. Oskar did cheater sit-ups until the next whistle. Jump rope. Oskar was good at this. He kept jumping while Staffe got tangled up in his rope. Then regular push-ups. Staffe could do these till the cows came home. Then the pommel horse, the damned pommel horse.

It was a relief to be paired with Staffe. Oskar snuck a peek at Micke and Jonny and Olof, how they flew over the horse via the springboard. Staffe geared up, ran, bounced so hard off the springboard that it creaked and still he didn't make it up onto the horse. He turned to walk back. Mr. Avila came up to him.

"Up on pommel."

"Can't do it."

"Then you do over."

"What?"

"Do over. Do over. Go jump! Jump!"

Staffan grabbed the pommel horse, heaved himself up onto it and slid like a slug down the other side. Mr. Avila waved go! and Oskar ran.

Somewhere during his run up to the pommel he made up his mind.

He would try.

Once, Mr. Avila had told him not to be afraid of the pommel horse, that everything hung on his attitude. Normally he didn't jump from the springboard with full force, afraid of losing his balance or of hitting something. But now he was going to go all out, pretend as if he could do it. Mr. Avila was watching and Oskar ran with full force toward the springboard.

He hardly thought of the jump off the springboard, so focused was he on the aim of clearing the pommel horse. For the first time, he pushed his feet into the springboard with full force, without braking, and his body took off by itself, his hands stretched out to steady himself and steer his body on. He flew over the horse with such force that he lost his balance and tumbled headfirst when he landed on the other side. But he had cleared it!

He turned and looked at his teacher, who was definitely not smiling, but who nodded encouragingly.

"Good, Oskar, but more balance."

Then Mr. Avila blew his whistle and they were allowed to rest for a minute before trying again. This time Oskar managed both to clear the pommel horse and keep his balance when he landed.

Mr. Avila ended the lesson and went to his office while they put the equipment away. Oskar folded out the wheels under the pommel horse and wheeled it into the storage room, patting it like a good horse that had finally allowed itself to be tamed. He put it up against the wall and then walked to the changing room. There was something he wanted to talk to Mr. Avila about.

He was stopped halfway to the door. A noose made from a jump rope went over his head and landed around his stomach. Someone held him in place. Behind him he heard Jonny's voice saying, "Giddy up, Piggy!"

Oskar turned so that the loop slid over his stomach and lay against his back. Jonny was standing in front of him with the ends of the jump rope in his hands. He waved them up and down.

"Giddy up, giddy up."

Oskar grabbed the rope with both hands and pulled the ends out of Jonny's grip. The jump rope clattered onto the floor behind Oskar. Jonny pointed to the rope.

"Now you have to pick it up."

Oskar picked up the jump rope in the middle and started to swing it above his head so the handles rattled against each other, yelled, "here it comes" and let go. The jump rope flew off and Jonny instinctively put his hands up to shield his face. The jump rope fluttered over his head and smacked against the wall bars behind him.

Oskar walked out of the gymnasium and ran down the stairs, the sound of his heart hammering in his ears. It had begun. He took the stairs three at a time, landing with both feet on the landings, walked through the changing rooms and into the teacher's office.

Mr. Avila was sitting there in his gym clothes, talking on the phone in a foreign language, probably Spanish. The only word Oskar could make out was "perro," which he knew meant "dog." Mr. Avila made a sign for him to sit down in the chair opposite his desk. Mr. Avila kept talking, repeating "perro" a few more times. Oskar heard Jonny walk into the changing room and start talking in a loud voice.

The changing room had emptied out before Mr. Avila was done talking about his dog. He turned to Oskar.

"So, Oskar. What do you want?"

"Yes, well, I… about these training sessions on Thursday."

"Yes?"

"Can I go to them?"

"You mean the strength training class at the swimming pool?"

"Yes, those. Do I have to sign up or…"

"No need to sign up. Just come. Thursdays at seven o'clock. You want to do it?"

"Yes, I… Yes."

"That is good. You train. Then you can do pull-up bar… fifty times."

Mr. Avila mimed pulling up on a bar in the air. Oskar shook his head.

"No. But… yes, I'll be there."

"Then I see you Thursday. Good."

Oskar nodded, about to leave, then he said:

"How is your dog?"

"Dog?"

"Yes, I heard you say'perro' on the phone just now. Doesn't that mean dog?"

Mr. Avila thought for a moment.

"Ah. Not 'perro.' Pero. That means 'but' in Spanish. As in 'but not me.' That is pero no yo. Understand? You want to join the Spanish class too?"

Oskar smiled and shook his head. Said the strength training would do for now.

The changing room was empty except for Oskar's clothes. Oskar pulled off his gym clothes and stopped short. His pants were gone. Of course. That he hadn't thought of this in advance. He checked everywhere in the changing room, in the toilets. No pants.

The chill nipped his legs as he walked home in his gym shorts. It had started to snow during gym class. The snowflakes fell and melted on his legs. In his yard he stopped under Eli's window. The blinds were drawn. No movement inside. Large snowflakes carressed his upturned face. He caught some on his tongue. They tasted good.