Margit Sandemo: The Ice People 22 - The Demon and the Virgin

Vinga pushed it away.

Heike asked: “What do you call it, by the way?”

“Call it?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes, surely you’re not telling me that you’ve lived with that goat for more than two years without giving it a name?”

“No, I ... I don’t know. I just say: ‘Come here, little girl’, or something like that.”

“Fine. Then we’ll call it Little Girl. And now, Little Girl, perhaps you would stay away from the cart? There’s lots of food all around you.”

“But it’s not as exciting,” Vinga said, laughing.

Heike wondered if Vinga’s fear of darkness might put her off the house. “Well, if you don’t want to live here, then ...”

“Yes,” Vinga said like a shot. “Yes, this place is fine with me.”

So that trick didn’t work.

In the end, Vinga moved into Simen’s house with Heike and the goat, which couldn’t understand why it had to go into the outhouse. It wanted to live with Vinga, obviously! Their suggestion was just stupid. Of course, it got its way.

Vinga was a bit afraid. First, the house was far too close to Eirik’s farm, and second, she wasn’t entirely convinced of Heike’s talent for detecting ghosts. The whole parish knew that Simen, who had died twenty-five years ago, haunted the garden gate from time to time. So the first thing Vinga did was to make another entrance in the fence. She didn’t want to risk meeting him by the gate!

Heike shook his head at her.

He had enough trouble as it was, finding a decent place for Vinga to sleep – or, to be precise, a place for him to spend the night, because he gave her the only bed. Simen’s house was in a far better state than the smallholding up in the forest, but Vinga didn’t like it even so. She said that it had a strange atmosphere. Even the walls were alive: the grey beams radiated eerie old events.

Heike said sternly: “Now listen, Vinga. I’m the unfortunate one who possesses that kind of intuition, not you! The worst thing that has happened in this house is that an old man died here.”

Vinga shuddered at his answer.

“Just go and have a rest, Vinga,” he said gently. “Ever since we got here you’ve been following at my heels like a little child who’s afraid of the dark. I know it’s morning, but you’ve been up all night and you’ve experienced a lot in the past twenty-four hours. Tonight, we’ll be treasure-hunting!”

“Yes, we will!” Vinga whispered enthusiastically. “I suppose I’m a bit confused because I am tired, I must admit. What about you, Heike? Don’t you need some sleep?”

He didn’t tell her that he had hardly slept since he had begun thinking about her safety. “Yes, I thought of taking a nap in the sun.”

Vinga stood in front of him. She had moved so swiftly that it looked as if she had jumped to where he stood. “I think I’ll do the same.”

Heike looked down into her big, resolute eyes and found it difficult not to smile. “No,” he said, struggling to stay calm. “I’ll be right outside if there’s anything you want.”

Vinga was sure she would want something. All her instincts had become extremely keen while she lived up on her smallholding. She was convinced that it would be fatal for her to stay in this house.

The goat had a stupid expression on its face, as it left a line of dark pellets on Heike’s newly swept floor. He sighed resignedly and went to find something to sweep them up with.

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