Midnight Sun

Chapter 5

I saw him through the binoculars.

He had a rolling gait, and he was so short and bow-legged that the heather brushed his crotch.

I lowered the rifle.

When he reached the cabin he pulled off his joker’s hat and wiped away the sweat. Grinned.

‘An ice-cold viidna would be good right now.’

‘I’m afraid I haven’t—’

‘Sámi aquavit. Distilled by the best. You’ve got two bottles.’

I shrugged my shoulders and we went inside. I opened one of the bottles. Poured clear, room-temperature liquid into the two cups.

‘Cheers,’ Mattis said, raising one of them.

I said nothing, and merely gulped the poison down.

He quickly followed my example. Wiped his mouth. ‘Ah, that was good.’ He held his cup out.

I filled it. ‘Did you follow Knut?’

‘I knew the viidna wasn’t for his father, so I had to make sure the lad wasn’t thinking of drinking it himself. You have to show a bit of responsibility.’ He grinned, and a brown liquid dribbled down from behind his top lip and over his yellow front teeth. ‘So this is where you’re staying.’

I nodded.

‘How’s the hunting going?’

I shrugged. ‘Not many grouse about when it’s been such a bad year for mice and lemmings.’

‘You’ve got a rifle. And there are plenty of wild reindeer in Finnmark.’

I took a gulp from the cup. It really did taste terrible, even if the first drink had numbed my tastebuds.

‘I’ve been thinking, Ulf. About what a man like you is doing in a little cabin in Kåsund. You’re not hunting. You haven’t come for peace and quiet, or you would have said so. So what is it?’

‘What do you think the weather’s going to do?’ I refilled his cup. ‘More wind? Less sun?’

‘Forgive me asking, but you’re on the run from someone. The police? Or do you owe someone money?’

I yawned. ‘How did you know the drink wasn’t for Knut’s father?’

A frown appeared on his broad, low forehead. ‘Hugo?’

‘I could smell his workroom. He’s not teetotal.’

‘You’ve been in his room? Did Lea let you inside the house?’

Lea. Her name was Lea.

‘You, an unbeliever? Now that—’ He suddenly broke off, his face cracked into a smile, and he leaned forward with a laugh as he slapped me on my bad shoulder. ‘That’s it! Women! You’re one of those, a horny fucker. You’ve got a married man after you, haven’t you?’

I rubbed my shoulder. ‘How did you know?’

Mattis pointed at his narrow, slanted eyes. ‘We Sámi are children of the earth, you know. You Norwegians follow the path of reason, whereas we’re just foolish shamans who don’t understand, but we sense things, we see.’

‘Lea just lent me this rifle,’ I said. ‘Until her husband comes back from fishing.’

Mattis looked at me. His jaw was going up and down in a grinding semicircle. He took a tiny sip from the cup. ‘In that case you can keep hold of it for a good while.’

‘Oh?’

‘You were wondering how I knew the drink wasn’t for Hugo. That’s because he’s not coming home from fishing.’ Another little sip. ‘Word came through this morning that they’d found his life jacket.’ He looked up at me. ‘Lea didn’t mention it? No, I don’t suppose she would have. The parish has been praying for Hugo for the past fortnight. They — the Læstadians — think that means he’ll be saved, no matter how bad the weather has been out at sea. Anything else would be sacrilegious.’

I nodded. So that’s what Knut had meant when he told me his mother was lying when she said he didn’t have to worry about his father.

‘But now they’re let off,’ Mattis said. ‘Now they can say that God has sent them a sign.’

‘So the coastguards found his life jacket this morning?’

‘The coastguards?’ Mattis laughed. ‘No, they stopped looking more than a week ago. Another fisherman found the life jacket in the water west of Hvassøya.’ He looked and saw the questioning expression on my face. ‘The fishermen write their names on the inside of their life jackets. Life jackets float better than fishermen. That way the next of kin get to know for certain.’

‘Tragic,’ I said.

He stared out into space with a distracted look. ‘Oh, there are plenty worse tragedies than being Hugo Eliassen’s widow.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Who knows?’ He looked pointedly at his empty cup. I don’t know why he was so eager to drink, he must have had crates of the stuff at home. Maybe the raw materials were expensive. I filled his cup. He moistened his lips with the drink.

‘Pardon me,’ he said, and let out a fart. ‘Well, the Eliassen brothers were real hotheads even when they were young. They learned to fight early. They learned to drink early. And they learned how to get what they wanted early. And they learned all this from their father, of course, he had two boats and eight men working on them. And Lea was the prettiest young girl in Kåsund back then, with her long black hair and those eyes. Even with that scar. Her father, Jakob the pastor, watched her like a hawk. You know, if a Læstadian fucks outside of marriage, it’s straight to hell with the lot of them, boy, girl and offspring. Not that Lea didn’t know how to look after herself. She’s strong, and she knows what she wants. But obviously, against Hugo Eliassen...’ He sighed deeply. Turned the cup in his hands.

I waited until I realised he was expecting me to prompt him. ‘What happened?’

‘No one but the two of them really knows. But all the same, it was a bit odd. She was eighteen years old and had never given him a second glance, he was twenty-four and furious, because he thought she ought to worship the ground he walked on, seeing as he was heir to a couple of fishing boats. There was a drunken party at the Eliassens’, and a prayer meeting in the Læstadians’ hall. Lea walked home alone. It was during the dark season, so no one saw anything, but someone said they heard Lea and Hugo’s voices, then there was a scream, followed by silence. And a month later Hugo was standing at the altar dressed up to the nines, watching Jakob Sara, who was walking his daughter down the aisle with an icy expression. She had tears in her eyes and bruises on her neck and cheek. And I have to say, that was the last time anyone saw bruises on her.’ He drained his cup and got to his feet. ‘But what do I know, I’m just a wretched Sámi, maybe they were happy the whole way through. Someone must end up happy, because people are always getting married. And that’s why I need to be getting home, because I’ve got to deliver the drink for the wedding in Kåsund in three days’ time. Are you going?’

‘Me? I’m afraid I haven’t been invited.’

‘No one needs an invitation, everyone’s welcome here. Have you been to a Sámi wedding before?’

I shook my head.

‘Then you ought to come. A party lasting three days, if not longer. Good food, randy women and Mattis’s drink.’

‘Thanks, but I’ve got a lot I need to get done here.’

‘Here?’ He chuckled and put his hat on. ‘You’ll end up coming, Ulf. Three days alone on the plateau is lonelier than you think. The stillness does something to you, especially to someone who’s been living in Oslo for a few years.’

It struck me that he knew what he was talking about. Leaving aside the fact that I couldn’t remember ever telling him where I was from.

When we went outside the buck was standing just ten metres away from the cabin. It raised its head and looked at me. Then it was as if it realised how close I was, backed up a couple of steps, then turned and lumbered off.

‘Didn’t you say the reindeer up here were tame?’ I said.

‘No reindeer’s completely tame,’ Mattis said. ‘But even that one has an owner. The mark on its ear tells you who stole it.’

‘What’s that clicking sound it makes when it runs?’

‘That’s the tendons in its knees. Good alarm if the married man shows up, eh?’ He laughed out loud.

I have to admit that the same thought had occurred to me: the buck was a good watchdog.

‘See you at the wedding, Ulf. The ceremony’s at ten o’clock, and I can guarantee that it’ll be beautiful.’

‘Thanks, but I don’t think so.’

‘Okay, then. Goodbye, good day and farewell. And if you’re going anywhere, I wish you a safe trip.’ He spat. The lump was so heavy that the heather sank beneath it. He carried on chuckling to himself as he rolled away in the direction of the village. ‘And if you get ill—’ he called over his shoulder — ‘I wish you a speedy recovery.’