My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry(36)

“I’m coming,” Mum answers politely. Elsa can tell by her voice that she’s been crying.

The words come flowing out of Britt-Marie, as if she’s fitted with a windup mechanism and someone has cranked it up using a key on her back.

“I rang your bell! No one opened!”

Mum sighs.

“No. We’re not home. We’re here.”

“Your mother’s car is parked in the garage! And that hound is still loose on the property!” She’s talking so quickly it’s clear she can’t prioritize her various upsets.

Elsa sits up in Granny’s bed, but it takes almost a minute before she manages to take in what Britt-Marie just said. Then she bounces out of bed and opens the door, and has to muster all her self-control to stop herself dashing off down the hall, because she doesn’t want to make the old busybody suspicious.

Britt-Marie stands on the landing with one hand very firmly inserted into the other, smiling at Mum in a well-meaning way, nattering on about how in this leaseholders’ association they can’t have rabid dogs running around.

“A sanitary nuisance, a sanitary nuisance is what it is!”

“The dog is probably far away by now, Britt-Marie. I wouldn’t worry about it—”

Britt-Marie turns to Mum and smiles well-meaningly.

“No, no, of course you wouldn’t, Ulrika. Of course you wouldn’t. You’re not the type to worry yourself about other people’s safety, even your own child’s, are you? It’s something you’ve inherited, I see. Putting the career before the children. That is how it’s always been in your family.”

Mum’s face is utterly relaxed. Her arms hang down, apparently relaxed. The only thing that gives her away is that she’s slowly, slowly clenching her fists. Elsa has never seen her do that before.

Britt-Marie also notices. Again she switches the position of her hands on her stomach. Looks as if she’s sweating. Her smile stiffens.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that, Ulrika, obviously. Obviously not. You make your own choices and prioritizations, obviously!”

“Was there anything else on your mind?” says Mum slowly, but something in her eyes has changed hue, which makes Britt-Marie take a small, small step back.

“No, no, nothing else. Nothing else at all!”

Elsa sticks out her head before Britt-Marie has time to turn around and leave.

“What was that you said about Granny’s car?”

“It’s in the garage,” she says curtly, avoiding Mum’s eye. “It’s parked in my space. And if it isn’t moved at once, I’ll call the police!”

“How did it get there?”

“How am I supposed to know?!” Then she turns to Elsa’s mum again, with renewed courage. “The car has to be moved at once, otherwise I’m calling the police, Ulrika!”

“I don’t know where the car keys are, Britt-Marie. And if you don’t mind, I need to sit down—I seem to be getting a headache.”

“Maybe if you didn’t drink so much coffee you wouldn’t get headaches so often, Ulrika!” She turns and stomps down the stairs so quickly no one has time to answer her.

Mum closes the door in a slightly less self-controlled and composed way than usual, and heads into the kitchen.

“What did she mean by that?” asks Elsa.

“She doesn’t think I should drink coffee when I’m pregnant,” Mum replies. Her phone starts ringing.

“That’s not what I meant,” says Elsa. She hates it when Mum pretends to be stupid.

Mum picks up her telephone from the kitchen counter.

“I have to answer this, sweetheart.”

“What did Britt-Marie mean when she said in our family we ‘put the career before the children?’ She meant Granny, didn’t she?”

The telephone continues ringing.

“It’s from the hospital, I have to answer.”

“No you don’t!”

They stand in silence looking at each other while the telephone rings two more times. Now it’s Elsa’s turn to clench her fists.

Mum’s fingers steal across the display.

“I have to take this, Elsa.”

“No you don’t!”

Mum closes her eyes and answers the telephone. By the time she starts talking into it, Elsa has already slammed the door to Granny’s bedroom behind her.

When Mum gently opens the door half an hour later, Elsa pretends to be asleep. Mum sneaks up and tucks her in. Kisses her cheek. Turns off the lamp.

By the time Elsa gets up an hour after that, Mum is sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Elsa sneaks up and tucks her and Halfie in. Kisses Mum on the cheek. Turns out the lamp. Mum is still holding Granny’s tea towel in her hand.

Elsa fetches a flashlight from one of the boxes in the hall and puts on her shoes.

Because now she knows where to find the next clue in Granny’s treasure hunt.





13





WINE


It’s a bit tricky to explain, but some things in Granny’s fairy tales are like that. You have to understand, first of all, that no creature in the Land-of-Almost-Awake is sadder than the sea-angel, and it’s actually only once Elsa remembers this whole story that Granny’s treasure hunt begins to make sense.