The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,14
it’s true. At the same time, she thinks that perhaps Linnéa’s truth isn’t the only truth. If Minoo has mainly experienced the lighter side of life, Linnéa has mainly experienced the darker side. Is the one truer than the other?
Linnéa smiles scornfully. ‘Aren’t you going to run to Mummy now?’
Minoo feels a sudden flash of anger. ‘I feel sorry for you,’ she says, and walks towards the car.
‘Well, fucking don’t!’ Linnéa shouts after her.
5
ANNA-KARIN GETS UP, staggers down the aisle of the lurching bus and resolutely aims for the door. She is so tired of being afraid that someone is going to say something nasty to her as she walks past. Or, even worse, that she’ll hear a stifled snigger. When neither happens, she hears echoes of previous insults in her head. Voices that whisper how fat she is and how she stinks of manure.
But today no one even looks up. Everybody on the bus is whispering, but not about her. Today nobody’s talking about anyone except Elias.
The bus takes a final curve and stops with a jolt that causes her to stumble. She feels her stomach drop in the tenth of a second when she thinks she’s going to fall and make everyone laugh, but she regains her balance without anyone noticing. The doors open and she steps down on to the soft verge.
She takes a few deep breaths as the bus disappears down the road. As soon as she sees the cow pasture, her lungs double in size. She can breathe freely.
The gravel crunches beneath her feet as she walks up to the house. When she reaches the field she goes over to one of the big, brown-eyed animals. ‘Hello, my beauty,’ she mumbles, as Grandpa always does.
The cow’s big tongue licks her hand when she holds it out. Flies are buzzing around its warm coat. Yes, it smells of manure, and she loves it. Anna-Karin is a completely different person at home. Her back straightens and her fear of sweating disappears. She can think about other things than whether or not the angle of her head gives her a double chin, or if her breasts are jiggling beneath her shirt in a way that might invite comment.
She reaches the front garden. Two red-painted wooden houses, one with two floors and the other just one, built at right angles to each other. The barn and a few smaller buildings stand further away.
Anna-Karin goes up to the two-storey house and opens the front door. She takes off her shoes and plucks Pepper out of her pocket. He’s fallen asleep and moves a little as she gently lays him in a basket in the hallway. She’s made it nice and cosy with the remains of an old rag carpet.
Loud peals of laughter can be heard coming from the living room. Anna-Karin looks in and sees her mother lying on the sofa. She’s fast asleep, with her mouth wide open. There’s an American living room on the TV screen. Anna-Karin considers taking the remote and turning down the volume, but she doesn’t want to risk waking her mother and being shouted out.
Instead she tiptoes into the kitchen. She takes out a box of chocolate balls from the refrigerator and a bag of French rolls from the breadbin on the counter. She hollows out the little white rolls, places a chocolate ball in each one and flattens them into patties. She eats them standing at the counter, with gulps of milk. The full sensation in her stomach makes her feel nicely drowsy.
Anna-Karin looks towards the kitchen window through which she can see Grandpa’s house. She spots the hunched figure inside and waves. Grandpa gestures for her to come over. Anna-Karin eagerly leaves the house with the hysterically laughing TV personalities.
Grandpa’s front door leads into a tiny hall where one of his work overalls hangs on a hook. To the left you can see into the kitchen. Nearest the door stands a bluish-grey wooden bench. This is where Grandpa’s friends usually sit when they visit, before it’s time to move to the kitchen table for coffee. That’s where Grandpa is sitting now, looking out of the window as he slurps a cup of coffee.
Anna-Karin doesn’t like coffee, but she loves the smell. Grandpa’s little house always smells of coffee, newly chopped firewood and animals. Today it also smells of the freshly ironed clothes that lie folded neatly in a basket by the bedroom door.