Part 17 (1/2)

'Maybe it was because of her missing finger.'

'Yes, but that was on her left hand.'

'What a memory.'

'I've done nothing but remember her over the past few years. OK. When she didn't react the second time I prodded her, I did this...'

Matte made a jerky, prodding movement with his finger.

'Tap-tap-tap, and you know what...her skin. It was all hard. Didn't give at all, no matter how hard I prodded. Hard, yet not solid. Do you understand what I mean? You can feel it, if you tap on...a statue, for example, as opposed to a sheet of plywood. It's not exactly easy to explain what the difference is, but it's sort of like a...a vibration in a thinner material.'

'And this was...a thinner material?'

'Yes.'

'So what kind of material was it?'

'Plastic.'

'Plastic?'

Matte snorted. The corners of his mouth turned up in a grin.

'I'm joking. I've no idea what kind of b.l.o.o.d.y material it was. Just that it was hard, and thin.'

Silence fell. I could hear the subway rumbling past somewhere down below. The room had grown darker. Only Matte's white s.h.i.+rt was clearly visible. I tried to picture it: a human being made of a hard, thin material. I saw metal.

'You mean she was some kind of robot?'

Matte shook his head, got up and went into the kitchen. When he came back he was carrying a lit candle in a holder, and he looked like an ill.u.s.tration from some ghost story. He placed the candle on the table.

'Cla.s.sic paranoia, eh? Everyone is a robot except me. No, that's not what it's about. I understand, of course I do, you have to picture things in your mind. But delete robot. Can we come back to this? I'll finish telling you the story, and it might all become clearer. Or not. OK?'

'OK. Yes.'

'Eventually I got her to turn around. I waved my hand in front of her eyes like this, and she...she gave me a really funny look. I wrote the word on the board, and that was that. Oh. One more thing. Do you remember what she used to shout when she was calling us in? From the corridor?'

I shook my head.

'Come on. It would be good if you could remember this yourself. She'd come out of the cla.s.sroom, and we'd all be there mucking about, and she'd raise her arm and shout...can you remember what she used to shout?'

I closed my eyes and tried to picture the scene. Yes. There we were. And she came out. She was wearing some kind of brightly coloured blouse with big leaves on it, and she had...

For f.u.c.k's sake, we only had her for a week and she...

I opened my eyes.

'She never changed her clothes. It just struck me. She wore the same clothes for the whole week she was there. Didn't she?'

Matte smiled. Or whatever you might call that thing he was doing with his mouth.

'You're getting there. And do you remember what she used to shout?'

I closed my eyes again. The big leaves...hair like a helmet...she raised her hand, she shouted...

All you children...all you children...come in...

'I've got it. All you children! Come in! Welcome!'

'Exactly.'

'Yes. That was it. So?'

'I'm getting there. That day I followed her when school was over. Tailed her. From a distance. She didn't live far from the school. Up in those old apartment blocks on Holbergsgatan, behind the centre. You know the ones I mean? Anyway. I saw her go in through a door, so I sat down on a bench by the children's playground and waited.'

'What were you waiting for?'

'How should I know? Nothing better to do, I suppose. When I'd been sitting there for a while she came out onto the balcony. And where I was sitting...there was a tree between us, closer to me. So I could see her, but she couldn't see me. She stood there on the balcony for a few minutes. Then she went inside, and I stayed where I was. I don't know, I suppose I was in the middle of some fantasy about a stakeout. You know, that I was...'

'Cup of coffee and a doughnut.'

'Exactly.'

'Why didn't you talk to me?'

Matte raised his eyebrows. For some reason I sounded really upset. I waved it away, told him to carry on. He leaned forward.

'I asked you. I asked you if you wanted to come with me to tail the subst.i.tute teacher, I said there was something shady about her, but you had indoor hockey training or something.'

'Handball.'

'Handball. And it was probably just as well. When I'd been sitting there for a quarter of an hour she left the apartment and went off somewhere, and I climbed up to her balcony. Up the drainpipe.'

'You're kidding?'

'No. And fortunately...or however you want to put it, she'd left the balcony door open, so I could get inside. And at this point I have to ask permission to repeat myself, because do you know what was in there?'

'No.'

'Nothing.'

'Nothing?'

'Nothing.'

'What do you mean, nothing?'

'Nothing. Not a single ornament. Nothing.'

'You mean...but she had furniture and-'