MIDSUMMER’S EVE, OR
THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR, OR
1 YEAR AND 19 DAYS AFTER THE DAY,
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
“Where’s my Daddy?”
No one answered Karl Haugen.
The blinding sunshine fell on his eyes. He wondered where he was and why he could not see his father. So much time had passed and yet Karl Haugen felt as if he had last seen his father just a few minutes ago. He had lost track of time.
“Where’s my Daddy?”
Silence.
“I want to see my father!”
The Norwegian storting or parliament met in session. The ruling party confidently looked forward to a thorough grilling by the opposition parties on the danger to Norwegian banks from potential defaults on the government debt of poorly managed European Union countries like Spain and Greece.
After receiving recognition to speak Edvard Ruud stood up. He was the senior member of a small ultra right-wing opposition party that wanted to end immigration and other social engineering projects. Edvard Ruud stood silently for a long time before he said:
“Mister Speaker. . although high finance and the well-being of international bankers seem to be the primary concern of the Prime Minister and his government. . can the Prime Minister and his Minister of Justice explain why the government’s police have gotten absolutely no results on finding a Norwegian child who’s been missing now for twelve months. . The child is Karl Haugen age seven. . an innocent boy who mysteriously disappeared from his school in the middle of the day.”
The chamber erupted in shouts and catcalls which did not deter Edvard Ruud.
“Karl Haugen. . an innocent child and Norwegian citizen is. . in my opinion. . far more important than the foreign deadbeat countries that are always seeking bailouts and handouts from Norway and other countries whose citizens work hard and spend wisely.”
The Prime Minister stood up and said, “Does the right honorable member from Namsos actually have a question for me?. . I lost track of his question in his long speech.”
“Ja. I have three questions. Exactly when and how does your Minister of Justice plan on finding the little boy Karl Haugen and bringing him back home?. . Are the school children of Norway really safe when the police cannot find a little boy after one entire year of looking for him?. . Just what has been done to find Karl Haugen with all of the money and manpower that the Justice Minister asked for and got with his latest budget increase?”
Oslo Police Commissioner Ivar Thorsen could not believe his luck in getting invited to the exclusive Oustoen Country Club on Ostoya Island about 15 miles southwest of downtown Oslo. His efforts had paid off. His mother had taught him well. She always said, “Hang around rich and powerful people. Then do what the rich and powerful people do.”
“So,” said his boss, “you really play golf?”
“Ja!”
“Really? Alright then. You’re playing with me. Let’s go.”
They teed off and played in the glorious summer weather. His boss was driving the cart to the second hole when his boss suddenly stopped and said:
“We have a problem.”
“I took care of it. No one will ever know.”
“What? You did?”
“You know. . our last mayor. . his mistress getting a no-bid contract worth millions.”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the missing boy.”
“Karl Haugen?”
“Yes. The little shit is causing a lot of trouble.”
“I did what you told me to do. . to make it appear that we were doing something.”
“That’s no longer good enough. You see. . unfortunately someone higher up has taken an interest in the case. He wants a final solution. . he won’t tolerate any longer for us to appear as if we’re doing something.”
The two men played and moved on to the third hole.
“Who is interested?”
“The Minister of Justice and Police,” said his boss as he swung his four iron.
“Oh,” he said somewhat in shock that the boss of his boss’s boss had taken an interest in the boy. He had never heard of a member of cabinet taking an interest in such a matter. Powerful people surely had more important things to care about.
His wise mother had told him many many times, “The powerful only care about what’s good for them. Never forget that.” That’s what his mother had taught him and she knew very well how the world worked.
Penniless his mother had come to Oslo to work at a bank executive’s home as a maid. The poor but pretty peasant girl from a small village near the border with Sweden was no fool. She knew how the world worked and she became very good friends with the bank executive and his wife and their son and she soon got pregnant and very lucky as a single mother with permanent employment. She got lots of benefits and gifts from the bank executive including tuition for her son’s university as well as a tidy retirement sum set aside for when she turned 55.
At the fourth hole his boss knocked the ball in at par and said:
“The Minister wants the situation with the boy resolved as soon as possible. . no later than December.”
“That’s just six months from now.”
“You have to do it. He’s planning on becoming the next Prime Minister. And that bit of news is utterly and completely confidential. You must tell absolutely no one about it. Understand?”
“Ja. Of course.”
The men played in silence and moved on to the fifth hole.
“What do you want me to do?”
His boss took out a seven iron. “Do whatever it takes.”
“An arrest?”
“Whatever it takes.”
“A confession?”
“Whatever it takes. It’s your department. You’re the Politimeister. . the Police Commissioner and Chief of the Oslo district!”
Ivar Thorsen was troubled and his game went from mediocre to horrible. His score reached pathetic levels for the next two holes. He felt sick over the situation that his boss had just put him into.
If he failed then he would have to take the blame as well as any unpleasant consequences such as a forced early retirement.
If he got results then someone else would take the credit.
After much thought Thorsen slowly realized that it was okay if he didn’t get any of the credit before the public and the media and the government. This time he didn’t mind someone else taking the credit because the Minister of Justice or his boss or his boss’s boss would surely remember who had gotten things done.
After they teed off for the ninth hole Thorsen said, “I really appreciate you telling me that the Minister is interested.”
“I told you because I want no doubts or timid half-measures from you. This way there’s absolutely no doubt as to what you need to do. . and what the rewards and consequences will be if you succeed or fail.”
Shivers went up and down Thorsen’s spine. “Any preferences on what I should do or how I should proceed?”
“It’s your department! Just do it.”
Ivar Thorsen couldn’t play at all. He spent a lot of time hacking away in the rough and cursed when he dug himself in deeper at a sand bunker. He finally reached the tee for the ninth hole that offered magnificent views of Oslofjord and the city of Oslo and the low mountains which ring Oslo to the north and west.
His boss played a five iron superbly and he motioned for Thorsen to come over and his boss said in the friendliest voice:
“I’ve noticed over the years that you have switched your hobbies many times.”
“Ja. Why yes I have.”
“Remind me. You started out as a Politireserven. . on the Police Reserve. . as a lowly reserve on probation. Right?”
“Oh yes.”
“And then you became a Grade One Politibetjent. . a Police Constable. Right?”
“Ja.”
“Interesting. . that’s also when you took up horseback riding as a hobby. . because that was what your boss liked to do on weekends. Right?”
“Ja,” said Thorsen uncomfortable and unsure where the conversation was going.
“Then you switched hobbies as you went up the ranks to a Grade Two Politibetjent. . a Police Sergeant. . and then to a Grade Three Politibetjent. . a Police Inspector. As I remember from way back then you changed your hobbies to tennis and then to sailing each time that you got a new boss. Correct?”
“Ja. I took lessons for my hobbies. They were fun.”
“Oh I bet they were. And then you got promoted to a Politiforstebetjent. . a Police Chief Inspector and then to Politioverbetjent. . Police Superintendent. Right?”
“Ja.”
“And if I remember correctly that’s also when you again switched your hobbies to skiing and then to playing that board game. . Scrabble. Right?”
“Ja. I love skiing and playing Scrabble.”
“Just like your bosses.”
“I. . ”
“Then you switched to playing bridge before you became the Oslo Politidistrikt Politimeister. . the Police Chief for the Oslo district.”
“Why yes. I love playing bridge just like you do. As you say. . the cards exercise the brain.”
“And now you have switched to golf. . the hobby of my boss the Politidirektor. . the National Police Commissioner. . and his boss the Minister of Justice and Norge Politimester. . Norway’s Minister of Justice and Chief of Police.”
“Ja. . but only because the golf range offered me real cheap lessons thanks to a coupon I got in the mail.”
“Do me a favor.”
“Ja sir?”
“Stop taking golf classes.”
“Of course sir.”
“You need to quit golf.”
“Ja. . why not?. . Ja. . I will.”
“In the first place golf is a whole other game in a totally different category than from what you’ve ever played. Don’t you see?. . Golf requires skills and talent that you simply do not have. . no matter how many lessons you take or how much you practice. Understand?”
“Ja. I see what you mean.”
“Do you?. . Good. I’m also sure that you can now see why someone like you. . with so little talent and practice. . is playing so very badly today.”
“Of course.”
“What a shame that my boss the Politidirektor. . the National Police Commissioner invited you to the golf course where he and his boss the Minister of Justice are members. I don’t think that you see how you’ve embarrassed them with your atrocious playing and ridiculously vulgar polyester clothes and cheap clubs. I hope you will never again even think of accepting an invitation from any member of this club. Do you understand?
“Ja. Of course.”
“Also. . I understand that you got invited here today because you’ve been going to the same golf range as the Politidirektor. . the National Police Commissioner.”
“A coincidence I can assure you.”
“One that will never be repeated since you are quitting golf. Correct?”
“Ja.”
“Alright. I better hurry and play this hole. I see that my bosses the Politidirektor and the Minister of Justice are almost at the eleventh hole.”
Thorsen went to get his wood to finish playing the ninth.
“Oh no Thorsen. You’re leaving right now. Go back to the office. I’ll tell my bosses that you left because you just couldn’t play well and realized that you’re just not cut out for this game.”
“Of course. Can you-”
“No. I won’t be driving you back in the cart. You can walk yourself back to the club house.”
“Ja. Thank you sir. Have a great game.”
“I will especially now that we had our little talk.”
Thorsen hid his shaking hands. He should have known that his boss was always watching his every move including his joining the golf range where the Minister happened to practice his golf swing. Thorsen had less than ten years to go before retirement and he could not afford to get demoted or even worse laterally transferred to Tromso up north or some other frozen wasteland halfway up to the North Pole like Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago where one Politioverbetjent Police Superintendent committed suicide after being transferred there for the wrongful conviction of five innocent men.
At the club house Thorsen was directed to the private ferry terminal where Thorsen almost passed out when he realized that his boss had kept his round-trip ticket. Thorsen had almost no cash and as a non-member he had to pay 150 kroner or almost $ 30 U.S. dollars for the one-mile ferry trip to the Snaroya terminal on the mainland where he had left his car.
What would he do now that he had his marching orders?
He realized that he would have to move people around in his department and even worse bring in someone smart to get results.
“Never hire smart people to work for or around you,” his mother had told him. “They don’t take orders very well and they will always outshine you. Even worse they’ll get promoted and sooner or later take your job. No! No! No! Make sure that you always employ people as dumb or dumber than you. And my son you are not smart so you be very careful. Only hang around smart people as long as they help you.”
Thorsen smiled at the thought of his clever mother. She was absolutely right. As a puppet he too could play the part of the puppet master and start pulling strings and moving his own puppets around. He would rearrange the chess pieces so that he had a chance of success.
By the time the ferry got to the Snaroya terminal Thorsen knew exactly what he needed to do. First he would get flowers for his mother and go visit her in the afternoon and then he’d go have dinner with his good wife whom his mother had picked from the village. He remembered his mother always saying:
“Us simple country people are winners because we are survivors. Peasants are born to survive! Remember this Ivar and you will do well.”
“Daddy! Daddy! I want my Daddy!”
The man looked at Karl Haugen and said, “Not now Karl.”
“I want my Daddy!”
The man shook his head. Children never failed to amaze him.
“I’m going to take a nap as soon as we’re done,” she said.
“Good.”
“Are you going to take a nap?”
“I doubt it.” Harald Sohlberg dried the plates and silverware that his wife rinsed and handed him from the kitchen sink. “I’ll read for a while. . then maybe take a walk in the old neighborhood. I just can’t sleep in the afternoon. Not even after my fifteen mile run this morning.”
“If you don’t take a nap then that means that you are not going to have any sleep over a twenty-four hour period. Don’t forget. . we have a party with the Otterstads that doesn’t start until eight. They like to celebrate Saint Hans Aften. . St. John’s Eve. . until very very late.”
“I know. They don’t even light their bal. . bonfire by the beach. . until after midnight.”
“Then there’s all that food. You’ll get reflux if you eat late. . ”
“I promise I won’t eat so much that I feel like throwing up in bed.”
“You always say that and then you go ahead anyways and overeat like crazy. There’s going to be lots and lots of food. And that means lots of rommegrot. . sour cream porridge. They’ll probably be serving food until two or three in the morning. You know you always go crazy eating rommegrot. Remember when we went to my parents in Bergen after we met?. . You had almost four liters. . a gallon. . of my mother’s rommegrot.”
He could almost smell and taste the pudding of sour cream with melted butter and brown sugar and cinnamon. “Ja! I still remember that. But I rarely have it any more. . this will be my once-in-a-year feasting on my favorite food. Besides. . it’s been ages since we celebrated Sankthans. . Midsummer’s Eve. It’s been what?. . Maybe fifteen years since we spent a Sankthans in Norway?. . It’s been at least five years since we’ve been in Oslo during the summer for more than a few days.”
“True. I’m so happy we came back. Three weeks of summer vacation!”
“Don’t forget though. I must do a presentation at headquarters before we can leave. Then we’ll be off to see your folks and enjoy lovely Bergen once again.”
Fru Sohlberg handed him the last dish and noticed his eyes. “Won’t it feel strange going back to the Politidirektoratet. . the National Police Directorate?. . Are you nervous?”
“Yes and no,” he said fully aware that his wife could read his face and gestures like an open book. Not even the best lie detector and voice stress machine could surpass her skills at accurately and instantly detecting his real feelings and thoughts. Sometimes he wondered if she and not he should have been the Politiforstebetjent (Police Chief Inspector) in the family. He had no doubts that Fru Sohlberg would probably have solved more crimes than Herr Sohlberg given her special talents.
She turned and looked at him. “It must be strange if not difficult to have so many reminders of the past. . beginning with this house.”
“Ja,” he said. “A remembrance of things past.”
“Exactly. Like Proust. . the French author. . did you know that he wrote two million words in seven volumes based on a flood of memories that were unleashed by the smell and taste of the tea he used to drink and the little madeleine sponge cakes he used to eat as a child?”
Sohlberg nodded. “Ja. . This house brings back my childhood. . and so many memories. . even those as a young adult.”
During the past two days he had been embarrassed several times when she caught him lost in memories while he stared wistfully at different rooms of his old childhood home. He felt foolish at his sentimental longing for the good old days of his youth and yet he could not deny the powerful attraction that he had for the lovely waterfront home of glass-and-cedar where his parents and his brother had lived in as close to a perfect idyllic existence as possible thanks to his mother’s love and his father’s providing.
She read his face and said, “Well. . you can’t be blamed for feeling nostalgic over the great childhood you had here with your parents.”
“True,” said Sohlberg, “but it’s all in the past.”
“Yes. The good and the bad. . even the worst of the bad is now far behind you. . ”
“Ja. That’s true. Incredible how time has passed.”
She dried her hands on the towel that he held. She pulled him closer with the towel and kissed him gently on the lips. “Please take a nap if you can.”
Sohlberg smiled and watched her walk down the hallway and up the stairs. He drank the last of the sparkling mineral water of the third Farris bottle that he had consumed after returning from his early morning run. He then walked outside and past the towering pines down to the beach where his father had built a small guest cabin.
His father had built the cabin and used it as an office after his refurbished industrial machinery business took off in the early 1980s. Of course the cabin and the sailboat and the floating dock and other luxuries came only after many years of struggling and economizing. Sohlberg remembered many cold winters with little heat in the house and simple paper shades for curtains when they moved into the house during his last two years in high school. Norway’s oil boom greatly prospered his father’s business in the 1980s and Sohlberg sometimes wondered if he should have gone into business with his father.
“Me the businessman,” Sohlberg said to himself as he sat down before his father’s desk.
In less than an hour Sohlberg had carefully organized and added up the receipts and invoices that he needed to present to Interpol as soon as possible. He wanted to quickly get reimbursed for more than $ 12,932 U.S. dollars that he had spent on airlines and taxis and hotels and meals on his recent round of traveling to Norway from the USA. He decided that he would send the reimbursement request by fax later that night to Lyon France. But he had to make absolutely sure that he added and included every item correctly because he knew better than to submit a wrong reimbursement request to the accountants and bookkeepers at Interpol. The bean counters always made him and other Interpol advisers and field agents feel that they were somehow defrauding Interpol even when submitting the most accurate of expense reports.
Sohlberg had as ususal organized all the paperwork for the expense report on a day-by-day basis from the day that he and Fru Sohlberg had flown out of Seattle in the United States to the day that they arrived in Copenhagen Denmark for a four-day meeting of Interpol’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for the European Region. He still needed to add the paperwork for the airfare from Copenhagen to Oslo and the car rental at the airport.
Representatives from all 49 member nations of the Regional European NCB had attended the Copenhagen meeting to review and discuss links between major organized crime groups that smuggled drugs and humans from Asia into the western shores of Canada and the United States.
Sohlberg attended the Copenhagen meeting because he officially works full time as an Adviser at Interpol. During the past two years he had worked out of Seattle in the USA and directed a secret 12-country investigation into the smuggling of pure grade Number 4 heroin by criminal gangs based at Vancouver in British Columbia Canada and at Seattle in Washington State USA.
He placed the Interpol forms for reimbursement on the desk and was focusing on not making any errors when his cell phone buzzed angrily. Sohlberg frowned when he saw the incoming phone number on the little screen.
“Hei,” he said trying to sound as relaxed and casual as possible given the caller’s identity.
“Are you free to talk?”
“Ja.”
“Are you still on schedule to give a talk three days from now on heroin smuggling to all twenty-seven of our districts?”
“Ja. Why?”
“We need to meet. Come by my office after you finish your talk.”
The call from the Commissioner for the Oslo Police Regional District enraged Sohlberg. He hated Ivar Thorsen. Technically the man was his still his boss and that made Sohlberg hate him even more. On days like this Sohlberg felt that he would explode and have a heart attack or a stroke over the cruel fact that he was still subject to taking orders from an incompetent fool like Ivar Thorsen.
To think that they had once been close friends all the way from high school to law school!
Even as Sohlberg thought about their lost friendship from so long ago he remembered that he and other classmates could barely tolerate Ivar Thorsen after a couple of hours. Few could tolerate the man’s hypocritical fawning. Thorsen’s endless bootlicking disgusted all but the dumbest persons as grotesque and obvious attempts to ingratiate himself into a subservient but beneficial relationship. In other words Ivar Thorsen had inherited all of his mother’s pushy and cunning social designs and schemes but none of her charms which included the ample bosom and other intimate delicacies that she first shared with her employer’s son and then with the employer himself.
“Why?” shouted Sohlberg. “Why do we need to meet? What’s this about?”
“I’ll see you at noon sharp.”
Sohlberg immediately hanged up without waiting to hear more. “What a piece of garbage that Thorsen! Just what does he want from me?”
His former friend Ivar Thorsen was now the enemy and 100 % responsible in Sohlberg’s mind for pushing him out of Norway and into Lyon France for a job at Interpol. According to the press release at the time:
“The Politidirektor (National Police Commissioner) of the Politidirektoratet (National Police Directorate) is pleased to announce that the Commissioner is, effective immediately, assigning and loaning Politiforstebetjent (Police Chief Inspector) Harald Sohlberg of the Oslo Police Regional District to Interpol at the request of the General Secretary of Interpol.
“Herr Sohlberg will serve as a senior Interpol Adviser for an indefinite period of time on critical international law enforcement matters that directly affect Norway and Europe. Furthermore, pursuant to long-standing arrangements with Interpol, Herr Sohlberg will continue in his capacity as a Politiforstebetjent for the Oslo Police Regional District and continue reporting to Commissioner Ivar Thorsen of the Oslo Police Regional District.”
Of course the government’s official press release failed to disclose that Thorsen moved Sohlberg to Interpol after Sohlberg exposed scandalous judicial corruption in Norway’s Supreme Court. The humiliating exile still rankled Sohlberg even though it had taken place 15 years ago on the very day that Sohlberg was celebrating his fifth year as a highly respected Politiforstebetjent.
Sohlberg cursed. He left his father’s cabin to take a long walk on Ulvoya Island before he got angry enough to punch a hole through his father’s desk.
A few miles away another man was about to receive another troubling communication. The man turned on the laptop computer and waited. He was in for a long long night and it was not just because of the midsummer Sankthansaften celebrations. He did not look forward to the midnight sun which would serve as a constant reminder that his personal life was one of extremes. Oslo provided 18 hours of daylight in the summer and 6 hours of daylight in the winter and those unbalanced extremes were no different than those in his heart and soul. He felt that he was losing his grip on reality.
The spy software SILENT KEYLOGGER finally loaded and asked him for his password.
You are?
He typed in *******.
The man felt sick when he read the latest entries that the key logging software had picked up from the desktop computer in the small bedroom down the hallway. Despite the waves of nausea he was grateful that keyboard monitoring software accurately and secretly records every single keyboard strokes that anyone makes on a computer.
What does a man do when he is betrayed on every single possible level of a relationship?
The question disturbed him more than the answer or answers. The question inevitably raised the question of how he had allowed himself to be trapped in such a sick and false relationship. Twisted and putrid would not begin to describe the mess he had gotten himself into so stupidly and recklessly. The worst part of his troubles was that he still could not believe that someone as intelligent and educated as himself could be so thoroughly duped.
A door opened and closed somewhere in his house. Footsteps got closer. He quickly exited the spyware and clicked on his favorite game of solitaire.
“Hei,” she said after opening the door, “what are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just my solitaire.”
Lie upon lie.
Harald Sohlberg hurried away from his parent’s home. He had been looking forward to his three week summer vacation until the phone call from Ivar Thorsen. He turned and looked fondly at his ancestral home.
The older Sohlbergs had insisted that he and his wife stay at their home on Fiskekroken or Fish Hook Drive in Ulvoya Island. His parents now spent most of the year living in the United States of America with his younger brother the petroleum engineer who lived in Houston Texas working for British Petroleum. His parent’s generosity in providing free lodging at Fiskekroken or Fish Hook Drive meant that Interpol would save a fortune in hotel bills because Oslo was far more expensive than insanely overpriced cities like Tokyo and London and Moscow.
A block away Sohlberg walked past the grand old home where Thorsen had grown up while his mother worked as a maid for the bank executive. In the distance he saw a swimming pool through the trees and wondered if the banker or his wife or his son still lived there.
Sohlberg looked with suspicion at Ulvoya’s attractive gardens and beaches because he knew how well the gardens and beaches temporarily tricked residents into forgetting during the summer months that they lived in subArctic Norway where six months from now they’d be in the dark in sub-freezing weather.
“And yet. . so pretty,” he said softly to himself.
Less than a mile across the round island of Ulvoya is one of the many charming islands in the Oslofjord just five miles southeast of downtown Oslo. The splendid sun-drenched views of the land around Oslo and the Oslofjord reminded him of Seattle and Puget Sound in the State of Washington USA. Sohlberg and his wife lived in the Seattle suburb of Silverdale among the pines and waters behind Bainbridge Island.
“Hei!” he said warmly to joggers and pedestrians who threw him cold looks. He was no longer used to the curt and reserved nod that Norwegians traditionally give to strangers including neighbors and others whom they know for decades without ever speaking one single word of acknowledgment or greeting.
He blushed at the thought of acting like a tourist in his own country.
Sohlberg wondered if he would ever fit in his old country. He felt like an alien among his own people. Without a doubt he and Fru Sohlberg had changed a lot by living abroad for so long: four years at Lyon France; four at New York City; two at Salt Lake City in Utah; and, ten at Vancouver in Canada and Seattle in the USA. Change had also arrived at Fiskekroken which was now packed with homes in what had once been farm fields and forests and fisherman’s cabins.
He marveled at how Ulvoya Island had transformed itself since 1975 when his family had moved into their new home which was one of the first modern homes built on the island. Enchanting Ulvoya was now crammed with homes. Sohlberg fondly and sadly remembered the heavily-forested island from his childhood. He certainly did not expect to find the island so grossly overbuilt with homes. The homes squeezed side-by-side reminded him of pleasant well-to-do neighborhoods in Los Angeles like Pacific Palisades.
He walked west on Fiskekroken and was shocked to see so many new homes on the narrow street without sidewalks. Sohlberg could see downtown Oslo between the homes although the larger northern islands of Malmoya and Ormoya sometimes blocked views of the city skyline. He turned into Makeveien which circled the island.
At the corner with Vargveien he stopped. He looked up the gentle hill and stared at the house where his life had taken a turn for the worse when he was three years out of law school. The pretty blue house on Vargveien reminded him of the great painter Gauguin who had suffered so much in Tahiti in the Maison du Jouir or House of Pleasure. This Norwegian house of pleasure had also turned into a house of pain.
“Harald?”
A matronly woman stood by a hedge. She looked vaguely familiar. He thought a few seconds and said the first name that came to him:
“Fru Fredriksen.”
“My. . you’ve gotten very formal Harald.”
He instantly realized his mistake but he did not let on to having confused the daughter for the mother. Instead he smiled and said:
“Margerete. . one has to be formal in my line of work.”
How she had changed! The sexy and thin high school vixen Margerete was now a thick-set grandmother with a very square and solid body. He vaguely remembered that a few years ago his mother had told him that Margerete had gone through several unhappy marriages and affairs and was living back on Ulvoya Island with her parents. He wondered if he also looked as old and worn with his bald spot and thinning hair which he kept very short to hide his baldness and age.
“Come now Harald. Is that how you treat an old friend from Videregaende Skole. . High School?”
“Of course not Margerete. How are your parents. . your mother?”
“Gone.”
“Traveling?”
“No. Dead.”
“I. . I’m sorry to hear that. I really am.” He wondered why his mother had not told him. After all his mother had been good friends with Fru Fredriksen who had been his math teacher in the 9th grade in Ungdomsskole or Junior High School. Sohlberg had always suspected that the two women had conspired to act as matchmakers between him and the youngest of the four lovely Fredericksen daughters. But he had little in common with the extroverted Margerete.
“Harald. I’ve wanted to tell you in person all these years that I’m sorry I did not come to Karoline’s funeral. I should have. . ”
Memories flooded and overwhelmed him. His first wife Karoline. Happy times. Three years married. Mountain climbing every summer in Romsdalen valley which is Norway’s Yosemite valley. Then Karoline suddenly gone. Falling. Down down down. Looking straight into his eyes without any surprise or any screaming. Dead. An accident. For unknown reasons she did not properly tie herself into the rope although she was an experienced climber who had summited Eiger and Mt. Blanc and the Matterhorn. The sickening shisssh of the rope going through the carabiner on her harness. Falling to her death when they had almost reached the summit of the North Face Trollveggen (Troll Wall) of Trollryggen Peak which is the tallest vertical cliff in Europe at 3,600 feet.
“I. . I have to go.”
“Come inside with me Harald and talk. We’ll have something to drink.”
“No!” he said too loudly before lowering his voice. “No thanks. I have to go.”
After 20 minutes of solitaire the man switched to play online poker. He quit a short time later when he realized he could not play well.
He whispered, “What shall I do?”
He weighed his options. They ranged from bad to worse. None attracted him. None promised an attractive outcome. He could always strangle her right then and there and dispose of her body in the wood chipper. Maybe he’d slice her lying tongue off before choking her to death. Perhaps before torturing her he’d have to sneak up on her from behind and knock her head into unconsciousness. He would have to surprise her and disable her because she had once been rather muscular and fit as a bodybuilder. He couldn’t risk her using her athletic skills to somehow overpower him.
Had she taken steroids to win competitions?
The drugs might still be in her body endowing her with extra-manly strength. So he might just have to shoot her in the head or bash in her skull from behind. On the other hand a taser or stun gun would perfectly disable her with a jolt of 100,000 volts. That would shut up her lying devious mouth.
The door opened. She said:
“Honey. . it’s time. Are you coming?”
He nodded.
“Honey,” she said, “I really want to work out hard today. Get rid of the stress. You mind if we stay an extra hour at the gym?”
“Of course not,” he lied. He was desperate if not dying inside. He wanted to be at home to hear any news on the television or radio about breaking developments in the case.
“You know something,” she said with a bright smile, “I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ll go back to competition.”
That was another lie. He knew from eavesdropping on her phone calls that she had permanently quit bodybuilding after placing third in the “Women Over 35 Years Old" category in the Norge Austlandet (Eastern Norway) cup of bodybuilding. She always quit if she did not immediately succeed. He forced himself to be pleasant and said:
“Have you really thought about that my sweet?”
“Honey you know as well as I do that I need to lose weight. I’ve even been thinking of going back to teach. I heard that a teacher position is opening up at Grindbakken Skole.”
Grindbakken Skole: the scene of the crime. No. No way! He could not let her. He would not let her.
Just what is she thinking when she talks about going to teach at Grindbakken? Or is she just taunting him?
Her teaching! More lies and grand deceptions. For years she told anyone who’d listen that she planned on becoming a school principal and then a school district superintendent. He had fallen for that lie and deception until it finally dawned on him that she had a bachelor's and a master's degree in education and yet had never had a full-time teaching job other than working a couple of lowly part-time substitute teacher jobs that she couldn’t even hold for more than a few months before pissing everyone off with her hyper-controlling nature and delusions of grandeur and competence.
He racked his mind trying to remember the nature of her full-time jobs after she lost the part-time substitute teacher gigs.
Where oh where did the crazy broad work at?
A one year gig at the McDonald’s near Oslo University Hospital.
Ja. That was her job with a master’s degree in education — Assistant Manager of the McDonald’s hamburger restaurant at Torgny Segerstedts Vei 11. She had even been named “Assistant Manager of the Month” for having the best sales for the drive-through in the afternoon.
How special of the Little Froken Genius.
“Honey,” she screeched, “go get our bags and I’ll see you in the driveway. Chop chop! We’re running late. Don’t forget to make sure that my deodorant is in my bag. Last time you forgot to check.”
“Ja my sweet.”
She flew down the stairs. He waited briefly for her to get out of the house because her cloud of cheap drugstore perfume gagged him. She blew the car horn twice to rush him.
“How stupid of me winding up with her in my bed and my house,” he whispered to himself. “But Little Miss Genius is always one or two steps ahead of me.”
In hindsight he should have known better than to sleep around with a McDonald’s Assistant Manager of the Month especially when he was a highly-educated man with an enviable high-paying job that most Norwegians could only dream about. He should have known that she saw him as the ultimate meal ticket and that she would never stop pursuing him until she had a marriage ring on her hand and their baby in a crib.
“How very stupid of me,” he said under his breath now that he had finally come to realize that he could not divorce her. Never. Otherwise she would tell the world about the molestation.
Little Froken Blackmailer. Ja. . that would be an interesting issue for her to bring up with the courts and the media and the police.
Wouldn’t it?
She had him cornered!
He wondered why he had told her about the molestation in the first place.
Why did he?
“Coming!” he yelled when she blew the car horn repeatedly.
He did not look forward to spending the endless light-filled nights under the midnattsol with her. He could not stand being near her or hearing her or seeing her or smelling her. And yet she had trapped him in a loveless marriage built on lies and discontent. A cage with no escape.
When would this torture end?
He had absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that an end was in sight. There was no sunset in the horizon for his troubles. He couldn’t and wouldn’t even have the pleasure of torturing and killing her because she surely had her blackmailer’s information conveniently tucked away somewhere ready to be released by someone in case of her death or grievous injury.
That’s it. I have to find out if she has any blackmail information on me tucked away somewhere where it’s ready to be released if she dies or winds up badly injured. If she doesn’t then I’m going to literally rip her to pieces.
The Otterstads sent their oldest son Leif to pick up the Sohlbergs at exactly 8:00 P.M. in one of the Otterstad’s motorboats. As usual the boat was a Beneteau from France where the 120-year-old company kept Mathias Otterstad on a short waiting list for new powerboats like the Antares 42 model.
“Wow,” said Fru Sohlberg to her husband when the breathtaking 49-foot Beneteau Monte Carlo 47 model docked in front of them.
“She’s a beaut. . ain’t she?” said 22-year-old Leif Otterstad while he helped Fru Sohlberg come on board. “So are you Fru Sohlberg!”
Both Sohlbergs laughed.
“I’m serious,” said Leif. “Fru Sohlberg is a good-looking woman.”
Harald Sohlberg nodded while his wife said:
“Well thank you Leif. This boat is incredible. . it looks like an elegant torpedo on steroids.”
Leif gave them a quick tour of the luxurious interior and then raced the boat south around Malmoya Island and then north across the Oslofjord. They drew gaping stares from everyone who saw them. The trip to the Otterstads took less than 20 minutes before they approached the northwest shores of Malmoya Island.
Although Malmoya and Ulvoya islands are separated by less than half a mile of water there’s quite a big jump in net worth and income for those who live on the bigger island of Malmoya. Sohlberg spotted the Otterstad dock the minute he saw a massive Beneteau Swift Trawler 52 floating on the placid waters near his host’s spectacular home on Skjellveien.
“I want to go home,” said Karl Haugen.
The woman with kind eyes said, “This is your new home.”
“No! I want my Daddy. I want to go home.”
The woman tied to hug the little boy but he turned away from her and started crying.
A crowd of about 50 adults and children on the beach cheered when the Sohlbergs stepped out of the boat and onto the dock. Matthias and Nora Otterstad waved at them from a bench under a grove of cedars.
The two couples hugged.
“Welcome Emma and Harald!” said the always effusive Nora Otterstad. “I’m so glad you’re here. Finally home. Will you stay this time and live here in Oslo?”
“Who knows,” said Fru Sohlberg before Sohlberg could say anything.
“Ja. Who knows,” said Matthias Otterstad, “After all. . Interpol is somewhat like the French Foreign Legion. . you never really know where you are going to posted, eh?”
“True,” said Fru Sohlberg while Harald Sohlberg nodded.
Nora Otterstad pointed at two long tables. “Now come along Emma. Let’s get something to drink and eat for us and our boys. . I’ll also introduce you to some folks you may not know.”
The women left for the enormous koldtbord that offered amazing mountains of glazed and smoked and marinated and broiled salmon and kreps or crayfish and orret or mountain trout and all sorts of cold cuts from Norway and Italy including prosciutto and mortadella along with salads and breads and pastries and desserts.
“It’s been a long time,” said Matthias Otterstad, “since we met in person eh?”
“Ja.”
“I saw your parents before they left for Texas. I invited them over for dinner.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you did that. They rarely go out any more. . even during those few weeks when they’re here in Norway.”
“I was surprised I found them here and not in Houston. . You’re very lucky that they’re still around. And in overall good shape for folks in their mid-eighties.”
“I’d be glad to be in half as good health as they are when I get that age.”
“I understand Emma joined a cult.”
“What?. . Did my mother. . or father tell you that?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Just what cult are you talking about?”
“You know. . that cult from America. . Maybe I shouldn’t have used that word. But it’s something I’ve been very curious about.”
“Matthias. . I’ve also been very curious about something and yet I never asked you about it for years and years.”
“Go ahead.”
“As I remember. . you faced nasty lawsuits. . you prevailed in the lower courts and won again at the Supreme Court. . until two justices mysteriously switched their votes and recalled their original opinion in your favor. . You lost a lot of money and swore you’d get even. . Right?”
“So far you’re right Sohlberg.”
“Well now. . you can finally tell me. .were you the anonymous tipster who led me to find all that corruption in the courts?. . Did you do that to get even with those two crooked justices?”
“Harald why would you think that?”
“Answering a question with a question. Interesting. . ”
“You too answered my cult question with a question.”
“So we’re even. . at a stalemate.”
“A good old-fashioned deadlock. . Sometimes a deadlock is not a bad thing. It gives you time to think things over. . figure things out.”
Sohlberg nodded and observed the koldtbord carefully. He shook his head when Fru Sohlberg pointed at the farikal which he could never digest not even when he was a teenager. The heavily peppered cabbage-and-mutton stew was always served with boiled potatoes and it left him bloated for hours. Unlike most Norwegians he disliked meat including the ever-popular kjottkaker or meatballs. In addition to the grilled salmon he desperately wanted his wife to bring him a heaping plate of Norway’s heavenly muiter or cloudberries. He also wanted a plate of lingonberries piled on top of the mouth-watering Jarlsberg cheese that he missed so badly when living abroad.
“Here,” said Matthias Otterstad who took pity on the famished Sohlberg and offered him his untouched plate.
Sohlberg snatched the plate full of flatbrod or paper-thin crisp rye bread topped with brunost or carmelized goat cheese. “Ah. . heavenly.”
“Are you staying here in Norway for good this time?”
“No. Just for a conference. Then back to the United States.”
“It’s too bad,” said Matthias Otterstad with a melancholy look. “I wish you’d move back here.”
“Why?. . Are you getting sentimental?”
“Maybe. But as you know almost everyone with brains leaves Norway for better jobs and opportunities. Look at your brother. . a top-notch petroleum engineer who should be helping his own country find more oil. Instead of staying at Statoil he’s now helping British Petroleum find oil in America.”
“Well. . they need all the help they can get since a lot of their oil has been spilling and floating on and polluting the Gulf of Mexico.”
Matthias Otterstad laughed. “Ja. Those crazy British idiots. Unbelievable. And not one of those rats have been prosecuted. Interesting how the enviro-radical Obama people turn a blind eye when it comes to one of their biggest corporate campaign donors. I wish I could buy off politicians that easily and thoroughly in Norway.”
“It would be too expensive.”
“Ja,” said Matthias Otterstad. “As the old saying goes. . politicians don’t sell their integrity. . they just rent it. And it figures that the rent for a politician would be much more expensive in good old Norway. . as with everything else.”
“Norway’s gotten too expensive. Remember the good old days?. . I still remember our law school days and going to your Nora’s apartment so I could get some food when I was low on funds. . which was almost always.”
“Nora always had good food in her refrigerator. I think she earned more money in one month as a registered nurse than both of us together made during all of our years in law school.”
“Ja,” said Matthias Otterstad with a chuckle. “I think we both married our wives because they made so much more money as nurses than we did back then as lawyers. By the way. . I’m glad to see you and Emma are so happy together. That’s getting to be a rarity nowadays.”
“Ja.”
“I think Sohlberg that you owe me a lot. . because Nora and I introduced you to Emma. I’m so glad you married her. . Nora and I were so worried about you those two years after Karoline died.”
“Thank you my friend,” said Sohlberg who quickly switched the topic. “But you owe me more for vouching for you and recommending you to your first clients when they asked for references.”
The men laughed.
Karl Haugen did not understand why his father no longer looked for him. Several times his father had come so close to him but his father had not seen or heard him. He now felt so far away from his father.
“Daddy!” he yelled.
Silence. As always. The silence sometimes overwhelmed him. Other times he felt happy when he heard the pretty music. He wondered how long he would be kept away from his father.
Sohlberg looked carefully at Matthias Otterstad and his immense estate and wondered how all this had happened for a man who had never practiced law. Shortly before graduating from law school Matthias Otterstad inherited $ 200,000 kroner or less than $ 40,000 U.S. dollars from an elderly aunt. Within a year he had quadrupled his inheritance by investing in out-of-favor stocks and commodities and currencies from his home.
“Ja ja my good friend the Sohlbergmeister. I owe you. And that’s why I’ve asked you many many times to come work with me. Thanks to your references and recommendations I soon had wealthy investors in Norway and abroad begging me to manage their money.”
Sohlberg nodded. He remembered the fawning newspaper and magazine Arcticles about his friend. Within four years of starting his investment fund Matthias Otterstad was managing large amounts of Other People’s Money for a hefty percentage of profits. Over a ten year period his take-home income added up to tens of millions of dollars and kroner and euros.
Matthias Otterstad moved closer to Sohlberg and said:
“Any regrets over not joining me in the business?”
“No. None.”
“Really?”
“No. I truly love what I do.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing excites me more than outsmarting the criminal mind. Nothing. I also love finding out how people really live their life in private. . away from the public eye. Their choices fascinate me. . how they make choices for the better or for the worse.”
“But a policeman’s pay is so little compared to what you could’ve earned in business.”
“Material possessions never attracted me.”
“How lucky. You know. . it’s always a fight to own things and not let them own you. My five children all know that they will get very little when I die. . just as I got very little when my father died. See those fancy Beneteau boats floating out there?”
“Ja.”
“Those boats are not a rich man’s toys but rather the principal assets for three of my children who own small businesses that charter and rent the boats. No sir. . my children will not to grow up to be weak degenerates like the royals of Europe or all those trust fund babies.”
“Good for you. I’ve seen so many disasters when parents spoil their children. You have no idea how many of my worst criminals became just that thanks to a father or mother who coddled and spoiled them and encouraged them to do whatever they felt like doing.”
“Ja! That’s why all of my children have to work if they want to eat.”
“So they get nothing?”
“Practically nothing. Just seed money to start a business or get an education or learn a trade. Almost everything will go to foundations and charities and think-tanks and political causes when Nora and I kick the bucket. More than anything else we want to make sure that Norwegians stay Norwegians. . that Norway stays out of the European Union racket and stops all this social engineering nonsense of immigration and other insanities.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t moved to Switzerland to avoid taxes.”
“We did for a time after I sold the company to those idiots in New York. But we couldn’t stand being in Switzerland. . it’s the money laundering capital of the world. . after a while the stench of dirty money starts clinging to you. You know what I mean?”
“I think so.”
“Sooner or later you start smelling like a filthy pig from all those dirty billions of euros and dollars parked in Switzerland from drug bosses and corrupt Third World dictators. I’m sure most of Interpol’s targets have all or most of their money in Switzerland.”
Sohlberg smiled and switched the topic to avoid even the remotest chance of accidentally mentioning any Interpol investigation. “What luck of yours Matthias. . or intelligence. . in selling out your company before the market crashed.”
“You wouldn’t believe what. . ”
Both men fell silent when other guests joined them. Fru Sohlberg and Fru Otterstad came back with plates of food and wine for the Otterstads and apple juice for the Sohlbergs.
He lost track of his wife at the gym. She kept flitting about from machine to machine and then chit-chatting here and there with all of her fake and extremely superficial gym friends. Of course he now knew all about her flirting in the gym and picking up men for dalliances when he was at work. He looked at her in her tight workout clothes and noticed that she was indeed no longer in as good physical condition as she had been when she was a body builder. Although she was no longer a Miss Froken Charles Atlas or Miss Froken Arnold Schwarzenegger he knew that she would probably put up a good fight if he tried to strangle or stab her. He had to avoid any combat with her. The trick would be to disable her and maybe even drug her beforehand. Or get her really drunk. She liked smoking cannabis two or three times a week and that might do the job along with some beers and tranquilizers.
He took a break from the strenuous exercise that the Jacob’s Ladder gave him. Of all the gym equipment the Jacob’s Ladder was his absolute favorite because of the punishing nature of that exercise beast.
Who was the genius who designed the Jacob’s Ladder exercise machine?
As he drank the Farris mineral water he realized that the Jacob’s Ladder exercise machine was nothing less than a perfect symbol for his life. In other words he was climbing a ladder and a marriage that went nowhere and the efforts were draining his energy and the ladder and the marriage would eventually exhaust him and ultimately prevail over him. He looked at other gym members on others ladders and the grueling workouts that they received as they climbed the endless procession of wood rails on the 40 degree slope.
Wasn’t there a Bible story about a Jacob’s ladder? Or was it the story about Jacob wrestling with God?
He tried to remember the exact context of the Bible story. Like almost all Norwegians he had grown up as a member of the government-sponsored Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. Like most children he had taken the mandatory Kristendomskunnskap or Christian theology courses given in public elementary schools until 2007. Like almost all Norwegians he celebrated religious Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas as well as Lutheran ceremonies for births and confirmations and weddings and funerals. And like most Norwegians he never went to church except for those holidays and events.
Jacobs’ ladder. . what did the Bible say about that?
He went to the weight lifting section and began a workout with dumbbells. He then switched to work out with various hand grips in order to strengthen his hands and wrists in preparation for the happy day when he would kill her. Strangling her with his bare hands would be such a pleasure. First would come the sensual and exciting feel of squeezing the lovely flesh around her neck. Second he would have the luxury of looking deep into her eyes and watch her life flicker away with the ultimate satisfaction that the last image ever to appear in her retina would be that of him snuffing the life out of her. All of that would be the perfect climax following hours or days of torturing her. This is his plan. This is his obsession.
A well-built woman in her 30s approaches him and starts working out with the dumbbells. She soon turns to him and says:
“Hei. . don’t those grips hurt your hands or wrists?”
He merely nods and realizes that he will have absolutely no problems in finding a suitable replacement for his wife within days or weeks of her death. He will probably be able to hook up with some woman within hours of the funeral. From what he’s heard women start hitting on widower’s immediately in a bid to bed them. Men of course do the same on widows. The vultures circle and move in for their prey. They take advantage of the widow’s or widower’s grief and overwhelming desire for their loved one. He looks forward to the feeding frenzy over the grieving survivor. He will be no different than a piece of meat that sharks have smelled and tasted in the water. Without a reasonable doubt he believes that he could move some Hot Babe into his house to console him within days of his wife’s tragic death.
Planning. The key is in the planning. He who plans well reaps the rewards.
Had not his entire life proved to him that he reaped great rewards if he planned thoroughly and well in advance?
His careful planning for his education and for his career had superbly rewarded him. Only when he got careless did he suffer the consequences as had happened with his wife. Therefore she must die not anytime soon but rather a year or so from now. And it must look like an accident
How can you torture and kill someone while making it look like an accident?
He could not afford to attract attention from the police. No sir.
His brain started working on all the calculations and permutations.
Then it hit him.
As a child he had read and heard about Jacob’s ladder from the Old Testament Book of Genesis. That’s it.
He strolled to the locker room and got his Nokia cell phone out of his jacket. He had the latest smartphone from the giant Finnish telecom company. The phone could surf the web and find anything on the Internet.
He ran the search for “Jacob’s ladder” on Google. His eyes widened as he read the NASB translation of Genesis 28:10–17 which tells of:
Jacob traveling and sleeping outdoors at night with a rock for a pillow. He dreams “and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”
Then God tells Jacob that he will be rewarded with land and children and that “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
His eyes welled up with tears especially when he read further on that Jacob wakes up from the dream and says:
“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
His hands shake when he reads the last verse:
“He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”
If only he could see the gate of heaven. If only he could get to the gate of heaven. But he could not because it was far too late for that. The dirty deeds were done and thanks to all of her deceptions she had stolen that opportunity from him forever. He would never be blessed like Jacob. No she had taken that from him and to make matters worse she was without a doubt surely going to expose him with his little secret about the molestations. So he simply had to kill her. She had blocked him from ever seeing and reaching the gate of heaven.
Did not the Old Testament law of “an eye for an eye” call for her death?
No amount of forgiveness would solve his problem.
Only her death would make things right and even and just.
The minutes slipped away while he was lost in thought. He wept silently and turned away so that no one could see him in the locker room.
Ja. I could be like Jacob and see the gate of heaven. . except for her curse.
Right there before his very eyes was his life story. He turned off his phone. He looked forward to a future of planning every day and every minute on how to punish her as severely as she deserved and then how to get rid of her once and for all so that he could at least finish his life on earth in peace without her.
Scream. . that’s what I want to do. Can I scream?
His mind pulled images from old memories of his childhood and he remembered taking field trips during his high school years to the many excellent art museums in Oslo. One image in pArcticular had stuck to his mind and the image terrified him for the deep truth contained in the image and he could not get the image or painting out of his mind.
The Scream by Edvard Munch.
How well he remembered the details of the swirling reddish orange sky and swirling purple blue waters and the skeletal and distorted agonizing face of the lonely and sick and terrorized person that he saw at the Munch-museet or Munch Museum.
He made his mind up at the gym to make sure that his scream would be the last thing that she ever heard while he killed her.
Ja.
His face and his scream would provide just the perfect ending for her. From the long window in the locker room he saw dozens of Sankthans bonfires blazing away. In the pagan days the bonfires supposedly kept away witches or evil spirits from roaming the land during the endless daylight of midsummer. He remembered how his mother like many other old-fashioned and superstitious Norwegians used to throw straw dummies that looked like witches into the bonfires.
Should I burn her body in a Midsummer bonfire? Maybe even while she is still alive?
He had an evil witch to kill.
Ja.
The next June 23rd a year from today would be the day of her death. That would give him more than enough time to plan and execute. And execute he would.
One hour before midnight. The Otterstads and their guests sit by the beach in groups listening to jokes and music and playing games and it all seems so festive and normal and happy to Sohlberg and yet the unnatural daylight fills him with dread. The pale midnattsol hangs in the sky like an unwelcome guest of ill omen.
“Are you okay?”
Fru Sohlberg has noticed his depression. He must be careful. “I’m just not used to it anymore I guess.”
“I know. It’s so odd to be back and see sun and daylight in the middle of the night.”
“Maybe I should’ve taken a nap like you suggested. I feel a little lightheaded.”
Nora Otterstad immediately intervenes and takes both Sohlbergs to the main house. She lodges them in a small study near the main living room so that Sohlberg can take a nap on a very comfortable sofa while Fru Sohlberg watches over him.
A restless sleep brings little relief to Sohlberg. He dreams that time itself is frozen and that the future is forever postponed. In other words he only has the past and the present while he’s trapped in the present. He is literally a man without a future.
At 11:45 PM Fru Sohlberg wakes him up and says:
“The Otterstads are going to take us home as soon as they light the Sankthans bal. . the Midsummer’s Eve bonfire by the beach. Okay?”
“No. Let’s stay. I’m okay.”
“No you’re not on the longest day of the year. . a day with no night. Imagine what that does to a man in your condition.”
“What condition?”
“You know. . you know what I mean. . ”
“What do you mean by my condition?. . Are you saying I’m depressed. . in clinical depression?”
“Oh please. . don’t you see?. . We never recovered from jet-lag since arriving in Denmark. It’s too much. You need to rest. And you’ve had so many memories to deal with after coming back to your parents’ home and. . Look. . I don’t feel too good myself. We’re just not used to these day-filled nights.”
The Sohlbergs apologize and say their goodbyes to their hosts and everyone else about a half hour after midnight. Leif Otterstad pilots them quickly back home through the placid waters.
Sohlberg turns one last time to watch the giant 30-foot bonfire on the Otterstad property. Bonfires dot all of the beaches around the Oslofjord and the fires lend a wild and savage air reminiscent of the pagan Viking era and no one can escape the primal and visceral feeling that something imminent and far bigger than themselves is unfolding.