Aftenposten is lying on the doormat right inside the front door. Thorleif picks it up and quickly flicks through the news section, then arts and finance, but he sees no ‘Your Say’ column, not on the back page — where it used to be — or in connection with any of the articles inside the newspaper itself. He goes through it again in case he was too sleepy and bleary-eyed to spot it the first time, but the result is the same.
He takes the newspaper to Elisabeth who is still in bed. ‘Are you sure it was Aftenposten?’
‘Eh?’ she grunts from under the duvet.
‘ Aftenposten. I can’t find your interview.’
Elisabeth pushes the duvet aside and looks at him. Her eyes are two narrow lines. ‘Are you sure?’ she mumbles.
‘I’ve gone through the whole sodding newspaper twice.’
He gives her the paper. Elisabeth sits up and starts leafing through it herself. Thorleif is aware of a pressing need for coffee so he doesn’t wait for her to finish but goes to the kitchen, finds a filter and measures out coffee and water. Shortly afterwards Elisabeth comes plodding.
‘I couldn’t find it either,’ she yawns.
‘Are you sure it was Aftenposten?’
Elisabeth thinks about it. ‘Fairly. Perhaps it wasn’t for today’s edition,’ she says and yawns again. ‘Perhaps it’ll be in tomorrow. They might not do “Your Say” every day.’
It is possible that things have changed since the days Thorleif trotted up and down the streets of Eidsvoll on the lookout for potential interviewees who rarely or never agreed to be photographed or answer any of the idiotic questions the editorial team had thought up. But on the occasions it was his job to find people in the street for ‘Your Say’, it was always for the following day’s edition. It was usually the last thing he did before going home.
But Elisabeth could be right. Perhaps the column has simply been moved and will appear in the evening edition or later in the week. He bends down, finds some sandwich bags and starts making everyone’s packed lunch.
‘Did you ring the burglar alarm people yesterday?’ Elisabeth asks, as she shuffles around.
‘Eh?’
‘The burglar alarm. We have to get it fixed.’
‘Oh, right. No, I forgot.’
‘Don’t forget to do it today, please.’