Page 2 of Sixty Meters Under

“Oh–” Honestly, Lennart had hoped his mother would

drop the whole idea, but it seemed he was wrong. “No, I still haven’t read it,” he admitted. “I’ll look at it later. Tell her she doesn’t have to worry about it.”

“I’m mentioning it to you because she has been really upset lately. I’m afraid it even worsens her depression. So, think about it.”

Lennart put both hands up, exasperated. “Okay, I’ll think about it. I just thought she would forget.” He sighed and took another sip of his coffee and put the cup back on its tray. He glanced at the papers once more then ran a hand over his messy long hair.

“I understand,” Hugo said, and moved towards the door.

“Is that all?” Lennart added.

“Yeah. I’ll leave you to your work.”

“Thank you.”

As Hugo closed the door, Lennart’s tense muscles relaxed. He looked through the files again, intending to focus back on his case, but that didn’t last long. The newspaper headlines he saw were haunting him, and it didn’t give him peace until he switched the window on his computer screen and scrolled through the latest emails he hadn’t opened yet.

His eyes finally landed on the one from his mother.

Landberg Anna – Bunkers for sale

After a brief moment of hesitation, Lennart clicked on the email.

His mother had made a new list of bunkers, more precisely rooms, that were for sale. Lennart grunted under his breath, clicked on one that looked decent to him, and began to read the details. It seemed like the bunker contained everything the people living there would need to survive for a few years, but hedidn’t like that he had to share a room with ten to twenty people. He clicked back, then opened another link.

Lennart ended up looking through the whole list. The rooms he saw were in varied price ranges and each room was differently equipped. Some better, some average, other places unnecessarily luxurious, but Lennart didn’t like any of them. He stared at the screen for a few minutes and thought about what to say to his mother, when an idea struck him.

Wouldn’t it be better if we bought an old bunker and renovated

it for ourselves? Why should we share the space with all those strangers? And who knows what kind of people would be there?Or rather, Lennart knew very well what kind, if he chose a decent place. He soon realized what was the main reason he didn’t like this whole idea.

Lennart opened a new window and searched for bunkers for sale near their city. There weren’t many, because recently, most had been sold out and renovated for the upcoming apocalypse. Some crafty entrepreneurs made a real business out of it. Whether there would actually be a disaster of that magnitude was the question, and Lennart was skeptical.It may happen in the next thirty or forty years, I doubt it will happen now.But in order for his mother to have peace of mind, he decided to share this new idea with her.

Lennart managed to find a couple of bunkers that matched his needs and sent his mother his suggestions. When he sent the message, he let out a sigh of relief and ran his palms over his face. He massaged the bridge of his nose and went back to focus on his work.

?

The next morning, Lennart came downstairs and headed for the kitchen. There he was greeted by the smell of freshly prepared food and his mother’s smile. He knew that she had today off, thus that they would have breakfast together as in on all her days off. Lately, his mother spent most of her time at work, and they rarely saw each other since he was also busy with his caseload.

“Good morning,” Anna spoke when she noticed him enter. Their maid, Alma, passed the kitchen and greeted him too.

“Good morning,” Lennart greeted them both and approached his mother and placed a kiss on her golden hair. He continued to the dishwasher and placed an empty coffee cup in it. “Slept well?” he added.

“Yeah, a little bit better. And without pills. Can you believe it?”

“Mhm…” Lennart sat at the table and waited for her to finish preparing. In the meantime, he reached for the newspaper that laid abandoned on the table and scanned the headlines. He looked up to see Hugo enter the kitchen as well.

He sat at the table in his usual spot, and asked Lennart, “So, I’ve heard you decided to buy a bunker?”

“Yeah. But still, I can’t say that I’ve decided. I thought

about it a lot, after I read Mom’s email. And since I didn’t like any of these places for sale, I gave my own suggestion.”

Hugo nodded. “Good. We’ve nothing to lose if we give

it a try.”

“I hope so,” Lennart said, still focusing mainly on the