Page 57 of The Living and the Dead

Otherwise, the holiday was peaceful and followed the same pattern it had since she left home: Mom and Dad hosted lunch; her aunt arrived around two, the cousins—both accompanied by their families these days—a little while later. Then they prepared for Christmas Day after Donald Duck and his friends wished them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year during the Christmas special everyone watched each year.

Snow was falling. It would be a cold night. She went for a walk with her father. The city was so quiet now, wrapped up in a warm, thick blanket of tradition. Windows glowed and Siri thought of all the human lives in there, all gathering together. She liked being part of something that wasn’t about work, yet on this particular Christmas Eve, her thoughts were drawn back to Skavböke time and again.

They talked about last fall’s hunt, how she had missed it for the first time in years.

“Yes,” she said, “but I have a job now. That’s just how it is.”

“Maybe next year you can at least come along for one day, though?”

It was true. She could do that.

“I don’t want to guilt trip you,” her father said. “You know that.”

“I know, Dad.”

“Then again,” he went on, “if you have to hunt down people for work, maybe you don’t want to hunt animals in your free time.”

“No, I’d really like to come if I can.”

From the pocket of his coat he produced a package. He smiled and handed it to her.

“I was thinking…” he began, then laughed. “Oh, I don’t know what. Merry Christmas.”

She opened it with stiff, frozen fingers. When she saw what it was, she laughed too.Book of Enigmas,a collection of puzzles and riddles from all over the world, old and new.

“I know things are a little hectic out there in Oskarström right now,” he said. “There are all sorts of problems to solve, but all of them are good for the mind.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

It was lovely, in the end, that some things never changed.

When they went back up, returned to the warm and the chaos, Siri’s mother told her someone had called to ask for her while they were out.

“I took down the number,” her mother said. “I almost didn’t hear the phone ringing for all the commotion in here. I’d call from the bedroom if I were you.”

In the living room, the children were arguing about where they should sit while the presents were handed out, and the adults watched the drama with small glasses of mulled wine.

—

“Sorry to bother you,” Gerd said. “I just wanted to see how things were going.”

“I’m great,” Siri said. “How are you?”

There was no background noise. Gerd wasn’t all by herself, was she?

“I was at Isidor and Margareta’s,” Gerd said, as though she knew it needed to be said. “And I’ll be heading over to my sister’s, soon, up in Varberg.”

“You have a sister?”

“She’s a banker. It’s exactly as boring as it sounds, but she’s my sister, so what can you do.”

“I can imagine,” said Siri, who didn’t even know if she had any biological siblings in the world.

“Are you managing to keep your brain in check?” Gerd said.

“And not think about work, you mean? Not exactly.”

“Same here.”