Chapter 5 #2
“Thank you very much, we are just having some coffee. Would you like a cup, then I will make some more?”
“Oh, don’t go to any trouble, but some coffee would be lovely right now.”
Emelie shouted to Linn to make some more coffee while taking Birgitta’s raincoat and hat and putting them on a hanger to dry. Birgitta neatened her short, grey hair and looked empathetically at Emelie.
“My condolences, we all miss Astrid terribly, she was a marvelous person, so gentle and generous and…”
Birgitta stopped in the middle of the sentence. Emelie didn’t know whether to say anything but then Birgitta started speaking again.
“But now you have arrived, and it is so wonderful getting some more life into this old house, and then all the children and their different backgrounds! I think it’s quite wonderful what you are doing for them, giving them this opportunity, it can’t always be easy.
But who am I, you might wonder? I have supported Astrid to the best of my abilities, because it is hard to handle everything as one gets older, but I have always been here for her!
Yes, I dare say that I was Astrid’s best and closest friend on this island. ”
Emelie had no idea how to respond to the stream of words coming from Birgitta, but soon realised that it wasn’t necessary. Birgitta petted her lightly on the cheek and stepped into the house.
“Ah, Andreas, I can see you didn’t rest on your laurels, here you are again in Astrid’s kitchen,” Birgitta said, with a pretended harshness in her voice.
Andreas answered something she couldn’t make out and Linn giggled. Emelie followed Birgitta into the kitchen and put the bag with cinnamon rolls on the table.
“Linn, can you find a cup for Birgitta?”
“No, no, love, you are quite busy with the coffee, I’ll find one myself,” Birgitta said. Before anyone had a chance to react, she had opened three different cupboards and thoroughly gone through every shelf while mumbling:
“No, not here, not here either…Ah, there they are.”
She grabbed a cup with the same elf motif as the one Linn was drinking from.
“Not so easy to find, of course you have put your own touch on the house, rearranging the cupboards,” she said, apologetically.
“Astrid has kept her cups in that cabinet for as long as I have known her”, Andreas commented. He looked at Linn who looked back at him and they both burst out laughing. Birgitta shrugged her shoulders and snorted.
“So, where are the other children? Adapting to our harsh climate perhaps?”
Emelie had no idea what to answer. Needless to say, it was a rainy day, but apart from that, the climate wasn’t that much different in Sardinon than it was in V?xjo?”
“But Birgitta, what kind of a comment is that?”
It was Andreas interrupting, and there was no laughter left in his voice. Birgitta looked nervously around.
“Oh, there was nothing special about that comment at all, I just meant that it can be difficult with all new things, especially if you are not from around here. But please help yourselves to some rolls, I do realise that they can’t compare to Astrid’s…”
Suddenly her eyes grew wide, and she put her hand over her mouth.
“But it didn’t even occur to me! You have never had the privilege to try Astrid’s marvelous baking!” Emelie didn’t understand anything. What was the old lady talking about? Rolls and cups and Astrid and climate changes?”
“I’ll get the others, they won’t want to miss the cinnamon rolls and I’m sure your baking is excellent, Birgitta”, Linn said and ran up the stairs.
She soon came back, accompanied by Liv and Linnea, who were eagerly chatting about all the discoveries they had made in their rooms and how they had arranged and ordered things.
“Mum, I need a dish cloth and some water, I’m going to dust…” Linnea said but interrupted herself when she saw all the visitors in the little kitchen. She soon got to her senses and reached out her hand towards Birgitta.
“Linnea”
“Oh I must say, what a well-behaved little girl”, Birgitta said, smiling appreciatively towards Emelie.
“It’s more than one can say about you” Andreas mumbled.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that” Birgitta said.
“I said that it might be a good idea if you were just as well-behaved and introduced yourself properly to Linnea?”
Birgitta stared from Andreas to Linnea’s hand, that was still resting in hers.
“Yes, yes, of course, you can call me aunt Birgitta, love.”
When she had introduced herself to Liv, Birgitta clasped her hands together.
“But girlies, I’m sure you would like some cordial for the buns? Have you found Astrid’s secret stash of cordial?”
“No,” Emelie responded, “I don’t think we have found any cordial stash.”
“I know just where it is, it’s in the cellar – I’ll go fetch a bottle”, Birgitta said quickly.
“In the cellar? How exciting, I’m coming with you”, Liv said eagerly.
Birgitta turned towards her.
“No, that is no place for young girls, I’ll go by myself” she said, with a voice that left no room for arguing.
She went over to the heavy cellar door, pulled it open and disappeared down the stairs Everyone stared in the direction of the old lady that had suddenly invaded their home. Eventually, Linn broke the silence.
“What was all that about?”
“I would like to apologise on behalf of the island. Birgitta probably means well most times, but it isn’t always easy for her,” Andreas said.
He told them that Birgitta’s husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a couple of years back, and that she had been looking after him all by herself ever since.
Nowadays, he never left the house and Birgitta only got a few moments off when he was asleep or got stuck in front some old movie.
She always carried an alarm with her to be able to come to his aid.
Poor Birgitta, Emilie thought to herself, it must be like being in prison.
Never being able to feel free. They were interrupted by a new knocking on the door.
“I must say, we’re very popular today” Emelie laughed.
She had given up every thought about having a quiet moment with her daughter.
“Yes, you know, sensational occurrences like a new family moving in rarely happen on this island”, Andreas said, giving her a wink.
“Especially not families from different climate zones”, Linn laughed, giving Andreas a nudge, and he smiled back at her.
Those two seem worryingly fond of each other, Emelie thought. Didn’t he realise that he was much too old for her?
“I’ll get it”, Liv shouted, and skipped towards the porch and the front door.
“Oh, hello there, love, what’s going on in this house?”
She heard a deep male voice with a broad Gothenburg accent coming from the hallway. Andreas sighed.
“Ah, I should have guessed it, naturally Stig can’t stay away for very long”, he said, shaking his head.
Liv entered the kitchen followed by a man that was so tall that he had to bend his neck in order to get through the doorway.
He filled up the whole room with his messy, grey hair like a halo around his round, reddish face.
His round belly was trapped in a flannel shirt, its buttons struggling to keep the fabric together.
He walked around the kitchen like he owned it, exactly as Birgitta had done just moments ago.
He introduced himself as Stig and shook everyone’s hand except Andreas, who he gave a hard pat on the back instead.
“Andreas hello, here you are, hanging out with the new girls,” he said cheerfully.
Andreas fell over the table, pretending to have lost his breath and making Stig and all the girls burst out laughing. Emelie shook her head but couldn’t help but laugh too.
“I don’t want to interrupt, I just wanted to say welcome and make sure you were settling in all right. I know it can be a bit much with a whole house for a beautiful lady from the big city,” Stig said, smiling in a friendly way at Emily.
Andreas and Linn rolled their eyes at each other and started laughing again. Stig looked at them in surprise, and then turned towards Emilie.
“As I said, if you need any help whatsoever, whatever it might be, cleaning the gutters, driving to the rubbish dump, hanging curtains or whatever it is you women might need, don’t hesitate, just call uncle Stig.”
Stig pointed to his chest, looking incredibly proud whilst trying to ignore Andreas and Linn, that by now had infected Liv and Linnea with their laughing spell, making all four twist and turn with laughter.
Emelie fought hard not to start laughing and tried to give Andreas an angry stare to make him understand that he had to pull himself together.
“Thank you Stig, that’s very kind of you, I will remember that. Perhaps you would be interested in a cup of coffee? We just made a new batch and Birgitta has brought some cinnamon rolls,” Emelie said. “By the way, what happened to her, was she going to make the cordial in the cellar, or what?”
Andreas got to his feet.
“I’ll go look for her.”
“I’m coming with you, I don’t want you getting eaten by the cellar monster too”, Linn said, flying off her chair.
“Are there monsters in the cellar?” Liv asked with her eyes wide open and a slight shake on her bottom lip.
“Absolutely not” Emelie said, “Linn is only joking, and Linn, you can stay here and find a cup for Stig, I’m sure Andreas can manage to find Birgitta all by himself.”
There was a harshness to her voice, but what she saw blossoming between Linn and Andreas had to be stopped before it had a chance to start.
She had to speak to Andreas about Linn being a romantic teenager and remind him that he was far too old for her, if he didn’t understand that himself.
Andreas opened the cellar door and they all heard heavy steps on the stairs.
“That took some time. Did you find the cordial?” Andreas asked.
“Oh yes, some lovely home-made cordial!”
Birgitta handed over a bottle with a label decorated with holly and red berries to Emelie. In cursive writing it said Strawberry/rhubarb cordial. Birgitta leaned against the kitchen counter, and panted, having climbed the steep cellar stairs.
“There are several bottles left in the larder downstairs to the left, behind the boxes with Christmas ornaments,” she said, speaking in short bursts.
When she discovered Stig sitting by the table she swiftly pulled her fingers through her hair to neaten it and straightened out some invisible wrinkles from her flower-patterned skirt.
“Oh, Stig, you’re here”, she said, blushing, while her voice got noticeably softer.
“Of course, darling. Of course, Stig is here wishing our new friends welcome. I heard we were having coffee and some of your lovely cinnamon rolls.”
Something beeped in Birgitta’s pocket and she picked up a pager and sighed sadly.
“Not for me, I’m requested elsewhere. Or, I guess I shouldn’t say that, but my husband needs me. I hope you will enjoy yourselves. Emelie, would you mind walking me to the door?”
Emily looked at Birgitta in surprise but put the coffee thermos on the table and followed her out to the porch.
She turned towards Andreas with a puzzled look on her face, but he just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
Birgitta kept on babbling about baking and strawberry cordial while slipping into the damp, purple raincoat, then she took Emelie’s hands in hers, looked her deeply in the eyes and lowered her voice.
“Emelie, as I mentioned, I was very close to Astrid. I don’t know exactly how to put this, but she has something that she promised that she was going to give me.
Not like an inheritance, but more like a gift.
It isn’t worth much, but it is valuable to me and I need to find it.
So, if you find an envelope with my name on, I hope that you will give it to me without opening it. Can we agree on that?”
She squeezed Emelie’s hands even harder and looked straight at her begore letting go and petting Emelie on the back of her hand.
“I’ll be back, and then I can help you clean up. I know how many things there are here, and I’m sure we will find my envelope then.”
Emelie didn’t know how to interpret what Birgitta was saying, but she knew for a fact that she wasn’t interested in having the lady going through drawers and cabinets in what was now her house. Emelie pulled her hands free, giving Birgitta a light tap on the shoulder.
“I’m sure I will find your envelope, and you can rest assured that I will deliver it to you as soon as I do.”
Birgitta’s pocket beeped again, and she started looking stressed. She shouted bye towards the kitchen, put her rain hat on her head and stepped out into the rain.
Later that night Emelie was lying in bed staring out into the shadows.
The blinds in her room were broken and couldn’t be pulled down all the way, so the bright summer night found its way into her room.
She let her eyes wander over the ceiling and the garland that was hanging there while thoughts spun in her head.
This whole moving thing, was it actually a good idea?
The house was a mess and overfilled with things, Andreas with his flowers, beautiful eyes and laughing spells with her daughter.
Birgitta not minding her business, and Stig!
She chuckled. Had he actually tried to make her an indecent proposal, the jolly old handy man from Gothenburg?
She turned off the light and positioned herself in the bed when she suddenly thought that she heard something from the cellar.
She froze. A squeaking sound, as if someone was walking around down there.
She listened again. YES, there it was. The fear got ahold of her and she pulled her hands under the duvet and closed her eyes tightly.
But then it became quiet again and Emelie relaxed on the pillow, feeling just how tired she was.
She smiled. It was probably just Linn’s cellar monster.
Maybe everything would be okay, she thought to herself.
And one thing was certain; more things had happened during the last 24 hours on Sardinon, then had happened in V?xjo for a year.