I had driven the girls from the block of flats in Rælingen to the terraced house at Skjetten in Skedsmo, a little unsettled, but otherwise safe and sound. Vigdis must have felt it in her shoulder and neck, but she didn’t say a word. At Strømmen station we had stopped at the car park right after the railway bridge. There we sat in silence beneath the big wide tall trees behind the station building, breathing, each in our uneven rhythm, as if we’d all been running, but none of us the same distance. Then I said, Vigdis, I guess it’s up to you whether we should say anything about this to Mummy, about what just happened. It was quiet in the back seat, all three of them sat there looking out the windows. Vigdis sat in the middle, but it was Tine who said, no, and then Tone said, no, too, and Vigdis didn’t say anything. She probably thought further ahead than the two little ones and considered what a ‘no’ might lead to at the next crossroads, but at last she too said, no, it will make things so difficult for Mummy. I agree, I said. I turned the key and the engine was running, but then Vigdis said, Daddy, do you have any small change. She was looking out the back window, and I looked out the window to where she was looking, and there was a telephone booth by the bushes along the side road. I turned the engine off. I found some coins in the pocket where I always kept some and dropped them into her open palm, and she got out of the car and walked over to the booth. She stood on her toes and put the coins into the slot and waited, holding the receiver in both hands, and then she began to speak, and waited again, and nodded forcefully several times as if the person at the other end of the line could see her, and then she hung up the receiver, opened the heavy door and walked back, crawled over Tine and sat down. It was all right, I said. Yes, Vigdis said. Then we drove slowly up the hills towards Skjetten. It wasn’t far.
We parked at the end of the terraced house, and I followed them over to the footpath and stopped there and helped them put their rucksacks on, I said, take care girls, and they said, bye Daddy, and Vigdis turned around, she gave a slight smile and said, it will be all right Daddy. Yes, I said. It will be all right.
Before they had reached the last flat the door opened and Turid came out on the steps, her hair wet, she must have run through the shower after Vigdis called. She said, hello girls, how great you’re coming just now, it’s perfect timing, and all four of them went in, one after the other, and she slammed the door behind her. She saw me, or she saw me not.