I pulled the duvet over me and lay there waiting. Maybe a quarter of an hour, maybe more. I almost fell asleep. Then the phone rang again. I let it ring. I knew who it was. I had the gift. But then I couldn’t ignore it any longer, and I had to get out of bed, into the chilly room without a stitch on, and cross the cold floor towards the half-open door to the living room where the phone stood on the desk in the opposite corner, halfway in front of the window with the curtains I hadn’t drawn, because I’d forgotten. It rang for the fifth time. I could easily be seen from the other buildings where I stood naked by the desk, if anyone happened to be interested. I lifted the receiver, and it was Turid, I could hear it at once from her breathing, I knew it by heart. I didn’t say anything. She said, Arvid, are you there. I still didn’t say anything. Jesus Arvid, she said, I know you’re there. Shit, I thought. Yes, I said, I’m here. But I didn’t say, why are you calling, instead I waited. That will make it harder for her, I thought, so I didn’t say anything, but then I had to, are you feeling better now, I said, are you less troubled. Is it of any interest to you, she said. Not really, I said, but that was not entirely true. Or, maybe it was. I had spent the whole morning helping her and might have done the same for any other person. I didn’t know. Either way it was her tone of voice I didn’t like. I searched for the sudden desire that had been there that morning, but I felt no desire. That was not quite true, I said. Of course it is of interest to me. I find that hard to believe, she said. Okay, then, I said. So why are you calling. I’m not coming to you with my life, she said, you should mind your own life, you will not interfere in mine. All right, so why are you calling, I said again. I don’t need you, she said, do you understand that, and I thought, that’s not true, she doesn’t have anyone else, she doesn’t even have her friends, the colourful, she didn’t call any of them when she was in distress, she didn’t go to any of them with her life, she came to me. But I wanted none of it. That’s not what you said this morning, I said, and she said, oh really, what did I say this morning. You said you have no one else but me. I don’t remember, she said, why would I say a thing like that, and I said, I have no idea. I felt completely calm inside, it was almost strange, for the floor was cold now, I was freezing, I couldn’t stand still, like a boy who needs the toilet, I couldn’t help it, even though I was so calm on the inside, like the surface of Bunnefjorden on a day without a breath of wind, but now I had to get some clothes on. Arvid, Turid said on the phone, are you there, are you listening to what I’m saying. Of course, I said, I’m listening Turid, can I call you back in five minutes. There’s no need to, she said and hung up. All right, I said.
And that was it, really.