‘Yes, Father.’
‘You promise that it won’t happen again?’
‘Yes, Father.’
Father reached out his hand and placed it on Daniel’s.
‘What actually happened? I saw something in your eyes. As if you had discovered something.’
‘It was Kiko,’ Daniel replied.
He thought that now he could now explain everything to Father, and he wouldn’t get angry or shake his head.
‘Kiko?’
Daniel realised that Father didn’t know who Kiko was. He had never asked about the life Daniel had lived before he ended up in the pen at Andersson’s. How was he going to explain that before him there was a man named Kiko?
‘Kiko,’ Father said again.
‘He and Be were the ones who raised me. Kiko painted an antelope on a rock. He taught me about the gods. One day he was dead, like Be.’
Daniel spoke very slowly. He searched for the right words and tried to pronounce them as clearly as possible. Father looked at him in astonishment.
‘You’re talking,’ he said. ‘Whole sentences!’
It was as if he had forgotten about Kiko and hadn’t heard what Daniel said.
‘You’re a remarkable boy,’ Father went on. ‘You’ve already begun to learn Swedish. You talk like me, with a Småland dialect. And yet you come from a desert far, far away.’
Daniel waited for Father to ask about Kiko, but he went on and on about the language, about the fact that Daniel could speak. What he said was of no importance.
Late in the afternoon they arrived at a small town where they put ashore. Wickberg stood waiting on the quay. Next to him were two boys with a cart. Wickberg had turned his red coat inside out so that the grey lining was on the outside. He nodded with pleasure as he shook Father’s hand and patted Daniel on the head.
‘Everything will be fine. The mayor, who is an amateur botanist, is lending us the meeting room in the town hall. He promises a large turnout. Handwritten posters have been put up. But for Strängnäs they’re going to be printed. A ghastly snake swallowing a person. A black man with a spear. To draw people in, it looks like the black man is naked.’
Daniel saw Father frown.
‘I’m not showing any snakes.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘I want it to be truthful and scientific.’
‘Snakes are good. They bring in the crowds. In Strängnäs we can use a smaller snake.’
Wickberg broke off the conversation and they set off for town.
‘It’s important to look up,’ Father muttered.
Daniel wondered what he meant. He looked up at the rooftops, at the clouds. But he didn’t see any danger threatening.
That evening Daniel was sitting under his linen tablecloth again. He practised what he was going to say and promised himself not to run towards Kiko even if he was there.
Father gave a better speech that evening. Daniel could hear that. He wasn’t nervous and his voice was steady and firm. Sometimes he also managed to get a laugh from the audience. Daniel thought he ought to feel grateful to Father. Even though he had taken him along on this unbelievable journey, kidnapped him, he did have good intentions towards Daniel, although it wasn’t clear what they were. On occasion he used to hear the grown-ups talking about trials that made people stronger. Kiko’s brother Uk had once been wounded by a leopard, and he dragged himself a long way with a broken leg. That had been a trial. It had taught not only Uk but the others in the family to be even more careful when any of the big cats were in the area. But he had no idea what trial he himself would have to go through. Maybe it was as simple a task as learning something that only one white man had been able to do before: to walk on water.
He felt Father’s hand on his head, the firm grip around the cloth. When it was slowly pulled away he was ready. A murmur passed through the hall. He heard a woman laugh hysterically, but he didn’t lose his composure. He bowed, said his words and stood quite still. Kiko wasn’t in the hall. Father smiled at him and then opened Daniel’s mouth so everyone could see his teeth. Father squeezed and pulled on his arms, but not so hard that it hurt. When Daniel puffed out his cheeks the audience applauded. Afterwards he sat quietly when people came forward to look at him.
I wonder what it is they see, he thought. Judging by their eyes I think they see something that fills them with uneasiness. Not fear, not amazement, but uneasiness.
At last it was all over. Wickberg strutted about rubbing his hands. His stockings were bulging with money.
‘This is going to go well,’ he said. ‘Tomorrow in Strängnäs we might extend the performance and stay two days.’
‘But no snakes,’ said Father, closing his bag.
‘No big ones, at least,’ replied Wickberg, vanishing out of the door.
Father nodded to Daniel.
‘Tonight we’re staying at a hotel,’ he said. ‘And now dinner awaits.’
At the same moment the door at the back of the hall opened and a woman came in. She was dressed in black but with a red veil around her hat.
When Daniel saw her face he knew at once that something important was about to happen.
But he couldn’t say what it was.
Chapter 16
Once Be, who liked to play games, had put a piece of kudu skin over her head and wrapped red strips of cloth around her face so the skin wouldn’t blow off. When Daniel saw the black-clad woman walking down the centre aisle between the red plush seats, he thought she was sent by Be. The night before, Kiko had been there in the dark. He must have told Be and now she was the one who came, but not in person; she had sent someone in her place. The woman was young, younger than Father and Be and Kiko. He was sure that she didn’t have any children of her own yet. She smiled when she looked at him. Father had straightened up and was flexing his fingers. He was just like Kiko, Daniel thought. If a beautiful woman crossed Kiko’s path he would tense his leg muscles and rub his nose. Be always used to laugh at him. Sometimes she would bite him on the arm. Then Kiko would blush and say that the woman walking by might be good-looking but she didn’t spark his desire in the least.
Father was just the same. Something happened when the woman with the red veil came up to the podium.
‘I hope I’m not disturbing you,’ she said. ‘I saw your presentation, or perhaps one should call it a lecture. I liked what I heard. And what I saw.’
‘Insects are neglected creatures,’ replied Father. ‘They can teach us a lot about life. And not merely the industriousness of the bee and the strength of the ant. There are grasshoppers that exhibit a good deal of cunning. And a special hymenopteran which has the remarkable ability to transform itself into a stone.’
‘And the boy,’ said the woman, looking at Daniel, ‘he aroused many thoughts.’
Father straightened his necktie.
‘My name is Hans Bengler,’ he said. ‘As I announced before the lecture. With whom do I have the honour of speaking?’
‘Ina Myrén. I’m a correspondent for one of the newspapers in the capital.’
‘Excellent,’ said Father. ‘I hope you are favourably disposed.’
‘Actually I came to hear more about your journey,’ said the woman. ‘About how you met the boy in the desert. I had a feeling that your story was recounted only in broad outline.’