‘In a minute,’ Joel shouted in reply. ‘I’ve started.’
Although the town they lived in was very small, he had never seen David and Rolf before. He didn’t know their surnames, where they lived or what their work was.
What would he do if they lived a hundred miles away?
I’ll have to start tomorrow, he thought. I’ll ask Otto. He knows everybody’s name.
He went to the kitchen and replaced the diary in the Celestine’s showcase. Then he got undressed, brushed his teeth and settled down in bed.
At first it was so cold that he had to tense every muscle in his body. But it gradually grew warmer under the covers.
‘I’m in bed now,’ he shouted to Samuel.
His dad came shuffling into Joel’s room in his slippers.
‘Dad,’ said Joel, ‘have you ever had a nickname?’
Samuel looked at him in surprise.
‘Why do you ask that?’
‘I just wondered.’
Samuel shook his head.
‘When I was a sailor I suppose there were a few shipmates who called me Sam,’ he said. ‘But you can hardly call that a nickname.’
‘Has Mum got a nickname?’ Joel asked.
He was surprised by the question. It just came tumbling out of its own accord.
Samuel looked serious.
‘No,’ he said. ‘She was called Jenny. Nothing else.’
Joel sat bolt upright.
‘That’s wrong,’ he said.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Samuel in surprise.
‘It’s not “she was called Jenny”,’ he said. ‘She is called Jenny.’
Samuel nodded slowly.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘She is called Jenny. You’re right. Go to sleep now.’
Samuel stroked him lightly over the cheek, and went back to his own room, then into the kitchen. He left the kitchen door ajar. A narrow strip of light shone onto Joel’s bed.
Joel always used to lie and contemplate that strip of light before going to sleep.
He could hear Samuel pouring warm water into the washbasin.
It was a procedure that never changed. It was the same night after night, for as long as Joel could remember.
He could feel his eyelids growing heavy.
The last thought he had before falling asleep was that he wasn’t looking forward to asking Otto about David’s and Rolf’s surnames. Or where they lived.
You should always steer well clear of Otto. He teased and bullied everybody, and did stupid things.
But who else could he ask?
He rolled over to face the wall, and curled up under the covers.
The next day he would start his hunt for the Caviar Man and his friend.
6
It turned out just as Joel had foreseen.
Needless to say, Otto caused endless problems,
It was the second break when Joel plucked up enough courage to approach Otto in the playground. Otto was busy trying to exchange a rusty sheath-knife for a pair of old motorbike gloves. Joel hung back until the deal had been settled. He watched Otto stuff the gloves into his jacket pocket with a self-satisfied grin, then went up to him.
‘I’d like a word with you,’ Joel said.
Otto gave him a withering look.
‘You mean you can come out with words?’ he said scornfully. ‘I thought small fry like you could only whimper.’
Joel was tempted to sock him one, but manfully refrained. That was exactly what Otto wanted: for boys smaller than himself to start a fight. Then he could beat them up and later defend himself by saying that he wasn’t the one who’d started it.
‘I’d like to ask you something,’ said Joel. ‘If you can give me an answer, I’ll give you two picture cards.’
Joel knew that Otto collected picture cards of footballers. He’d made up his mind to sacrifice the pictures he’d found inside the packs of pastilles he’d been given by Sara.
Otto was still suspicious.
‘Honest,’ said Joel. ‘I’m not having you on.’
‘If you are, you’ll get a good thumping,’ said Otto, setting off for the back of the school where the bicycle sheds were.
The bicycle sheds were the school’s law courts. Only the senior boys were allowed to go there. Girls were forbidden. And no junior boys, unless they were accompanied by a senior.
‘Show me the pictures,’ said Otto, turning to face Joel.
Joel knew that the situation was now crucial. If he wasn’t careful, Otto would snatch the picture cards and run off without having answered any questions. That’s why he took a step backwards, and produced just one of the pictures.
‘That’s only one,’ said Otto.
‘I have another one,’ said Joel. ‘But I want an answer to my questions first.’
‘What questions?’
Joel shook his head and continued round the corner. He leaned against the wall of the bicycle shed and forced himself to look Otto in the eye.
‘There are two young men called Rolf and David,’ Joel said. ‘They spend a lot of time in the bar. One of them looks like the fair-haired youth on the Kalle’s Caviar tube. What are their surnames? Where do they live? Where do they work?’
‘That’s three questions,’ said Otto with a grin. ‘I want three picture cards.’
Joel couldn’t think of a good answer.
‘If you ask three questions, you can have one answer free,’ he said somewhat hesitantly.
Otto was still grinning.
‘Who says so?’
‘That’s the way it is in the big wide world,’ said Joel. ‘But maybe you don’t know how it is in the big wide world?’
That was a dangerous answer. Otto could turn nasty and start fighting. Joel took his hands out of his pockets and prepared to defend himself.
But Otto just kept on grinning.
‘Of course I know how it is in the big wide world,’ he said. ‘Don’t think you can teach me anything.’
I fooled him, Joel thought triumphantly. Not many people manage to do that!
‘Why do you want to know about them?’ said Otto.
‘That’s none of your business.’
‘Then I shan’t tell you.’
‘Then you won’t get any picture cards.’
Otto shrugged.
‘Rolf’s name is Person,’ he said. ‘He lives near the Highways Department workshops, with his mum. He does any work that comes along.’
‘What do you mean, any work that comes along?’
‘I mean what I say! Any work that comes along!’
Joel realised that Otto didn’t know.
‘What about the other one?’ he asked.
‘I think his name’s Lundberg,’ said Otto. ‘He works for the council, catching rats.’
Joel was very doubtful. He’d never heard of anybody being paid for catching rats.
‘Come on, nobody works as a rat-catcher!’
‘Of course they do! Are you suggesting that I’m telling lies?’
Otto took a step forward and looked threatening.
‘Of course I don’t think you’re lying,’ said Joel, but he couldn’t stop his voice from shaking.
‘He keeps the sewers clean. He lives in a shed in Lasse the Cabbie’s back yard. If you know where that is.’
‘Of course I know where Lasse the Cabbie lives!’
Otto held out his giant-sized hand.
‘The picture cards,’ he said.
Joel took them out of his jacket pocket and put them in Otto’s hand. Otto put them in his inside pocket. Then he stepped forward and grabbed hold of the lapels of Joel’s jacket.
‘Now you’re going to get a good thumping,’ he said.
At that very moment the bell rang. Break was over.
Otto let go of Joel’s jacket.