Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum Read Free Book Online Page A

stupid and he hardly bothered to hide it. I assume that I will be without a job tomorrow. But that is not my biggest problem right now.’
    I looked at her, mystified. She didn’t say anything and for a moment again hid her face in her hands before she continued.
    ‘You see – I no longer have just myself to think about.’
    It started to dawn on me what she meant. And the picture was clear as soon as she patted her tummy gently.
    ‘Magdalon has three children, but leaves behind four. Another one will be born just before Christmas,’ she said, very quietly.
    All life and sound in the room seemed to stop for few seconds. Synnøve Jensen shed a few tears and then dried them with a whispered apology.
    In the meantime, I thought about the consequences of this sensational news. It took perhaps half a minute before I asked whether he had known. She nodded in answer.
    ‘I had no idea what to do when I found out, and had thought of saying nothing for as long as possible. But Magdalon guessed himself – it was Sunday, exactly a week ago. He had come
to know me very well and was good at noticing things. And I could not lie when he asked if I was expecting a baby. I was terrified that he would be furious. But not at all. ‘Ha!’ was
all he said at first. Which was what he often said when he saw or understood something that pleased him. Then he asked if I was absolutely certain that he was the father of the child. I told him
the truth, that there was no doubt whatsoever. For the past few months I had been working for him literally night and day. He was the only man who had shared my bed, not only in the past year but
in all the years before that. This made him very happy and he was in an excellent mood. He laughed, hugged me and said that I need not worry – he would make sure that both I and the child had
everything we needed.’
    She stopped there, hesitant, until I prompted her to continue.
    ‘But then . . .’
    She gave a bewildered shrug.
    ‘But then he said nothing more about it! I trusted what he had said, and did not want to nag. And strangely enough, he did not mention it all week. And now he is dead and I have no idea
what is going to happen to me or our child!’
    Synnøve Jensen looked mournful for a few seconds, with tears in her eyes, but then she continued.
    ‘Believe it or not, I did try to warn him that it might all result in a child. But he said there was no danger of that, that he could no longer have children with any woman. He seemed
irritated when he said it, so I asked no questions. I was so afraid that he might get angry. But he seemed to be happy, even though making mistakes or incurring unexpected costs were not something
he generally liked. So I chose to believe that he loved me and that he wanted to have our child. It is a thought that will comfort me tonight.’
    I quickly interjected to ask if they had ever discussed the possibility of him divorcing his wife. Synnøve Jensen shook her head firmly, and assured me that this was never discussed. She
admitted that she would not have protested if he had wanted to divorce his wife in order to marry her. But he had never mentioned the possibility, and she had never expected the matter to be
raised. She had been prepared to be a single mother with no income and was more than happy with his promise to look after herself and the child. Now that he was gone, who knew what might happen,
she concluded with a deep sigh and heart-rending sob. The child was his, but to prove it might be difficult. In the meantime, she was left with neither work nor income, a fatherless child in her
womb and no more than five hundred kroner in the bank.
    When asked if she knew what was in the deceased’s will, her reply was a firm no. It was only a few days since he found out about the unborn child so he would barely have had time to make
any changes, she added with a sob. He had never mentioned anything to her about how he had divided his wealth amongst his three