Shadows in the Twilight by Henning Mankell Read Free Book Online

him
in a slightly odd way. And Joel could feel that uncomfortable
feeling of solemnity coming back.
    After school he decided to pay a visit to Simon
Windstorm. Perhaps Simon could suggest a good deed?
He was also known as The Old Bricklayer, and lived in a
broken-down house on the other side of the hospital.
Unlike Gertrud, who was just odd, Simon really was a bit
mad. He had been locked up in a secure hospital for many
years, because he was insane. Then he'd got better, and
they let him out again. But a lot of people thought he was
still mad, and a lot were frightened of him as well.
    Not Joel, though.
    Not since that time Simon had taken him to Four
Winds Lake.
    Joel turned off from the main road and followed a
little path that wound its way through dense thickets of
young fir trees. It was easy to get lost if you didn't know
the way. Simon had made a hotchpotch of paths. It was
a sort of labyrinth. If you didn't take the right one, you
kept coming back to the main road again. Simon had
done this on purpose, so that he would be left in peace.
He lived in an old smithy, and there were some locals
who considered that he shouldn't be allowed to stay
there. Sometimes ladies dressed all in black and wearing
flat hats, as well as men also dressed all in black, would
come to Simon's door and try to persuade him to move
into an old people's home. They always came in groups,
because they were frightened of Simon. He could get
very angry at times. Once, he had thrown a hen at the
head of a lady wearing a flat hat. There was a clucking
and cackling all over the house, and the outcome was
that Simon was left in peace. But not for long. They
soon started coming back again.
    Joel didn't really know if the Flat Hats had any right
to decide where Simon was allowed to live. But he had
no doubt at all that they belonged to an enemy tribe.
    You had to be wary of the Flat Hats.
    As Joel made his way through the tall fir trees, keeping
an eye on the paths so that he didn't take a wrong turning,
it occurred to him that he would have to get himself a real
friend. He couldn't carry on only mixing with grown-ups,
especially as they weren't all there.
    Not that he had any intention of deserting Gertrud
and Simon.
    It was just that he wanted to have a friend of his
own age.
    Suddenly he emerged from the dense fir trees. There
in front of him was Simon's cottage, surrounded by a
garden full of scrap iron and old machines. Also parked
there was the ancient lorry in which Simon used to drive
round town when he couldn't sleep at night.
    Smoke was rising from the chimney, and a hen was
pecking away on the porch.
    Joel paused and took a look at Simon's pigsty. It was
an old taxicab that he had converted into a sty. A little
pink snout was sticking up where the windscreen had
been once upon a time.
    Joel knocked on the front door and went in. It always
took him some time to get used to the smell inside
Simon's house. It wasn't a pleasant smell. Joel had to
breathe through his mouth so as not to feel sick.
    He knew that Simon didn't get washed very often.
And there were chickens running around in all the
rooms. And a Norwegian elkhound gnawing away at its
bones next to the stove.
    He needed time to grow accustomed to the smell, but
he usually managed it after a while.
    Simon was sitting at the table reading a book when
Joel arrived. That's what he was usually doing when
Joel paid a visit. He would read with a pencil in his
hand, and if he came across something he didn't like, he
would rewrite it. Books were piled up all over the house.
The hens used to lay eggs in among the books, and Joel
sometimes helped Simon to find them.
    Simon was wearing a thick fur coat. He wore it
throughout the summer as well as the winter. He had a
beard that sprouted out in all directions, and his hair
stood on end.
    When Joel came into the room Simon was busy
altering the ending of a fat book. Joel knew that Simon
didn't like being disturbed when he was writing. He
crossed out