The Room by Jonas Karlsson Read Free Book Online

minute?” I asked when he didn’t obey my signal, which couldn’t possibly have been unclear.
    Finally he got the message and slowly followed me round the corner into the corridor. I stopped outside the door to the room, just as I had done with Håkan the day before. I made an effort to adopt a confidential tone of voice.
    “Jörgen,” I said. “I want you to be completely honest now. I want you to tell me what this room is for.”
    “What room?”
    “This one,” I said, touching the door with my finger.
    “There’s the lift,” Jörgen said. “And there are the toilets.”
    “Mmh, but what about in between them?”
    “In between? Well, there’s a recycling bin, if that’s what you mean…”
    “That’s not what I mean,” I said. “What’s this room for?”
    I slapped my hand on the door, fairly hard. Actually harder than I had expected. I realized that this nonsense was wearing my patience. I had to try to keep a cool head.
    “Well…” Jörgen said, looking at me.
    I could see that he was extremely uncertain. He was evidently disconcerted at having to talk to me.
    “…it’s a wall.”
    I glared at him.
    “Is that all you’ve got to say?”
    “Yes, what do you want me to say? You’re fucking weird, you know that? Why are you so interested in this wall? Don’t drag me into this.”
    I realized that Jörgen wasn’t the right place to start. He was only a poor subordinate. Loyal, but entirely without influence. Whoever was responsible for this deception was on a different level of the hierarchy. I patted him on the shoulder and said he could go back in and sit down again.
    —
    That afternoon I went round and led my other colleagues to the same spot and carried out the same procedure as with Jörgen and Håkan. They were all reluctant, and they all stuck to the same story: there was no door there, let alone a room, and, anyway, what was I doing when I stood there without moving?
    A certain anxiety spread through the department. People stood and whispered to each other. Håkan tried to put his arm round my shoulders and a number of people pointed at me. In the end I lost patience and gathered all the staff together, apart from Karl, who was off at some meeting all day.
    I went from desk to desk and summoned everyone in friendly but firm terms to a short meeting. Some of them muttered, wondering what this was all about, wanting to know in advance. Some of them literally required a helping hand to get moving. But most of them came along without any fuss, and I told them all it would be best, as well as easiest, if everyone was given the information at the same time. Jörgen and Håkan laughed rather nervously at first and tried to make a joke of it, but when they realized that no one else thought they were very funny they quieted down noticeably. I herded them like a sheepdog out to the corridor, past the toilets, toward the room.
    —
    When I stepped inside the room for the eighth time, I had the whole department with me, apart from Karl. Each and every one of them stepped through the door, and once I had them all in there I explained to them that I had seen through their little joke. I said I didn’t know who was the brains behind it, but that I’d worked it out well enough to let them know.

24.
    That night I lay in bed, still feeling the congenial inner calm that only arises when you’ve discovered, grappled with, and successfully resolved a problem. I read four pages in the last but one issue of
Research and Progress,
and listened to Madonna’s “Ray of Light” on the radio before I turned out the bedside lamp and fell asleep.

25.
    The next day the whole department was called to Karl’s office. It was quite a squeeze, but Karl said it would work if we squashed up a bit. Håkan was wearing a black jacket and I felt at once that I was much happier with it. It had a decent, classic cut and looked relatively new. It made him fit in better with the rest of us, and made me feel calm.
    Everyone