The Demon of Dakar - Kjell Eriksson [33]
But all in all, Eva felt she was managing all right. Feo was the one who gave her constant encouragement. His thin face shone with kindness across the counter where the chefs placed their finished plates.
“Take it easy, take it easy,” he repeated. “It’ll be fine.”
Eva smiled at him and couldn’t help laughing when he made faces at Tessie.
“America is great but not the greatest,” he whispered, “for that is love.”
Already on the first day he complimented her on her hair.
“Your hair is as beautiful as silk.”
Even Donald chuckled. He glanced briefly at Eva across Feo’s shoulder and shook his head.
But it was true that Slobodan’s hairdresser had done wonders. Patrik and Hugo had stared in amazement at her when she came back from the salon.
“What have you done?” Patrik asked.
“Wow!” Hugo burst out. “You look like someone on TV.”
When Helen looked in she ended up standing in the doorway.
“Well, I do declare, you’re certainly primped. Now all you need are the bunny ears.”
Not a word about it looking nice, just small snorts and the toss of her head.
That evening Eva stood in front of the mirror for a long time and tried to get used to her reflection. She wasn’t sure what to think, but in the end she decided to like her new appearance. Helen’s attitude had made her unsure of herself. As Eva stood in front of the mirror, she decided that in future she was going to limit her interaction with Helen. Bunny ears, indeed!
Eva had been allowed to go home at eight-thirty, when the worst of the rush was over. Hugo was home, sitting in front of the TV. She sat down for a while and rested her legs, stroking her son’s head and telling him what she had done during the day, but the knowledge that she should do a couple of loads of laundry made her restless.
“Where is Patrik?” she asked and stood up.
“He was going to see Zero and then down to the old Post Office.”
The latter was an old post office that had been converted into a community cafe for young people. It was the local parish that ran it. It offered snacks and pool tables, from time to time a lecture on some topic. After a slow start it had become a popular hangout for teenagers in Bergsbrunna and Sävja.
Eva thought it was good that something was being done for the young people in the area, but she did not approve of Patrik hanging out with Zero. Zero, whose family came from the Kurdish part of Turkey, was famous in the area for his hot temper. He often became involved in disputes and sometimes fights. The police had caught him a couple of times but it had never gone any further.
Zero’s father was disappeared. He had returned to Turkey for his mother’s funeral but was immediately arrested. That was six months ago. A cousin had called and told them that they believed the father had been brought to a military prison, but no one knew anything for sure.
To all intents and purposes, Zero had stopped attending school. Admittedly he did turn up from time to time, but that was mostly to have a bite in the cafeteria and to provoke conflict. Eva thought that deep down the teachers were probably happy not to have to deal with the unpredictable boy. She had heard the teacher everyone called “Gecko” complain that no one could control Zero and get close to him.
“It’s not that he’s stupid,” the teacher said, “but he’s so completely asocial that he’s hard to take.”
That Patrik had started hanging out with Zero was a bad sign. What was there about that boy that Patrik found tempting? It could not be anything other than the lure of excitement, perhaps music or computer games.
Eva returned to the living room and stared at the television screen.
“What is this?”
“A series,” Hugo said.
“But what is it about?”
“It’s a gang that’s going to revenge themselves on the other gang, with traps and stuff. Outsmart the others. Then they get points.”
“Oh, that sounds exciting.”
“It’s really