The Year of the Hare - Arto Paasilinna [12]
He whistled. “Two thousand seven hundred and eight dollars.”
There was a silence.
Then Vatanen explained: “I sold my boat.”
“You don’t happen to have the receipt with you?”
Vatanen had to admit he didn’t.
“Never had a wad like that in my wallet in all my life,” one of the arresting constables said.
“Me, neither,” said the other, darkly.
“Are you the Vatanen who writes for them weeklies?” the duty officer asked.
Vatanen nodded.
“So what’s your business in these parts, then? Some writing job, is it? Seeing you’ve got that hare with you?”
No, Vatanen said. He wasn’t on assignment. Where, he asked, could he spend the night? He was getting more than a bit tired.
“We’ve got this charge against you, though. Dr. Laurila’s. He’s the local doctor. He’s told us to detain you. That’s all I have to go on.”
Vatanen said he didn’t see how some Laurila could simply take it on himself to have whomever he liked detained.
“Anyway, it’s our duty to make some inquiries, seeing you’ve got all that cash on your person. And what’s the meaning of this hare? The local doctor claims you attempted to break in, coerced him to call for a taxi ... and threateningly demanded overnight accommodations. Quite enough there to keep you in custody—though not implying any very big issue, of course. If only you’d say what your business here is.”
Vatanen explained that he had left his home and his job, that he was in fact on strike. He hadn’t yet managed to decide what he would do next. In the meantime, he was having a look around this part of the country.
“I’d best get in touch with the boys in Kuopio,” the duty officer decided and dialed a number. “Hello, Heikkinen here, from Nilsiä. Evening. We’ve got an odd case here.... To start with, he’s toting a tame hare around. A journalist, he is. Criminal charges were phoned in—been disturbing the peace, trying to force entry into a house for the night.... Yes, and in his wallet he’s got two thousand seven hundred-odd in notes. He seems all there, though. That’s not why I’m calling—it’s what to do with him. He wants to leave.... Yes, I can certainly put it in writing as well.... He says he’s not doing anything in particular—just having a look around these parts with his hare. Not drunk, either—no, decent enough looking. Yes. But it could cause a hassle. . . . You don’t say.... Right, well, we’d better hang on to him then, I suppose.... So thanks a lot. Raining, quite a downpour here, been coming down the whole day ... So long.
“The boys in Kuopio say they’d keep you inside overnight, no matter what. You’re a vagrant, and in possession of all that cash—added to which there’s the criminal charge. So—do you accept all that?”
“Can’t you call the district superintendent? Surely you’re not under the authority of Kuopio.”
“I’d have called him to start with, but the superintendent’s out fishing at this moment in time. He won’t be back till tenish, if then. I’m unfortunately the most senior officer here. Kuopio advised not turning you loose under any circumstances. Anyway, where would you go now, on a wet night like this?”
“But where are you going to put this hare?” Vatanen added, with a touch of malice.
Attention again focused on the hare, whose basket had been moved from table to floor during the counting. From down there, the young hare was peacefully following the progress of the interrogation. It saw a new problem dawning for the police.
“Hmm . . . where to put that hare, then . . . So what if we confiscate it, for the state—and let it out in the forest? It’d surely manage okay there.”
Vatanen produced the license he’d obtained in Mikkeli.
“I have an official permit to keep this animal in my care. It cannot be confiscated, or illegally turned loose—deprived of my protection, in other words. You can’t put it in a cell, either. A cell’s too unsanitary a place for a sensitive wild animal. It