23

Bjorn got up early the next day, repeating the little routine from the day before, aiming to avoid his colleagues as much as possible. But this time he came across Ante drying himself off in the bathroom, which made Bjorn uncomfortable. The whole communal bathroom thing bothered him, and he could sense that Ante was not overly happy about having to share the room either.

Bjorn tossed a quick glance at the clock hanging over the frosted glass window, noting the time so as not to repeat this minor blunder again. Then he greeted Ante politely while making a mental note of the time, quickly calculating that he should aim to use the showers between 7:15 and 7:30 in the future in order to have the place to himself. Proceeding to brush his teeth in silence, Bjorn let Ante get dressed without further interruption.

The relief Bjorn felt when Ante left the room was surprisingly intense. Bjorn was quite shocked over his own discomfort with the situation, and worried for a moment that Ante's reaction was due to his own feelings rubbing over at him. Ante was clearly in a hurry to get out and leave Bjorn alone, and this triggered again the self conscious discomfort that had been bothering Bjorn the day before. But once again, the uncomfortable feeling was soon forgotten, and by the time he met Ante in the kitchen for breakfast, it was as if the awkward situation had never happened.

Bjorn repeated his quick intake of breakfast in the same fashion as the day before, and got out of the barracks just in time to avoid Thomas and Espen. Drawing the last few puffs from his cigarette, he greeted John in the glass cage several minutes ahead of schedule, which put a smile on John's face. And tossing aside the butt of the cigarette, Bjorn went through the brief formality with of getting the keys to the gun rack, and relieving John of his morning shift.

John wasted no time, and quickly disappeared out of sight, heading for the breakfast table, while Bjorn put his thermos in the same place as the day before. "How quickly things become a routine," Bjorn wondered as he sat down in the comfortable office chair, once again taking in the magnificent view from the glass box. An intense feeling of well being surged in him as he took a first sip of his coffee, turned on the radio, and zoned out in front of the view.

There had been no nightmare haunting him during the night, and Bjorn was looking forward to a short day in the glass cage, followed by a bit of adventure, as he would soon be on his way to Lundby to assist Geir in inspecting the fish processing plant.

The day promised to be overcast but dry with temperatures again dipping below freezing, and Bjorn was again struck by the myriads of grey tones, and the complete lack of colours in the scenery, with distant houses and the occasional red or yellow car as the only exceptions.

Keeping an eye out for the ferry entering and leaving the bay every two hours, Bjorn caught sight of a fishing boat entering the bay roughly an hour before he was scheduled to go down to Lundby. It glided into the bay, heading straight for the village, tranquil and determined as it plowed through the smooth waters, leaving a trail of expanding disturbances behind it. Bjorn followed the boat lazily with his eyes while sipping his coffee, finding the sight pleasantly soothing and meditative at first, but realizing that the boat was bringing fish to the processing plant he was filled with a growing sense of excitement as the boat got closer to the village as it served as a reminder of Bjorn's imminent assignment to go down to the village.
 
By the time Thomas appeared in the doorway of the glass office, roughly at the same time the fishing boat disappeared behind the near hill of the village, Bjorn was all worked up and ready to go. He handed the keys impatiently over to Thomas, bid him goodbye, and hurried over to the barracks to hook up with Geir.