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Monday, April 28, 2014

52

Bjorn was deep asleep when his alarm went off. He had been dreaming, but of nothing unpleasant, and he was in no mood for introspection, so he let the lingering dream evaporate without any effort to hold on to it.

Bjorn had set his alarm to go off at the time when no one was using the bathroom, just after Ante had been there, and before Thomas and Espen would appear. Assuming that everyone were as sett in their routines as they appeared to be, he figured he should be able to have the place for himself by targeting the fifteen minutes interval between Ante and the two other men.

As it turned out, Bjorn was correct in his calculations. He went to the bathroom the moment he heard Ante close the door to his room, and ended up having the bathroom to himself for the whole duration of his shower and morning routine. Not until he was back in his room did he hear Thomas and Espen walk past on their way to the showers.

Bjorn smiled to himself on his way down to breakfast. His main discomfort as far as the check point was concerned was the lack of privacy, especially during his morning routine, and by having found an opening for himself where he could have the bathroom for himself, he felt relieved and happy. "If this pattern keeps, my stay here will be almost as pleasant as a resort vacation," Bjorn thought as he skipped down the stairs.

The weather looked promising, with the sun shining through the south facing windows of the kitchen. Ante was in his usual good mood, and Bjorn felt a relaxed eagerness to enjoy the day to its fullest. Chatting casually with Ante, Bjorn ate his bacon and egg breakfast, not paying much attention to the time. But when Espen appeared, shortly followed by Thomas, he knew that it was time to go down to the glass box to relieve John from his duty.

John was as eager to leave his post as always, and disappeared up to the barracks as soon as he had handed the keys over to Bjorn. However, Bjorn felt positively happy about being once again all to himself. He put his thermos of coffee down next to the one he had brought with him yesterday, but forgotten to take in, before sitting down in the office chair to take in the panoramic view.

Pretty soon, he felt an urge to have a cigarette, so he stepped out on the sunny side of the office to light one for himself. The sun, bright and unobscured over the mountains to the north, was warm and invigorating. He closed his eyes for a minute while facing the sun straight on. In the background he could hear the light trickle of melting snow. Life was slowly returning to the arctic wilderness, one drop of melting snow at a time.

After a few puffs of his cigarette, Bjorn became suddenly aware of a white van coming down the windy road from Neiden, and he thought to himself, slightly bemused, that this was in fact the first car he had seen on that road apart from the truck with the snow plow. He followed the car with interest as it came closer, until it came to a full stop in front of the barrier.

Bjorn tossed the cigarette on the ground, and stepped on it while the driver rolled down his window.

"Good morning," Bjorn said with a smile. "Do you have your passport with you?"
"Yep, here it is," the young man replied waving it in his hand.
"Okay," Bjorn replied without bothering to inspect it, reaching instead into the office to push the green button next to the door.

The barrier rose, letting the young man into the colony without further delay. Bjorn followed the van with his eyes until it disappeared behind a barren knoll where the snow had already receded from the top, pushed back by a mix of wind and sun. Then, back in the office, he caught another glimpse of the van as it took a left turn at the intersection with the road joining the village to the port.

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