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Friday, May 30, 2014

73

Bjorn was the last one to appear in the living room where Ante had put out a cake and some snacks together with beer and soft drinks for everybody to enjoy. Geir was the only one not there since he was on guard duty out in the glass cage. But Bjorn had a feeling Geir might actually prefer to be on duty rather than spend time socializing with his colleagues.

Bjorn had never seen Geir being social with anybody, and out of a light curiosity, he asked Ante about this as he grabbed a beer for himself.

"Nope, he's notoriously anti-social," Ante confirmed. "And he prefers sandwiches to hot meals, so he's never around for meal times either."
"Kind of strange, don't you think?" Bjorn asked rhetorically.
"We can't all be as likable and wonderful as you and me, you know," Ante answered with a smile.
"So true, so true," Bjorn nodded, also smiling.

Bjorn looked around in the room, fascinated by his colleagues who all, with the exception of John, were in their civilian clothes. And he could not help find it amusing that they were dressed up pretty much as he would have expected from what he had learned about their personalities. Espen was wearing an ill-fitting suit, and Thomas' shirt was, as always, only half tucked into his sagging trousers. Ante was looking relaxed in a modern unpretentious outfit, and Frank was slick as a pimp, with his shirt wide open in the neck, exposing a gold medallion.

They had by now all seen the news from Lier, and Frank was talking excitedly about it with Espen and Thomas, with John listening in on the conversation.

"You see how they can get their way simply by turning against us," Frank explained. "It is not like they have to break out of the colony or anything. All they have to do is to attack us, make sure that the damage is substantial, and then leave it to the TV news crew to present their case. Did you hear how they presented the rioters as if they were the big victims in all of this?"
"Sure," Thomas answered. "But most people are not buying it any more. That's why they are sending those thugs up here in the first place."
"Yeah, but if those people keep thinking they can get their way by attacking public property, they might do it regardless of it having any positive effect or not," Espen suggested in defence of Frank's position.
"And if they attack, it does not really matter if it ends up in their favour or not. We won't get away unharmed unless we step up security," Frank continued. "That's why I've ordered a fence to be built around this place."

"And when are we going to be fenced in?" Ante asked, moving over to where the conversation was taking place.
"Before those loonies are coming up here I hope," Frank replied.
"Next week, in other words?"
"Yeah."

Bjorn grabbed a snack and joined the group.

"And the new dress code?" Thomas asked. "How is that going to make us safer?"
"Well that's because you and Ante are two big slobs," Frank answered with a smile.
"But seriously..." Frank added. "It does make a difference how we come across. If we look like a soft target, we'll soon enough end up as a target."
"You think so?" Thomas asked sceptically.
"I know it for sure."
"Oh yeah?"

The group went silent as everyone looked at Frank and Thomas who were clearly not in agreement on this point. Then, to lighten the mood, Ante suggested they all sing the birthday song for Thomas, and cut into the cake he had made for the occasion.

Ante set off the singing by cheerfully starting on the first few words of the song, and pretty soon everybody was singing along. And once the singing was over, Thomas got the honour of cutting the first piece for himself.

It was a delicious cream cake, and everybody congratulated Ante on his baking skills. "Life here without you would be far less enjoyable," Frank noted on behalf of everybody who all nodded in agreement. "We're a lucky bunch to have you around," Frank continued.

"And we are lucky to have Pingo and Lundby near by too," Ante added modestly. "It sure is a heck of a lot easier to come up with good stuff when we have such a ready supply of wonderful fresh produce."
"Yeah..." Espen added with a smile. "They may one day burn our little place to the ground. But at least we've had some delicious meals before it happens."

And with this, everybody except John started laughing.

"Well, we won't be laughing when it happens," John protested.
"If it happens!" Thomas corrected. "It is if... A great big if."
"Sure... But it seems rather likely... Doesn't it?"
"No, it does not," Thomas insisted stubbornly.
"Not after we get our fence up!" Frank added with a friendly smile. "We will all be safe once we get our fence."

Bjorn looked over at Ante a little surprised by John's shameless concern for his safety, and Ante shrugged his shoulders in silent acknowledgement of Bjorns reaction. Then, finding it odd that Ante was drinking a soft drink, rather than beer, he asked Ante about this.

"Well, it is Thomas' birthday, and I was thinking I could be the designated driver tonight," Ante explained loud enough for everybody to hear. "I've already talked to you, Thomas, about this, haven't I."
"Sure," Thomas said with a nod. "We'll see how that goes."
"You see, Thomas has always been our driver," Ante explained to Bjorn, ignoring Thomas' last remark. "But since it is his birthday today, I thought I could take on that responsibility for tonight."

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

72

There had been more talk of monetary easing on the news too, but Bjorn had barely listened to it, stunned as he was by the images from Lier. However, once he turned off the TV he was left wondering what exactly the big shots were talking about when they used that expression. "Is it, whatever it is, really the cure all elixir that media is making it out to be?" he wondered. And given that he had about an hour on his hands before it was time to go down to meet his colleagues, he decided to make a quick search for it on the web.

The search yielded a series of similarly phrased results, basically confirming the media line. Monetary easing was simply a policy of low interest rates, coordinated from a central bank, with the aim to stimulate economic activity. The thinking being that low interest rates will encourage people to borrow in order to spend and invest, thereby creating economic growth.

"Fair enough," Bjorn thought to himself. "So that's what it means." But just as he was about to check on other things on the web, a link titled "Monetary Easing is Theft" caught his eye. And seeing that it pointed to an article on the same web site where he had read about the dubious link between the gold price and the health of the economy, he clicked on it.

"A contrarian view of the world is never a bad thing," Bjorn thought as he waited for the web-page to load, curious to find out what may lay behind the angry title. And once fully loaded, he was once again struck by the clear cut logic presented at the web site, which claimed to have as its mission to promote something called the "Austrian School of Economics".

The article simply pointed out the rather self evident fact that a central bank cannot in itself create wealth, since it does not produce anything but money. The money that it produces is therefore bound to have the effect of extracting purchasing power out of the money already in existence. And giving freshly printed money to any particular group, such as bankers and investors, can only have the immediate effect of transferring purchasing power from those who hold money already in existence to those receiving the freshly printed money.

The very act of printing money, for whatever reason, must necessarily transfer purchasing power to the well connected at the expense of the less well connected. And since monetary easing is a policy expressly designed towards the goal of extending fiat credit, which is the process in which money is created in the current system, monetary easing will always result in a transfer of purchasing power, and is therefore by definition theft.

The article went on to explain that the whole idea that such theft will create increased economic activity and growth rests on the assumption that those that benefit from the wealth transfer orchestrated through monetary easing are in a better position to create wealth than those loosing purchasing power. But with no net increase in purchasing power possible without increased production, monetary easing simply benefits a very small percentage of the population at the expense of everybody else, with the only result being that high end products and services, as well as financial assets, increase in price, thereby expanding the wealth gap between the top one percent and the rest of the population.

"Monetary easing is a centralized policy designed to move purchasing power in ways that voluntary human activity would never do. It is coercive and immoral, leaving ordinary people poorer than they would otherwise have been, while benefitting a small elite," the article concluded, adding as its final punch line that "monetary easing is theft".

Bjorn leaned back in his chair, letting the article sink in. "Well, this explains why asset prices are going up while ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet," Bjorn thought to himself with his eyes fixed on the distant shoreline across the Lundby bay. "However, it does not explain why the gold price is falling. With gold being a high end luxury product of sorts, or a financial asset, why does the gold price keep setting new lows?"

Once again, Bjorn had the feeling that he had been reading an overly simplistic explanation of a much more complicated mechanism. However, it was the only explanation he could understand. Nowhere else had he found a simple straight forward explanation to what was meant by "monetary easing" together with a simple to understand reasoning as to its actual effect on society.

Monday, May 26, 2014

71

Back in his room, Bjorn took the gun safe out of the box and put it on the table by the window. Then he put his gun in the safe and locked it before changing into civilian clothes. He had only brought two sets of clothes with him, so there was no thinking involved in choosing what to wear for the evening. It simply had to be the black shirt and trousers, the other set being corduroy trousers and a flannel shirt.

Bjorn turned on the TV at four thirty to watch the news, curious to see what they had to report on the Lier riots. He was just in time to catch the dramatic music intro, followed by the days headlines, and not surprisingly, the riots were the day's top story. Images of burning buildings, and helpless firefighters being prevented from entering the area by furious protestors pelting them with rocks, filled the screen. It looked bad, and Bjorn felt a growing sense of unease as the news report unfolded.

The fires had broken out about mid night when no staff had been present at the premises, and there had been no atempt at stopping the fires from spreading. Quite the contrary had apparently been the case. People had gone from one building to another, setting fire to them all. And when the fire fighters came to the rescue they were overwhelmed by protester pushing their way out through the gates as soon as these were opened by them. Many of the detainees had fled, but most of them had remained at the premises tossing stones at the firefighters instead.

The protesters were hell-bent on making sure the asylum centre burned down to the ground, and to Bjorn's dismay this was presented by the reporter almost as if it was a completely legitimate way of showing anger with the decision to close the centre and send them away, either to Lundby or to their country of origin, in which case they would get a free ticket home and some cash to go with it. It was clear that these were people who would mindlessly set fire to public buildings just in order to attract attention for their plight. And yet they were getting the sympathy of the news reporter. The dominant theme of the reporting was that the detainees were so desperate that they had no other choice but to commit arson.

The reporting was fiercely anti-Lundby. The anachronistic punker from a few days ago appeared in the studio as a neutral expert on the subject of asylum politics, despite being obviously partial in his views. And a police officer and a fireman who would presumably have presented a different view on the situation, given a chance to elaborate on their thoughts, were asked leading questions to which they could only agree.

The reporting was a farce, and it scared Bjorn to see how the public opinion was so deliberately being manipulated. But on the other hand, Bjorn felt confident that most people would see the riots as just another proof that the decision to send them all to Lundby was a good one. The anti-Lundby people were fighting an uphill battle, and no amount of manipulation would sway the general opinion of the public. The latest swing of public opinion towards the far right parties was not going to disappear any time soon. Bjorn felt confident of that. But it was nevertheless disturbing to see how the rioters were being treated with so much understanding in the news, and how the Lundby project was being demonized. If there was to be an arson attack on the check point, the news angle on such an event would no doubt be just as understanding and forgiving as this one.

After watching the news, Bjorn no longer found Frank's decision to step up security measures at the check point as strange as he had originally found them to be. If people like those that he had just been watching on TV were coming to the colony in their hundreds, or even thousands, the chances of some of those people coming up with the bright idea of trying to burn the check point to the ground, seemed quite real, and with weapons freely available in Lundby, what could possibly stop them apart from a determined stance and threat of severe repercussions?

Friday, May 23, 2014

70

Bjorn found Frank in the living room, in front of the TV watching the sports round ups as usual.

"So there you are!" Frank said, turning his attention to Bjorn.
"Yep, and I got my gun, as you can see."
"Good! So from now on we'll keep this on us through the day, just in case."

Frank leaned forward in his chair to pick up a box with something heavy inside. Then, getting up of his chair, he handed it over to Bjorn, telling him to take it up to his room.

"It's a safe for the gun," Frank explained.
"Oh, I see... So where did these things come from?"
"Well, we always had them. Over there, in that cabinet."

Frank pointed to the cabinet next to the TV. "Didn't I tell you when you arrived?"
"No, you didn't."
"Oh, well... I'll show you."

Frank went over to the cabinet, looking a little bothered from realizing that he had forgotten to tell Bjorn about the cabinet on his arrival. Then, he opened the cabinet with a key on his key chain.

"As you can see, there's some more ammo here, and another handgun, just in case we get another arrival... The key to your room works on this cabinet too. You want to try?"
"Yeah, why not?"

Bjorn put the box with his gun safe on the coffee table. Then, taking his key out of his pocket, he went over to Frank to try it on the cabinet. It worked perfectly.

"So why didn't you tell me about this when I first arrived?" Bjorn asked, feeling a little let down from having been left in the dark about such an important part of the inventory.
"I don't know... I guess I was busy or something..."
"You were playing bridge," Bjorn explained helpfully.
"Ah... Yeah... And I was winning," Frank replied with a sheepish smile.
"And then you just forgot about it?" Bjorn suggested.
"Yeah, I guess so... And you know... We've been constantly told to keep a low profile up here. And we have. But now with all those terrorists arriving next week, I don't think we can continue pretending we won't need these guns at some point."

Bjorn nodded. It still seemed like a strange oversight to Bjorn, but it was believable, and he saw no reason to doubt Frank. Then, changing the subject, Frank told Bjorn to go up with his gun safe and return by dinner time.

"We'll start warming up with some beers and some snack before going down to Lundby," Frank explained. "Be sure to wear something nice. We don't want to come across as slobs to the locals, do we?"

Thursday, May 22, 2014

69

The gun felt clunky despite being strapped to his side by the snug fitting gun belt, and Bjorn half expected the whole thing to be some kind of lame joke when he entered the barracks. However, any doubt he was having about the new policy at the checkpoint vanished as soon as he entered the kitchen.

Ante was wearing the same kind of gun belt Bjorn was wearing, holding by the look of it, the exact same type of gun. And when Ante greeted Bjorn on entering the kitchen, he did so with a sheepish smile indicating an uncomfortable uneasiness with the new rules.

"So, we're all going to go around with these things strapped to our bodies?" Bjorn asked rhetorically as he walked over to the fridge in search of food.
"Yep! This will be our new style from now on."
"And what about the uniforms? Do we all have to dress up like Geir? He looked like a modern day Nazi out there."
"Well, Frank told us to sharpen up a bit. Look more fierce and unapproachable."
"Really? Wouldn't that just fester resentment by everyone?"
"That's what I thought too. But Frank seems to think we are better off going for a more bad ass image. He does not want us to come across as a soft target."

Bjorn found some chicken legs and potato salad in the fridge, which he took out on a plate for himself.

"Frank is still in the living room," Ante continued. "You missed the meeting, but I guess you got the general idea by now."
"Yeah, I think I do."
"But you should go and talk to him anyway... And he has a safe that you need to take with you to your room."
"A safe?" Bjorn asked as he sat down to eat the cold leftovers.
"A gun safe. We are supposed to carry the gun whenever we are in uniform, and only lock it away at night, in the safe, in our room. That way, we´ll always have the gun close at hand, and it will be safely locked away when we are asleep or away."
"Like when we go out tonight?" Bjorn asked. "I mean, we are still going out, aren't we?"

Bjorn was suddenly worried that the new rules might include restrictions on their movements and who they were allowed to fraternize with, but Ante laid Bjorn's worry quickly to rest.

"No! That would stop Frank too from going out, and he is too much of a sucker for a good old party to come up with rules preventing us from such pleasures."
"So he just want us to shape up a bit, look more aggressive, and carry our guns by the hand all the time?"
"Yep, that's the idea."
"And how is that going to make us safer?"
"It will deter people from taking pot shots at us."
"Pot shots?"
"Yeah. That was the phrase he was using."

Bjorn ate in silence for a while before Ante continued: "He has asked for a fence to be set up around the check point too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, to keep terrorists at a distance."
"So he thinks we will have to deal with terrorists?"
"Well, that's what he calls the rioters at Lier."
"And he thinks that those same guys will try to put fire to our check point?"
"Apparently he does."

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

68

Bjorn was enjoying the last few puffs of his cigarette when Geir appeared from behind the barracks on his way to relieve Bjorn from his duty. Geir was wearing a bomber jacket, and dark pilot sunglasses under the military cap that no one had been wearing thus far. And this surprised Bjorn since those were parts of the uniform that Frank had specifically told everybody that they should avoid. However, what surprised Bjorn the most was the fact that Geir was carrying a handgun in his right hand, and a belt and gun holster in his left, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

"So what do you think?" Geir asked as he got up close to Bjorn, striking his usual self important pose.
"Are you serious?" Bjorn asked. He had always found the full uniform a little over the top, and it was weird to see his colleague wearing it like that. Keeping a low profile and not coming across as too aggressive or fearsome was after all the unwritten rule of the place, and this was pretty much the complete opposite of the friendly approachable watchman look that had been strived for.
"Dead serious!" Geir replied, handing the gun, holster and belt over to Bjorn. "And from now on, you too will have to look your best."

Bjorn looked at the gun, and the belt. "So I'm supposed to wear this thing while on duty?" Bjorn asked.
"Not only while on duty," Geir corrected. "We will from now on wear these handguns all the time, and only take them off at night."
"Really?"
"These are the new rules," Geir said with a smile. "Frank has long been unhappy with the fact that no one has done anything to prevent the villagers from arming themselves. And last night's riot in Lier was the last straw for him I guess. He called Oslo this morning, informing them that from now on there will be no more Mr. Nice Guy up here."
"He did? And they went along with that?" Bjorn asked, finding this very much out of character with typical Norwegian policies.
"Yes! Frank and Trond had a quick talk this morning, and together they have informed Oslo that they will no longer risk their men's safety."
"And they got their way?" Bjorn asked in disbelief. "Imagine that Frank and Trond have that sort of clout with the lawmakers in Oslo."

Bjorn was impressed by the story which he thought almost too good to be true. But he saw no reason to doubt the truthfulness of Geir's rendition of Frank's instructions, so he turned his attention back to the gun in his hand.

"So I might as well put this on right away, then?" he asked.
"Yep! That's the idea."

The two men went into the glass cage where Bjorn proceeded to assemble the various parts. Geir held Bjorn's gun while Bjorn put the holster on the belt, put the belt diagonally over his shoulder, and fastened it around his body. Then, getting the gun back from Geir, Bjorn checked that its safety clasp was in the right position, and that it was indeed armed with live ammo, before strapping it into the holster.

"And the semi-automatic..." Geir continued after giving Bjorn a nod of approval. "We are from now on always going to have it by the hand while on duty."
"We are?" Bjorn asked, still surprised. "Well, that does make more sense than having it always locked away like this, I guess."
"It does, doesn't it?" Geir agreed. "So, do you have the key?"

Bjorn handed the key to Geir, who proceeded to take the semi-automatic out of the gun rack and load it with a long black cartage of live ammo. Then, with a big smile, he put a belt on it which he swung over his shoulder so that the gun ended up hanging across his abdomen.

"Well, that certainly does make you look fearsome," Bjorn said honestly, knowing that Geir would take that as a compliment.
"It does, doesn't it?" Geir replied, smiling even broader.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

67

Ante was apparently the only one who had seen the news from Lier, and so he became the centre of attention that morning, describing the fiery scene to every new colleague coming into the kitchen for breakfast. And by the third time the same story was being told, Bjorn felt a strong desire to leave the kitchen.

Bjorn was in no mood for further speculations about the imminent influx of desperate, aggressive and right out violent asylum seekers. Not that he was very concerned for his own safety. He knew full well when he signed on to the job as a border guard that violent episodes might well happen. But the uncomfortable dream, still lingering in the back of his mind was a terrible backdrop for a clear and level headed assessment of the news story. And the excited small talk among his colleagues did not help much either.

So it was with some relief that Bjorn stepped out in the sun, thermos in hand, on his way to relieve John from his night shift. The fresh air was invigorating, and Bjorn felt happy knowing that he would be able to enjoy a full six hours all to himself in the glass cage.

There were no whales to watch this morning, but there were plenty of other things to keep Bjorn entertained. A small army of workers were putting red terracotta roof tiles into place on the apartment building down by the fjord, the morning delivery of fish for Ane's processing plant was coming in from the east, and there was even a large container ship entering through the narrow straight, with a delivery for the port.

The ferry had just entered through the strait when the enormous ship suddenly appeared, and for a moment it looked like the ship was going to crush the ferry. However, it was soon clear that there was never any danger of the ship hitting the ferry. As soon as the two vessels were inside the bay area, they headed in different directions, and Bjorn could see that the ferry was in fact moving a good deal faster than the enormous ship.

The general level of activity in the bay area had picked up noticeably over the last few days. Things were happening everywhere, and it was quite exciting to see the progress made over such a short period of time. The apartment building was now fully clad with a brick façade, the windows and doors were all in place, and the roofing would, by the look of it, be completed pretty soon too. There were more cars going between the port and the village, and the two big cranes over by the village centre were also doing more work.

Bjorn was starting to feel excited about the planned outing to the village to celebrate Thomas' birthday too, and all this energy and excitement made him feel happy and optimistic. When he, every now and again, had to let a car in or inspect a car before leaving, he greeted the drivers with a happy smile, asking them where they were from and what they were planning to do on their way in, and warning them politely on their way out that the amounts of stuff they could freely take with them from the village would soon be subject to customs regulations.

Bjorn considered Frank's prediction for what the lawmakers in Oslo would come up with to be so likely that he warned people as if it was a done deal. And Bjorn was strengthened in his belief by the reaction of the drivers. Everyone seemed to accept his warning as inevitable, saying such things as "it's too good to last", and that "it is pretty much a miracle that it has not been stopped yet".

Towards the end of Bjorn's shift, a small bus load of young men and women heading for Lundby stopped at the barrier, which once again reminded Bjorn of his own imminent pleasure trip to the village.

"So where are you all from?" Bjorn asked, expecting the usual answer. But, as it turned out, they were not from Neiden. They were from Alta, a full six hours drive away Lundby. And they were going to Lundby to spend the weekend partying. Rumors about Lundby's night life had clearly also spread. People were not only going to the village to buy chap stuff, they were going there to have a good time too.

Monday, May 19, 2014

66

"Why are you here?" The question hung once again over him, this time as a dirty residue from a fading dream. Bjorn tried to ignore both the question and the dream, and let them evaporate during his morning routine. But the question and the images were too vivid to go away on their own, so he went through it systematically instead in the hope that a quick analysis would expose the silliness of it all and thereby render the uncomfortable question powerless. And Bjorn quickly realized that the dream was in fact little else than a strange and mixed up collage of impressions from the day before.

In the dream, Bjorn had been enjoying a wonderful meal when Maria from Independent Law had suddenly appeared in front of him, claiming to represent his ex, and it was Maria who had asked the uncomfortable question on his ex's behalf. Bjorn, being unable to answer Maria's question was then asked if he had insurance. And when Bjorn admitted to being uninsured, Maria simply vanished into thin air along with a half finished sentence. "Well, if that is the case..." she said, disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared. Then, looking around in the empty room, Bjorn realized with a shock that he was sitting in a prison, with no doors, and only a tiny window from which he could see the village.

"Such silliness," Bjorn thought to himself, but the images and the question stuck with him until he came down to the kitchen where Ante quickly brought him out of his meditations with a bit of real news from the real world.

"Have you heard the latest on the asylum seekers?" Ante asked with a touch of excitement.
"No? What happened?"
"They burned down the asylum seeker centre in Lier!"
"They burned it down?"
"They did! And when the firemen arrived, they pelted them with rocks and kept them away, so now there's nothing more than a smoldering heap of ruins where the buildings used to be."

"And these are the people we're going to get up here shortly?" Bjorn asked rhetorically as he sat down for his breakfast.
"It is indeed."
"Lier doesn't happen to be the same place they held that demonstration the other day?" Bjorn asked, wondering if the media attention of the last few days might have set the riots in motion.
"You know... I was wondering the same thing. But they didn't say anything about that. They did say that the asylum seekers at Lier were scheduled for deportation next week, though."

Bjorn dug into his bacon and eggs while contemplating the implications of the riots.

"It's going to be a mess, isn't it?" Bjorn thought out loud.
"Bringing all those people together to this one location, you mean?"
"Yeah..." Bjorn confirmed with a nod. "Imagine hundreds, or even thousands of thugs like that, all brought together to this one place."

Friday, May 16, 2014

65

It was slowly getting darker outside, and Bjorn's reflection in the window was starting to bother him, so he got up of his chair and pulled the curtains shut for the night. Then, once he was seated again, he clicked his way back to the complaint made against Pedro.

From reading the complaint, it was clear that the journalist over at the Gazette had pick much of her material directly from the Blacklist. But there was also no doubt that the journalist had in fact been talking to both the stall owners and Pedro to get the full story. The complaint was relatively short and to the point, basically claiming that Pedro had no right to the village square, that the village square belonged to the people of Lundby, and that no one had the right to impose any kind of tax or restriction on the stall owners.

Pedro on his side begged to differ, of course, pointing to his claim to all the pubic areas of Lundby, including the village square. Directly below Pedro's comment, Jan had a short comment directed at both the stall owners and Pedro, suggesting they sort out their differences in his office in the casino. And directly under Jan's comment, there was a third and final comment written by the same Maria that had made a comment on Jan and Pedro's complaint against Ane.

Maria's comment was directed directly at the stall owners, basically saying that their complaint was confused and muddled, and lacking in precision, her main objection being that the village square could not possibly belongs to "the people" since no such entity exists. Then she went on to say that she would not touch the case before the stall owners sort out among themselves what exactly they were asking for.

And quite understandably, Maria's comment had a long tail of sub-comments, all from the plaintiffs, basically saying that she was the one confused, and that a further specification of who "the people" were was in any case besides the point. The stall owners had no intention of paying any kind of rent or tribute to Pedro, and would resist any attempt to force them into doing so.

"So, who is this Maria," Bjorn wondered. "Clearly some sort of self styled lawyer, judging from her pretentious remark about not wanting to touch the case." And with this in mind Bjorn clicked on her name in order to find out more which brought up the fact sheet on her, showing that she was not involved in any disputes at the moment. Bjorn clicked on Maria's name again to go to her personal details page which turned out to be surprisingly elaborate, with a picture of her face, a list of achievements and a whole lot of data on her career and education.

Maria was indeed a self styled lawyer of sorts, running a company called Independent Law. Maria offered what she called "arbitration services", claiming extensive experience with "private law", and her comments on the Blacklist were clearly all part of a marketing strategy from her side. By offering a quick initial analysis of the various disputes in the village, she was showing off her legal skills with a hope to attract paying customers for her arbitration services.

Bjorn looked at the picture of the woman with her thick black hair and almost child like appearance. She looked friendly and approachable, in contrast to her remarks on the Blacklist which had been pointy and almost aggressive in their criticism of the complaints. Then, looking over to the right hand margin of the page, Bjorn's attention was drawn to an ad that had stayed with him throughout his browsing of the Blacklist, but not caught his attention before now. It displayed a stylized icon of St. George slaying the dragon, under which it read Lance Security in gold letters, followed by a sub-title with the text: "To Serve and Protect".

"But isn't that Pedro's company?" Bjorn wondered, surprised to see an ad by Pedro on a web site containing a scathing denouncement of him. "Why is Pedro sponsoring a web site full of bickering and conflict mongering?"

Bjorn clicked on the ad to learn more about Pedro's business, which he now suspected to be involved in something different from what he had first assumed. Reading about Pedro as the CEO of Lance, Bjorn had simply assumed that Lance was a company involved in the prison and detention camp industry, which was one of the few businesses currently doing well, with economic crisis and political unrest spreading like wildfire everywhere. But it made no sense for such a company to have an ad on the Blacklist, so Bjorn was now very much doubting his first assumption. And as it turned out, Lance was not a private prison company, or any such thing.

Lance Security was an insurance company offering what it called "disaster insurance", defined as "high cost, low probability events", with "criminal loss" being its core business, and accident and health insurance being offered as add-ons. The idea was that a person could start off by insuring him or herself against criminal loss, and then add on insurance for loss of property and health as needed. The basic product would pay out up to a thousand Gram in the event of loss of life, health or property due to a criminal event. And this basic insurance cost a "mere" half a Gram per year.

The basic product could be scaled up, from a maximum of a thousand Gram to as much as ten thousand Gram, by agreeing to pay correspondingly more in premiums. Adding accident and health to the basic product increased the cost in a similar manner. The insured person could in other words not buy anything cheaper than the basic product, so Lance's target customers were clearly people for whom a disaster would result in losses up to or beyond a full Kilogram of gold. And the website confirmed this by stating specifically that losses below ten Gram would not be compensated. However, all criminal losses should be reported regardless, it said, since a group action against a criminal element may nevertheless result in a pay out, even for minor losses.

Bjorn leant back in his office chair, contemplating what he had just read, and feeling content that he had finally found something concrete about Pedro's business in Lundby. Not only was Pedro claiming ownership of all public property in the village, he was aiming to make money off of people's fears as well.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

64

The article on the conflict between the stall owners and Pedro had a link to the formal complaint logged by the stall owners, and curious to see what this looked like, Bjorn clicked on it to have it come up on his screen. The page with the complaint was set in a dark frame, with "The Blacklist" written in grey letters, as if set in stone, at the top. The subtitle stated, also in grey letters, that "all are innocent until proven guilty." And next to the title, there was a search field, and an option to go to an advanced search page.

The complaint itself was tidy and clean cut, with its title displayed at the top, followed by some basic information, such as status and location, a full list of the plaintiffs and the name of the defendant. Each person in the list was highlighted with a link, presumably to get to more details on each individual, and still curious to learn as much as he could about Pedro, Bjorn clicked on his name to see what more, if anything, the Blacklist had on him.

But instead of going directly to more personal information on Pedro, the link directed Bjorn to a short fact sheet containing only his name and contact details together with a list of accusations and another list of grievances in which he was presently involved. To get more personal details on Pedro, Bjorn had to click on Pedro's name again, but the page on Pedro was kept down to a bare minimum with no more than his full name and minimal contact details filled in.

So it was clear that Pedro's personal information page at the Blacklist did not tell Bjorn anything new. However, the short fact sheet on him did in fact tell Bjorn a little more, because it did not only list the dispute with the stall owners under open grievances against him, it also listed a dispute in which he was a plaintiff. Pedro was listed as having a grievance against Ane, and this surprised Bjorn so much that once he saw it he clicked the link to see what it was all about.

And sure enough, there it was. Pedro and Jan were complaining about Ane's fish factory. They were concerned about the pollution coming from it due to all the untreated fish waste that she was dumping into the fjord, and they wanted her to clean up her act. Their personal grievance against Ane was that her disregard for the environment would soon cause a stench, and thus negatively affect the value of the casino and the village square.

Bjorn looked at the date of the complaint, thinking it odd that it had been logged so soon after the factory had been opened. The factory was after all, only opened the day before, and it could not possibly be the case that the environment was already affected by this. And it looked like someone had had the exact same thought, because someone called Maria had made a comment on the complaint, very much to that effect. However, while Bjorn was reading Maria's short comment, another comment appeared, this one directed to Maria, and authored by Jan, saying that "we don't need to wait for the inevitable. There is no doubt that the untreated sewage will cause problems, and that this will damage our properties. Ane cannot simply ship her stench over to us without any kind of compensation. And it is not like the technology to treat her waste does not exist."

"Boy! These people don't kid around, do they?" Bjorn thought to himself. Then, curious to see what the Blacklist had on Ane, he clicked on her name to get up her short fact sheet, and then on her name again to go to her personal details. However, Ane's personal details page was not filled in. Instead the page asked him politely to fill in the page if he happened to be Ane. However, right below the polite invitation to fill in the details was a stern warning. "Do not fill in this page if you are not in fact Ane, or a person authorized by Ane," it said in bold red lettering. "Any abuse of the Blacklist is a crime and will be treated accordingly."

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

63

Bjorn looked up from his computer screen while contemplating the arguments laid out by Pedro and the stall owners. The sun setting behind the mountains to the north west of Lundby made the sky flare up in the same dramatic fashion as it had done when Bjorn first arrived at the checkpoint, less than a week ago. It was a truly impressive view. Stunning and eerily cold and indifferent, as if completely immune to anything anyone might want to do to it. Watching it from the comfort of his office chair was delightfully meditative, making his thoughts move freely from one thing to another.

Bjorn found Pedro's argument quite revealing in that it exposed a motive for Pedro's decision to go into the deal with the foreign minister in the first place. The village was at the time completely uninhabited, and it was not unreasonable of Pedro to think that his promise to maintain public properties would include a right to "tax" anyone using these properties. And with a growing population, the money he could get through taxation would increase.

However, Pedro had not actually made his claim to the public properties widely known, so it was quite understandable that the stall owners felt that they had a right to use the village square without paying any dues to Pedro. And with this in mind, Bjorn returned to the article he was reading, feeling empathy for the squatters who were fighting for their right to be left alone.

The leaflets handed out by Pedro's men had come as a complete surprise to the stall owners, and feeling threatened by Pedro's sudden land claim, some of the stall owners had immediately gone ahead and bought themselves handguns over at Gus's gun store. And shortly after, the stall owners had formed a union, agreeing to stand together against what they felt was an attempt at extortion.

The union of stall owners, with its armed members, had in turn caused concern over at the casino, which prompted Jan to arm his employees, just in case the squatters would get the idea that they could do anything they wanted now that they have banded together. But the stall owners were quick to contact Jan, assuring him that they had no other agenda than to protect their right to be left alone. And having no interest in frightening their customers they agreed among themselves that they would keep their weapons concealed, and continue their peaceful activities as if nothing had happened.

Eager to find a peaceful resolution to what could potentially lead to an ugly situation right across from his casino, Jan volunteered to act as a mediator between the stall owners and Pedro, with a further suggestion that the stall owners not only complain directly to Pedro, but also make their case public by publishing a formal statement on the Blacklist, a website specifically designed for public grievances.

And it was the public statement made on the Blacklist that had drawn the attention of the journalist to the rapidly escalating conflict. It had prompted her to go out and get the full story, interviewing both the stall owners and Jan and his people. But, unable to reach Pedro, the only statement in his defence was the short reply made by him to the formal complaint on the Blacklist. Pedro's unwavering position was that since he had taken on obligations to take care of public properties in Lundby, he had in effect also received the right to demand rent from these same properties.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

62

John's paranoid comment about Pedro made Bjorn curious to find out more about the man, so he looked him up on the wed first thing on returning to his room after dinner. Bjorn typed in Pedro's full name in the search field of his browser, and immediately got up several matches, the top one being a short encyclopaedic article on Wikipedia. However, it did not say much more about the man than that he was a wealthy Portuguese investor. And the picture included in the article was clearly dated since it showed a man in his thirties while his birth date put him in his mid fifties.

Bjorn looked through some of the other pages found by the search engine, but there was very little more on the man. The only page that seemed to be personal, in the sense that Pedro must have had a say in it, was a page for a company called Lance Securities, for which he was the CEO. His name was also listed among top shareholders in various company reports, supporting the Wikipedia claim regarding the man's wealth.

The description of Pedro as CEO of Lance Securities was even more brief than the Wikipedia entry, and it used the exact same picture, which made Bjorn think that the dated picture might be the only one of him. And this curious reluctance to show a more recent picture did indeed make Pedro's existence seem obscure, if not right out fraudulent. Bjorn had to admit that John had a point when he doubted Pedro's existence. But Pedro was surely not unique in wanting to keep a low profile, and concluding that someone does not exist merely because that someone does not want to keep a high profile was stretching the imagination quite a bit towards conspiracy paranoia.

Bjorn saw no immediate reason to go along with John's hypothesis, but he could not readily dismiss it either, so he let the idea linger as unlikely but plausible while he proceeded to look through news articles on the man. Most of the articles were old and about things that Bjorn was well aware of, but one stood out from the rest, not so much because it came up as related to Pedro, but because it was posted on the Lundby Gazette's online pages.

Bjorn knew that the Gazette had an online version, but this was the first time he had come across it on the web, and eager to see what it had to say about Pedro, he clicked on the link which brought up a professional looking blog. The layout was clean cut and simple, and the advertisements were small and discrete. The article itself was only a few hours old, and mentioned Pedro as part in a dispute with the stall owners down in the village square.

Apparently, someone had distributed leaflets to the stall owners to inform them that the village square was owned and controlled by Pedro, and while the stall owners were free to set up their stalls without having to pay anything at the moment, this was about to change. All stall owners would soon have to pay a "symbolic" sum to Pedro for the right to set up their stalls.

This announcement had made several stall owners furious, claiming that they were the true owners of the land on which they had put their stalls, and that they would refuse to pay any "tribute" to Pedro. However, Pedro's claim to the land was in his view a legally binding consequence of having received the right and duty to maintain public properties for the Norwegian government in Lundby. But the protesting stall owners did not buy this line of reasoning, accusing Pedro instead of neo-feudalist rent seeking.

Friday, May 9, 2014

61

Dinner was a feast as always, and Ante had selected a white wine to go with the salmon, potatoes and cucumber salad. The wine was unusually fresh and had a light sparkle to it. But it was by no means a sparkling wine. There was only a light pleasant tingle when he drank it. Curious to find out more about the wine, Bjorn reached for the bottle to take a closer look at the label while his colleagues dug into their portions, complimenting Ante on yet another fine meal.

"So this is what Portuguese white wine tastes like?" Bjorn remarked.
"Green wine!" Ante corrected. "It is a green wine?"
"Looks like white wine to me," Frank commented.
"Branco!" Bjorn added. "It says branco here in small letters. Doesn't branco mean white in Latin speak?"
"But it says vinho verde in big fat letters above the branco, doesn't it? What do you think that means?"
"Beats me!" Bjorn replied. "I don't speak Portuguese."
"Well, it means green wine. That is what it says: green wine!"
"Well, literally it says wine, green, white."
"So now you're suddenly an expert in Portuguese?"

Bjorn smiled at Ante. "Well, am I right, or am I right?"
"Okay, it's a white green wine," Ante admitted. "Not that I've ever come across a red green wine... But any way... The sparkle and freshness of the wine is typical for green wines."
"So it's a white wine made in a special way?" Espen suggested.
"Yeah, I guess so," Ante replied, happy to go along with Espen's suggestion.
"So there may well be red wines made this same way," Espen continued.
"I guess..."
"I wonder what that would taste like."

There was a brief silence while the wine drinkers around the table were trying to imagine a red wine with a light sparkle.

"Maybe a sweet one would be drinkable, if it was chilled," Thomas suggested.
"Sweet and sour with a light sparkle," Ante mused. "I guess that could be kind of nice."

There was another brief silence which Bjorn broke by bringing up Pedro and Lundby in the conversation.

"Do you think Pedro is behind this in some way?" Bjorn asked of the group. "I mean, Pedro is Portuguese, right? And there were an awful lot of Portuguese wines and foreign cheeses in Pingo."
"Duh... Pingo is Portuguese. Of course they have Portuguese products for sale," Ante answered, happy to get back at Bjorn.
"Well, excuse me for not knowing that," Bjorn retorted with feigned hurt feelings.
"It's hardly likely to be a coincidence that Pingo is from Portugal given that Pedro is Portuguese," Thomas continued. "And Pedro is the one in charge down there, right? So, of course he's behind this."

Bjorn had to admit that it didn't take a genius to figure out that things necessarily had to be related to those in charge of the village, but was Thomas correct in his assertion that Pedro was in charge of the village?

"What about Jan," Bjorn protested. "He owns the place. Doesn't he? Why would he let a foreigner take over?"
"You're right," Thomas answered thoughtfully. "They must be cooperating in some way."

There was again silence around the table. Then, just as Thomas was about to say something, John asked, "have any of you guys ever seen Pedro?"
"No..." Everyone had to admit that they had never seen him.
"But who else has invited Pingo to set up shop in Lundby?" Thomas protested.
"I don't know," John answered "But I don't think the man exists. I've been looking him up, and I haven't found anything."
"You googled his full name, and you didn't find anything?" Bjorn asked in amazement.
"No. Nothing, except for what has been coming out of the mainstream media."
"So, you did find something?" Thomas corrected.
"Only the official stuff. Nothing else."

The wine drinkers all looked at John with his glass of water. Then they looked at each other before breaking out in light laughter. "You really are paranoid, aren't you?" Frank blurted out with a big friendly smile.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

60

"You guys are still upset with us, aren't you?" Bjorn asked, breaking the silence in the kitchen.
"For what you did to us, you mean?"
"Yes..."
"Well, it's not like anyone alive today remember much of it. But it was bad. There's no doubt about that. And it is easy to start blaming all sorts of things on what happened back then."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that most of my family is unemployed for instance..."
"You think that's because of what happened back then?"
"Nah... I don't know... Many Samis are actually doing quite well."
"Like Jan with his casino, you mean?"

Ante shook his head. "No... I wasn't really thinking of him. I was more thinking of all the Samis who've ended up as average middle class Norwegians."

Bjorn nodded, and there was again silence between the two men. Ante rose from the table, tossed the rest of his coffee in the kitchen sink, and started to set the table in final preparation for dinner.

"Jan is different..." Ante said thoughtfully as he lay out the cutlery. "You know... By the time they passed the Reparation Act, most Samis had given up their land claims. But Jan's family and a handful of others were still able to document ownership of certain areas... And that's how Jan ended up owning most of the land around here."

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

59

Ante took out three filets of salmon from the fridge and lay them down on a baking sheet. Then he proceeded to marinate the fish with a mix of olive oil, salt, pepper, dill weed and lemon juice. It looked very promising, and Bjorn could feel how he was getting hungry just by looking at how Ante prepared the fish.

"You know... A strange thing happened while I was out in the glass box today," Bjorn said, breaking the silence and changing the topic of discussion away from taxes and politicians.
"And?" Ante asked with curiosity.
"There was this woman... She had no papers on her... And she had her daughter with her..."
"Yeah?"
"And she told me, dead serious, that she had no plans to leave the village any time soon."
"So?"
"Well, isn't that odd?"
"Why is that odd? There are quite a few people living in the village. Like Ane for instance."
"Yeah, but this woman was like... like she was running away from someone."

Ante dumped a sack full of potatoes into a large pot of water. Then, after some thinking, he asked if the woman was Sami.

"No! Why?" Bjorn asked puzzled.
"She was from around here, though?" Ante continued.
"Sure. She talked like you... Same dialect."
"I bet she was running away from the child protection services."
"The what?" Bjorn asked, surprised by Ante's quick conclusion.
"The child protection services," Ante repeated. "Surly, you have heard of them."
"Yeah! But why are you so sure that this woman was running away from them."
"Who else could it be?"
"Her husband, maybe?"
"Well, I guess it could be... More likely to be the child protectors, though. Don't you think?"

Bjorn could think of no better explanation. And the woman had come across as slightly manic, so it would not surprise him if she was in fact in need of help of some kind.

"Isn't it strange how those most in need of help, usually are the first to run away from it?" Bjorn asked.
"Like that woman, you mean?"
"Yeah."
"But is it really help if those you are helping feel like they have to escape?"
"Well... No..." Bjorn replied reluctantly, sensing a flaw in Ante's reasoning, yet unable to put his finger on it directly. "Maybe not."
"They were probably about to take the girl away from her, and she decided to flee," Ante continued.
"But what if she's really incapable of taking proper care of her daughter?" Bjorn asked. "I mean, some parents are really terrible. You've heard the stories, haven't you?"
"I have indeed," Ante replied.

Ante poured himself a cup of coffee, offering Bjorn some too. But Bjorn did not feel like drinking coffee right before dinner. And he did not feel like ending the discussion or change the topic either.

"So what do you think?" Bjorn asked.
"About the woman?"
"Yeah."
"Well, she got away, didn't she?"
"Yes, and what do you think about that?"
"Well... Good for her! She got away. I'm sure she's happy about that."
"And her daughter? What about her?"
"Did she look sad or unhappy?"
"Well..." Bjorn said while trying to conger up the memory of what the girl looked like. "She just sat there, neither happy nor sad, I think."
"So she didn't look like she was abused in any way? She didn't look like she wanted to run away from mother?"
"No."
"Then, good for her too! She got away with her mother. How is that bad?"
"But what if the woman is a terrible mother?"
"We don't know that though?"
"But the child protectors probably think so."
"They probably do."
"So... Doesn't that tell us something?"
"Well... It explains why the woman was fleeing with her daughter."

Bjorn sighed in frustration. But seeing that Ante was grinning at him triumphantly, he sensed that Ante was simply playing the devil's advocate, and that he could easily poke hole in his argument by exposing this.

"You really don't trust the government, do you?" Bjorn asked with a hint of sarcasm in order to see if Ante was just promoting one of Thomas' anti-government ideas, or truly meaning what he was saying.
"And why should I? I'm Sami after all!" Ante answered with no hint of irony. "And you know, Bjorn, we don't really know if she was running away from the child protection services or not. We are just speculating."

And with this, Ante effectively stopped the discussion. His reference to the plight of the Samis was enough to derail it. And it also explained why he had wondered about the woman's ethnicity. A lingering distrust of government agents and their motives must have been why he asked if the woman happened to be Sami.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

58

Knowing that Frank's bridge playing colleagues would soon appear, Bjorn rose from his chair and headed back to his room. But just as he was about to go up the stairs he heard Ante swear loudly in the kitchen. Suddenly remembering his desire to talk to Ante, and curious to know what made Ante so furious, Bjorn turned away from the stairs and entered the kitchen instead.

"So, what's going on?" Bjorn asked.
"These darn peppercorns refuse to go into the grinder," Ante replied. "And now I managed to drop the whole bag on the floor."

There were little black peppercorns everywhere, both on the counter and on the floor. But the paper bag was still intact, with most of its content inside of it.

"You want some help with that?" Bjorn asked.
"Yeah, if you could," Ante replied before picking up the paper bag. "Can you hold this funnel for me while I pour the corns into the grinder?"

Happy to help, Bjorn did as he was asked, and pretty soon the grinder was full of pepper.

"So what do you think of us soon having to act as customs officers here at the check point?" Bjorn asked as Ante put away the bag with the remaining peppercorns.
"Are we?" Ante asked. "That's news to me."
"That's because we haven't actually been asked to do it yet," Bjorn replied. "But Frank expects it to happen quite soon, and I think he's right. There were quite a few cars coming in from Neiden, and returning with cartloads of cheap stuff."
"And we can't have that, can we?" Ante replied dryly while picking up a small handheld vacuum cleaner from a cupboard.
"Exactly! Its smuggling. And we will surely have to deal with it, sooner or later."
"Yeah, because cheap stuff is bad for people, right?" Ante said with a big smile to soften his sarcasm.
"Eh... but the smuggling will hurt the economy," Bjorn ventured.

Bjorn felt less than sure of his last statement, and Ante did not seem bothered to go directly into any discussion about it, turning on the vacuum cleaner to rid the counter and the floor of the spilled peppercorns instead.

"And in what way will the smuggling hurt the local economy?" Ante asked as he turned off the noisy handheld device.
"Well, its unfair for the local merchants in Neiden and Kirkenes, isn't it?" Bjorn suggested. "After all, they have to pay taxes, and that gives Pingo an unfair advantage."

Ante put away the vacuum cleaner before turning to Bjorn.

"So, we will soon have to tax everyone leaving the colony with more than a minimum of stuff in order to help the merchants in Neiden and Kirkenes."
"Yeah. I mean... Or else, they will go out of business, right? And that would hurt the local economy."
"So, why not give the merchants in Kirkenes and Neiden a tax break. That way everybody would be happy. People would get their cheap stuff closer to home, and the merchants can compete on an equal footing with Pingo."
"But we have to pay taxes!" Bjorn insisted. "I mean... how else are we going to pay for schools and health services, and..."
"And the poor?" Ante suggested helpfully.
"Exactly!"
"How, indeed!" Ante confirmed with a smile.

Bjorn was a little confused by Ante's lingering sarcasm. Was he serious, or just pulling his leg?

"So you agree that we will soon have to act as customs officers in order to even out the playing field."
"We will indeed," Ante replied, still smiling. "I'm sure Frank is right."
"So what was all that about?" Bjorn asked, still puzzled by Ante's sarcasm.
"I've been listening too much to Thomas lately, I guess," Ante replied. "That man is an anti-tax fanatic, and I thought I'd try out his logic on you."
"He is?" Bjorn asked, curious to hear Ante's view of Thomas.
"Haven't you noticed how he always comes up with those so called voluntary solutions to everything?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it... He's not a great fan of government solutions, is he?"
"Not at all," Ante confirmed. "He has some valid points, though."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I do... Once you start thinking of government agents as a bunch of corrupt crooks, all sorts of things suddenly start to make sense."
"Such as?" Bjorn asked.
"The war in Libya for instance."
"Yeah?"
"Well... It's all about the oil, isn't it. Why do you think the foreign minister is so eager to send troops down there?"
"To protect our interests and help the people rebuild their nation," Bjorn replied, parroting what he had heard the foreign minister say on TV.
"And what exactly is our so called interest in Libya?"
"Oil."
"Exactly!"

Bjorn shook his head. Ante's point was just too simple minded. The profits from the state controlled oil company was after all funnelled into the national coffers, thereby providing vital funding for social services such as education and health care. Without the profits from oil wells abroad, much of the welfare state would have to be dismantled. Protecting the oil fields from terrorists was clearly of national importance, as well as a good thing for the locals in Libya.

"Okay! So they are all a bunch of crooks!" Bjorn replied, this time being the one with heavy sarcasm in his voice.

Monday, May 5, 2014

57

"Do you think we will get any kind of compensation for having to do the extra work?" Bjorn asked after letting the thought of becoming a customs officer sink in.
"I would think so," Frank answered. "It will be a promotion for all of us."
"More money for just about the same amount of work in other words."
"Well, don't pop the Champagne just yet. We don't actually know if they will solve their problem by promoting us. But it seems to me to be their only sensible option."

The sports updates were nearing their end, and the two men turned their attention to the TV in anticipation of the four o'clock news. "Let's see if they have more on us today," Frank said with a happy voice. "I love the way we are being turned into celebrities up here."

And sure enough, the Lundby project was once again featured in one of the news bulletins. This time the focus was on a demonstration in front of the parliament building in Oslo, which allegedly had turned nasty. However, all that could be seen from the news footage was a small crowd of people holding anti-Lundby posters and banners, shouting insults at another crowd holding anti-immigration posters. The whole incident seemed staged and phoney, and left Bjorn completely unimpressed.

In other news, there was an high ranking political advisor resigning in the US over some blunder in Syria, which made Bjorn immediately think of the strange allegations he had come across on the web. "So they were right all along, those conspiracy theorists," Bjorn thought to himself as the news turned to the economy, which allegedly was looking more and more promising. Stocks were up, house prices were up, and high end stores were seeing record sales across the board. "The trickle down effect of this boom is expected to be noticeable in the coming quarters," the anchor woman explained. "However, a self sustained recovery is still some way off, and monetary easing will therefore be needed for at least another year."

"Do you understand any of this babble?" Bjorn asked rhetorically as the news turned to the weather.
"You mean about the economy?" Frank asked. "No I don't. But I'm not an investor."
"No, that's true," Bjorn said with a nod. "But this is the whole economy they are talking about. What if no one know what's going on?"
"Oh, but I'm sure the right people know well enough what they are doing," Frank answered with a smile. "It's not like we've put complete idiots in charge of the economy."
"And you think they are doing things to benefit us all, or just themselves."
"You are a bit of a conspiracy theorist, aren't you?" Frank answered with a cheeky smile.
"I guess I am," Bjorn admitted. "But so far only the richest have benefited from all the economic easing and tweaking. Don't you think that a bit suspicious? Do you really believe in the so called trickle down effect?"
"Not really. But I sure hope it works. Not least for their own sake."
"What do you mean?" Bjorn asked, knowing full well what Frank was thinking.
"Well... I think a lot of people may get very angry if things don't improve pretty soon."
"And you call me a conspiracy theorists?" Bjorn replied with a cheeky smile of his own.

Friday, May 2, 2014

56

Bjorn went into the kitchen first thing after being relieved from his duty, where he dropped off the two thermoses he had been using over at the kitchen sink. Ante was nowhere to be seen, which disappointed Bjorn a bit since he felt like talking to him about the strange incident with the woman and her daughter. Why would anyone drive all the way to Lundby with no passport and with no intention of leaving the village any time soon? It made no sense.

Bjorn made himself a sandwich, hoping that Ante would return while he was busy making it. However, Ante did not appear, so Bjorn took his sandwich and drifted into the living room in the hope of finding him there, but the only one there was Frank, watching the latest sports updates as usual.

Sensing Bjorn's presence, Frank turned and looked at him.

"So?" Frank asked, noticing how Bjorn seemed lost in his thoughts.
"Have you seen Ante?" Bjorn asked.
"No."
"Eh... There were quite a few people going in to Lundby to buy stuff today," Bjorn said, feeling a need to say something of substance.
"Yes?"
"People have clearly discovered the low prices of everything down there."
"Yes. It is getting a bit out of hand," Frank concurred. "Trond has already reported this to Oslo."
"Trond?"
"You know Trond! The guy in charge of the check point over at the port. People have really started to flock to Lundby for bargains. So much so that it is hurting local businesses in Kirkenes."
"It's that bad, is it?" Bjorn asked, seating himself in the chair next to Frank.
"It is, and I believe they take the problem quite seriously in Oslo."
"Silly mistake, wasn't it?" Bjorn asked, curious to hear what Frank thought of the legal loophole. "They should have seen this coming."
"It is always easy to see things clearly in retrospect," Frank observed. "I seriously doubt that anyone thought that Pedro would invite Pingo to set up shop in Lundby when they were negotiating this."

Bjorn nodded thoughtfully. "What do you think they had in mind?"
"Cheap labour for the fish processing plant and the iron mine, I guess," Frank suggested. "Which is exactly what they got, by the way."
Bjorn agreed. "It's a modern day gulag, isn't it?"
"Exactly! It is a capitalist version of what they had in the Soviet Union, which means that everyone is paid a minimum wage and left to fend for themselves, instead of getting food hand outs from the prison guards. And that's the crucial point that the bureaucrats in Oslo must have overlooked. A capitalist version of a gulag will have a grocery store in stead of food hand outs. And with Pedro not being obliged to levy taxes on behalf of the Norwegian government, Pingo's prices come out lower than those in Kirkenes and Neiden."

"And that was the deal, wasn't it?" Bjorn asked rhetorically after a bit of thinking. "Pedro agreed to take on responsibility for the asylum seekers on the condition that he would not have to answer to the government regarding anything but the basic human rights of the detainees."
"That was the deal," Frank confirmed. "And since Lundby was completely uninhabited at the time of the negotiations, the focus must have been entirely on the savings that the state could draw from the deal."
"And if anyone wondered what Pedro was hoping to get out of the deal, he could simply mention the cheap labour," Bjorn continued, expanding on Frank's thought.
"Exactly! They all knew full well that they were setting up a gulag. The bureaucrats simply assumed that it would be of the old fashioned kind. Their mistake was quite understandable, when you think about it."

Bjorn nodded in agreement. However, he still thought it hard to believe that the full consequence of the deal with Pedro was completely overlooked by the bureaucrats. Then, suddenly remembering Ane's insinuation that she had powerful stake holders in her business, people located in Oslo. He asked Frank if he thought that the oversight might have been at least partially deliberate, and that the lawmakers might have been corrupted in some way.

"That's of course always a possibility, especially with the politicians currently in charge," Frank said with a nod. "However, I don't think the oversight was very serious. All they need to do is to give us instructions to act as customs officers, and the problem will be solved."
"So, that's what you think they will do?" Bjorn asked, finding Frank's solution quite reasonable.
"I'm sure of it. However, as long as we have received no such instructions, we are in no position to start doing this yet."

Bjorn thought about the prospect of having his duties expanded. Then it struck him that the introduction of customs duties might affect his colleagues and him too. And if they suddenly had to pay duty on everything they bought in Lundby, their affluence would be gone, and they would be no better off than everyone else in the military. However, when Bjorn expressed this worry, Frank replied with a smile. "Well, I'm sure we will be able to find a way around such a situation. We're all good friends here after all, and no one would go rushing off anywhere to tell on us if we were to make an exception for ourselves."

Thursday, May 1, 2014

55

The van disappeared up towards the mountain pass, leaving Bjorn strangely content in its wake. He looked down at the pack of cigarettes in his hand with a content smile. However, it was not so much the cigarettes that had left him feeling happy, as it was the conversation. The little arguing back and forth before coming to the conclusion that everything was indeed in order had given him a sense of importance in an odd kind of way.

Later, when two more cars returned, each with the trunk fully loaded with all sorts of food and drink, Bjorn put on his stern face and commented to each of the drivers that their large imports were legal, but just barely, before letting them go. The insinuation that he was somehow well versed in the subtleties of the law and an expert in its various loop holes gave him a thrill, not least because the drivers seemed to go along with his little power play. They nodded and smiled politely, as they tacitly agreed that they were indeed taking full advantage of what would surely have been illegal if it had not been for some administrative oversight in Oslo, and they thanked him wholeheartedly when he finally pushed the green button to let them pass.

Bjorn was a little surprised by himself for enjoying his position of power as much as he did. With no colleagues around to restrain him, he could probably, if he so wished, pressure some of these people into giving up more than just a pack of cigarettes in order to get away from his uncomfortable scrutiny. But he would not do such a thing, of course. One thing was realizing that he could, if he would. An entirely different thing was actually doing such a thing. However, this did not stop him from fantasizing further around the possibilities he had discovered to be inherent in his position, and he soon found himself busy imagining ways to pressure people into giving up a bottle of whiskey, or a carton of cigarettes.

Bjorn was in the middle of such a fantasy when he caught sight of a green van appearing from behind the low hill half way down towards the fjord. He must have missed the car as it turned onto the road up to the check point. But now that he was made aware of it, it struck him as odd that he would have to stop a car that he had not seen coming into the colony the same morning.

He thought for a moment that the van may have come in earlier, or that it possibly was on a round trip from Kirkenes via Lundby to Neiden. But as it came closer, he could see that it had "Pingo" written in large friendly letters on its hood. And as it turned out, it was indeed a delivery van coming with more food and drink for the check point.

A large blond guy with a heavy Russian European accent rolled down the window on Bjorn's side. "Delivery for Ante," he said casually, as if he had done this many times before.
"Okay," Bjorn replied equally casually. "You know where to find him?"
"In the kitchen, as always, I guess," the man replied.

Bjorn was tempted to open the barrier right away, but hesitated. He did not after all know the man, nor did he know the normal procedures concerning deliveries from Pingo, so he picked up the phone on his desk and pushed the hotline for Ante. "I'll call him," Bjorn explained to the big blond guy who responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

Ante picked up his phone immediately. "Sure! Just let him in," he said. "I'll meet him outside." It was clear from the tone in Ante's voice that there was no need to call him before letting in the delivery man from Pingo, but Bjorn was nevertheless pleased with himself for having made the call. Being new in his job, erring on the side of caution was preferable to making an ugly mistake.

The van disappeared in behind the barracks, and Bjorn felt a sense of eager anticipation just thinking of all the good stuff Ante must have bought in order to max out on the food budget. The food budget, barely enough to keep colleagues at other military installations properly fed, was truly generous at the check point where cheap food, and even wine, were readily available at the local grocery store.

And with this thought in mind it struck Bjorn that he and his colleagues at the check point were little different from the people he had been pestering with his insinuations earlier on. He too was profiting from the low prices in the village. "Why on earth should there be any difference between him and his fellow Norwegians when it came to something as basic as food and drink?" he thought to himself, feeling a sting of guilt for having even contemplated the possibility of pressuring them into giving up some of their goods to him.