184

Bjorn finished his cigarette and headed indoors, leaving Frank behind with Gus and his two helpers to discuss the details of where to put up the signs. He found Ante, busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, and out of idle politeness, he mentioned that he had just met Gus.

"He seems like a reasonable guy," Bjorn concluded, putting his thermos on the table.
"And he's here to set up the signs about our new status as a customs office?" Ante asked.
"Yes, that's it. Kind of weird to have Gus set it up, don't you think?"
"No. Not really. We're after all buying our food down there, and Hiep and Hahn come up here every Wednesday to clean this place. Why not have Gus put up our signs too?"
"Hiep and Hahn, huh? So that's why we don't have to clean this place ourselves?"
"Well... Officially, I'm the one taking care of the cleaning, but I've outsourced it to them."
"And you're making a small profit on that too, I bet."

Ante smiled and chuckled. "You know, a penny here and a penny there."
"You're in this only for the money, aren't you?"
"Of course, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I guess. But you seem to be better at it than I am."
"I've been here longer than you. You know, the early bird gets the worm."

Ante wiped his hands leaving the prepared food on the counter, ready to go into the oven when time was right. It was a simple looking dinner. Sausages and baked apples.

"What kind of sausages are those?" Bjorn asked.
"They are Alheiras. Portuguese sausages."
"Ah, I should have known."

Ante went up to the south facing window and looked out. "So, there they are, putting up the signs," he commented, leaning a little to the side to get a better look. "It is finally official."
"Yep, we're a customs office now. Not exactly what I signed up for. But then again, hardly anything is what I expected."
"Is that so?"
"I thought this was going to be nothing but one big camp for asylum seekers, and yet, here we are, being told that the place has to be treated as a free port. Is that even legal, according to our constitution?"
"What you mean?"
"Isn't Norway an indivisible country?"
"Sure. But that doesn't mean we can't set up airports, and places like this colony. Norway is a sovereign state and we can do whatever we please within our borders. That's what it means to be sovereign."

Bjorn nodded unconvinced. "But are we retaining sovereignty down there? They don't follow our laws, and they don't use our money."
"It's all done within a perfectly legal framework, though. It's not like the foreign minister did anything illegal when he set up this camp. And those tokens they use can hardly be considered money. Like the foreign minister said, they are casino tokens, and to say that casino tokens are money is just stupid."

Bjorn nodded again, still not convinced, and a little confused by Ante's parroting of the official line.

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" Bjorn asked.
"Of course I am," Ante replied with a smile. "I totally agree with you. I just wanted to hear you say it, so I was playing the devil's advocate there for a minute."

"Well, anyway," Ante continued, turning away from the window. "Why don't you rinse your thermos and put it away. I'm not your servant, and I don't like people just putting their dirty stuff on my table."