131

"So, there you are!" Georgio said as Bjorn approached him with Ante, Olga and Igor following close behind. "I don't have all day, you know."
"I´m sorry about that," Bjorn replied. "But... Is it all right if Olga and Igor here join us over to the apartments?"
"Well, that depends," Geoergio answered, turning to Olga. "Do you have your own car? I can't fit you all into mine."
"Sure," Igor replied with a smile. "I got mine parked over by the vicarage."
"Well then... I guess it's all right. I got my car parked over there too. Let's go!"

Georgio looked around as if looking for someone, muttering "where the hell is he" to himself.

"You're looking for someone?" Bjorn asked politely, joining Georgio in his slow wandering towards the church entrance.
"Yeah, I'm looking for a kid. A Norwegian kid called Einar.  He's helping me out. But I can't see him anywhere."
"Maybe he's outside?" Bjorn suggested.
"Yeah... Probably is."

"So, how did you get to meet Einar?" Bjorn asked as he stepped out into the cold arctic air together with Georgio.
"Ah... He just appeared one day at the building site, and... Oh there he is!"

Georgio pointed over to some kids over by the pillar with the armillary sphere, one of whom looked distinctly Norwegian. Georgio waved at him, and the kid responded by waving back before coming up to meet Georgio.

"So you're Einar?" Bjorn asked, switching to Norwegian.
"Yep... Are you here to arrest me?" the kid replied with an aggressive tone. "If you do, I swear I'll kill you."
"No, no... I'm just coming with you guys to have a look at the building site."
"So what's with the uniform? Don't you know we hate people like you?"
"So, so..." Bjorn replied, amused more than anything else. "Are you always this aggressive?"
"Only towards pigs like you."

Bjorn figured it useless to argue with the kid and simply tagged along with Georgio and Einar as they headed towards the vicarage. Then, when they caught up with Ante and the two Russians at the parking lot, Georgio introduced Einar to the others.

This time, Einar was considerably more polite, clearly having concluded that neither Ante nor Bjorn had any plans to interfere with whatever the kid was doing that warranted an arrest. They all exchanged a few polite phrases. Then they decided to split into two groups, with Bjorn and Ante sitting in the back of Georgio's car, with Einar next to Georgio in the front seats, and Igor and Olga using their own car to get to the building site.

"So, is this your car?" Ante asked as he fastened his seatbelt.
"It is indeed," Georgio answered before starting the engine with a sputter followed by a forceful roar.
"And you drove all the way up from Italy?"
"From Venice, yes."
"From Venice?"
"Yeah, I'm from Venice. Italy is a fiction."
"It is?" Ante asked looking bemused. "Well, anyway. It's a pretty long drive isn't it. All the way from Venice to Lundby."
"Three days to get to Oslo, and another three days to get to Lundby."
"And you're planning to drive all the way back when you're finished here?"
"I am! I'll save a few hours driving directly to Neiden, and not having to go via Kirkenes. I had to drive via Kirkenes coming up back in March."
"But still! It's a long drive!"
"Sure is! But I don't mind. I like driving."

Georgio drove along the ridge before taking a right turn towards the main street.

"Going by foot, you can cut across here," Georgio explained, pointing to his left as he took the right turn.
"I know!" Ante replied. "I grew up here, sort of. My grandparents had a place here."
"That's pretty special!" Georgio commented.
"To you maybe. But to me, this is what the world looked like. This is what I grew up knowing."

Georgio nodded thoughtfully, and there was a pause in the dialogue until they got onto the main street.

"So, what's going on up there? What are they building?" Ante asked as soon as they could see the big building site a the top of the main street.
"It's going to be a shopping centre," Einar answered, speaking English with hardly any accent.
"A shopping centre? In Lundby?"
"Yeah! And there will be offices and apartments and stuff like that," Einar continued.
"Really? How do you know?"
"I asked the builders, and that's what they said."
"And who's behind this?" Bjorn asked.
"I don't know."
"Someone with more money than sense, I guess," Ante suggested.
"Or someone like Pedro," Georgio commented. "Someone with a plan."

Georgio took a left by the building site, heading in the direction of the apartment building.

"And what exactly is Pedro's plan?" Bjorn asked, curious to hear what Georgio was making of the things going on in Lundby.
"He's going to turn this place into a city."
"Really? Why?"
"For the same reason he does everything else in life."
"Which is?"
"He's a billionaire," Georgio explained. "He's doing this to make money. Lots of money."
"But how?"
"I don't know. You'll have to ask him. His the billionaire after all."