109

The skimpy little newspaper was surprisingly full of well written articles, mainly focusing on local news, but also having the occasional musings on world events. Musings that were as anti-government as everything else in the newspaper, with plenty of over the top claims about the evils of foreign and domestic policies. "To understand the world, we have to keep in mind that governments are in fact criminal gangs, running protection rackets and fighting turf wars for their cronies," it said at one point in what would otherwise have been a well balanced and level headed analysis of the mess in Libya.

It was a little annoying to keep finding such blatant anti-government propaganda, but also refreshing in a way, considering how universally pro-government other news providers tended to be. From listening to TV reports, one would think that another military intervention in Libya was nothing short of an obvious must do. Having someone point out the complete mess left by the first intervention, and putting a question mark by the wisdom of further interventions seemed both proper and just, and it made it all the more evident that many so called journalists are not doing their job properly these days since such musings are rarely if ever expressed in the mainstream media.

However, Bjorn felt so uncomfortable being reminded of the possibility, however remote, that he might be called upon to protect so called national interests in Libya that he turned the page before reading the article to its end. He got the point. According to the Gazette "national interests" are in fact shorthand for oil fields, and the war in Libya has nothing to do with the security and well being of ordinary people, neither in Libya nor anywhere else. Rather, it has everything to do with oil companies wanting ordinary people to pay and risk their lives to secure their oil fields in far away places. Bjorn did not have to read the whole article to know that this would be the typical anti-government attitude towards the latest developments in Libya.

"Maybe true, maybe not," Bjorn thought to himself, uncomfortable with the idea that he might be drawn into an ugly war as a mere pawn in somebody else's game. But the article on Libya was soon forgotten as he turned his attention to the fears and anxieties experienced by the locals in Lundby regarding the so much talked about wave of immigrants, soon to flood the village with all sorts of people.

People in Lundby had been buying a lot of guns over the last two weeks, and a shooting range over by the airport had seen considerable business, with many people using it to practice using their newly acquired weapons. Pedro's insurance business had also seen a significant uptick. Everyone was scared, it seemed, and Bjorn got the distinct feeling that Pedro, or Gus the gun store owner, were behind this, doing their best to make things sound worse than they were in order to generate even more business for themselves.

There was nothing very surprising about the first half of the article, which focused entirely on Gus's gun store and Pedro's insurance company. However, when Bjorn came across a mention of a company called Rogue Justice, Bjorn had to reread the sentences in front of him a couple of times to make sure he had understood them correctly.

"Is this serious?" Bjorn wondered, dropping the newspaper onto the coffee table. "Is this real?"

Bjorn looked out of the window, digesting the strange and matter of fact way the article had described the services offered by Rogue Justice. He noted that the snow had now fully turned to rain. Then he picked up the newspaper again, rereading the sentences once more.

 "For those with particular concerns," it read, "Rogue Justice will facilitate assassinations, provided the person in question is clearly and obviously guilty of a grave crime, Rogue Justice will facilitate the elimination of that person against a fee ranging from one KG and upwards depending on the difficulty of the job."

108

Bjorn found a red pen next to the fridge, and noted down the change of schedule on Frank's spreadsheet. Feeling peckish, he proceeded to make himself a ham and cheese sandwich, which he brought with him back into the living room.

There was still nobody there, and the comfy chair was where he left it, squarely in front of the large window by the coffee table. The sleet was giving way to a light drizzle, and there were hardly any snowflakes fluttering around outside. But the drab view had a sombre fascination to it, and Bjorn was happy just siting in the easy chair for a while, munching his sandwich while contemplating the grand silent nothingness of the arctic.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Bjorn was suddenly reminded of the slogan used by David's Pharmacy. "The sky is not the limit," hovered in his head as a quirky thought, and he found himself wondering what the limit is, if not the sky. "What a silly slogan," he thought as he contemplated the absurdity of the quote. "Why would anyone want to go beyond the sky?"

Then, waking up from his meditative state, he realized that the slogan was actually staring him right in the face all along. He had put the Lundby Gazette face down on the coffee table, and the ad for David´s pharmacy was right in front of him, with the slogan as its title.

Having finished his sandwich, Bjorn picked up the newspaper and after a brief look at the ads on the back, he started reading the articles, starting with the front page headline which read: "Will the boom turn to bust?"

The article was all about the spectacular increase in commercial activity that had blessed the little community with plenty of business and job opportunities. And retail had been particularly blessed with ever growing demand for all the cheap products available in the village. People were coming from all over Finnmark county to buy cheap stuff in Lundby, and a new make shift supermarket had been opened in an abandoned warehouse at the port in order to handle the expected all time high influx of shoppers over the weekend. An improvised petrol station had also seen the light of day over at the port.

Entrepreneurs, both local and not so local, were scrambling to take advantage of the unique tax benefits offered in Lundby. However, the article pointed out that the current state of affairs would not likely last for much longer. Competing businesses outside of Lundby were petitioning government agents in Oslo to crack down on the village and level the playing field by introducing tariffs and taxes. And it would be naïve to think that the central government would not act to save and help struggling businesses in Kirkenes, Neiden, and even Alta and Tromso by introducing tariffs, not least because this would add to the coffers of the central government in Oslo.

The article concluded that things would soon become much harder for businesses in Lundby, and that exuberant investments into retail businesses at this point was extremely risky. The retail market could easily be reduced to just a fraction of its current size. And with popular support for such an action from local merchants outside Lundby and ordinary people living far away from the village, unable to take advantage of the great bargains to be had in Lundby, the likelihood of high tariffs being introduced seemed a near certainty.

The article was level headed in many ways, but Bjorn found its aggressive tone towards the government in Oslo surprisingly harsh. The journalist was completely ignoring the fact that the government had actually created Lundby in the first place. Levelling the playing field, as it were, made perfect sense, both from the viewpoint of local disadvantaged businesses and from the viewpoint of the government. And with most people unable to take advantage of the bargains in Lundby, the new regulations would have little political impact. Bjorn agreed with the article's conclusion, but did not see it as necessarily a bad thing, considering how many people would actually be better off by an intervention.

98

Bjorn stepped out of bed determined to drive the ghost of his final dream out and away. And by opening the curtains he did just that. It was snowing, and the sight came as a big surprise to him since the sky had been clear and cloudless all night long.

Every little green patch that had been uncovered by the mild weather over the last couple of days were once again covered, and the thick snow drift made everything once again appear completely colourless, as if the landscape was some sort of black and white image. But the sight was refreshingly bright in its sombre greyness, and as far as his dream was concerned, it did the trick. Gone was the uncomfortable feeling at the pit of his stomach, and had it not been for a light hangover, he would have felt just fine.

Gone too was the claustrophobic sense that the barracks was some sort of soulless monster. Sounds of his colleagues coming home during the night, and the occasional sound of a voice in the corridor, and people walking about, had put life back into his immediate surroundings.

Bjorn's morning routine went without incident, and once back in his uniform, and with his hand gun strapped to his side, he felt positively eager to go down and meet his colleagues chatting in the kitchen. Grabbing the paper copy of the Gazette and the leaflet explaining the stall owners' position on their conflict with Pedro, Bjorn walked down the stairs and into the living room where he dropped off the reading material before going over to the kitchen where Bjorn was greeted by Thomas and Geir who were sitting over at the far end of the dining table.

"Good morning!" Thomas said with a smile. "How do you feel?"
"Fine thank you," Bjorn answered, not feeling like mentioning his light hangover. "Where's everybody? I was sure I heard more voices than just the two of you."
"That must have been John... He just left for bed. You just missed him... And Espen was here too, but he's now in the glass cage."

Bjorn grabbed a plate, a cup, a glass and a knife for himself before sitting down with the two men. The table was set with bread and spreads, a carton of juice and a thermos with coffee. But there was no sign of Ante's signature breakfast. No eggs, no bacon and no freshly cut fruit.

"So where is Ante?" Bjorn asked, curious to hear what Thomas and his other colleagues had been up to in the village after he left.
"Well, as I told Geir just now, he got completely smashed by the end of the night, and we ended up taking a taxi back here. He was in no state to drive, and neither were anyone else."
"And who was your driver? Not Igor by any chance?"
"Well, actually yes. And you should have seen Ante making a fool of himself, praising Igor for his fine driving. He gets so sentimental when he gets drunk."
"So he is up sleeping off his hangover?"
"Yeah, just like every time we've been out with him."

Bjorn poured himself some juice, and out of politeness to Geir he asked him if things had gone smoothly during the night.

"Sure!" Geir answered, trying to come across as important. "Not much happening... But we can't all be out partying, you know."
"No, that's true," Bjorn answered sincerely. "Very generous of you and John to have taken the whole night watch yesterday."
"Yeah, we really appreciate it," Thomas added. "But one of these days, you should really go down and experience the nightlife yourself. It will give you a different perspective on the place."
"I don't know..." Geir said hesitantly, clearly a little uncomfortable with the gentle persuasion. "Some of us have to watch this place too, you know."
"I can stay here every now and again," Thomas suggested. "I don't have to go down every weekend."
"Really?" Geir asked. "Well... I'll think about it... But if Frank turns up in a body bag, I'm sure as hell not going down there on anything but business."

Bjorn looked at Thomas, confused by Geir's last remark.

"Well... I'm sure he's fine," Thomas answered with a smile. Then turning to Bjorn, he explained that Frank had suddenly disappeared completely, and that Espen, Ante and himself had given up finding him by the time they drove back to the checkpoint with Igor.

"So you just left him there?" Bjorn asked in disbelief.
"What could we do? It was six o'clock, the casino was closing, and we were kicked out... We brought his jacket with us though."
"Oh... That's good of you... So he might be roaming around in this weather without his jacket?"
"We're pretty sure he's safely in bed with one of those girls he was dancing with," Thomas retorted. "And what good would his jacket be if he can't get hold of it anyway?"

Bjorn shook his head. Then pouring some coffee for himself, he started chuckling. "So Romeo has been out sleeping with the enemy, has he?"
"That was our assessment too," Thomas said with a sly smile before taking a sip of his coffee.

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.

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.

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.

45

Bjorn turned his attention back to the newspaper, and was busy reading an article on a new bowling alley being built in an old storehouse located close to the casino when the four o´clock news started on TV. Being more interested in what the Gazette could reveal about Lundby and its economy than what the national broadcaster had to say, he kept on reading the article, locking out the background chatter from the TV until Frank suddenly broke his concentration.

"Hey Bjorn! They are talking about us!" Frank said in a loud proud voice.
Bjorn looked up from the newspaper.
"... lack of control and transparency," a male voice said while a map of the Lundby area illustrated how far north and isolated it was. "No one should be forced to move up there."

The map disappeared, and was replaced by a live image of a female interviewer and a middle aged man dressed up as if he was some sort of punk rocker from the eighties. In the background, a small group of protesters were waving banners and holding up signs saying things like "Shut Down the Gulag", "We are All Human" and "Life and Liberty Before Profits".

The protestors were gathered in front of a gated property with several houses with numerous people peering out of windows, and hanging out their own banners in way of protest.

"The new asylum policy is simply inhumane," the punk rocker continued.
"But isn't it too late to do anything about this now?"
"It is never too late to stop this kind of fascism. We need to bring awareness to what's going on, and we will not stop until dignity and justice is restored to those seeking protection by our government."
"But in this particular case, we are talking about people who have had their asylum application rejected. Closing this particular centre and letting them choose whether to go to Lundby or back where they came from is actually giving them more choice, not less."
"The choice they are faced with is between the plague and cholera. It is no choice at all. Most of these people would have been given asylum under the old rules, so we are not only protesting the Lundby project, which is clearly outrageous, but also the change in procedures that our fascist government has put in place."
"But the decision to relocate all asylum seekers to a single centre in the north is hugely popular with most Norwegians. Do you really think you will be able to revert this policy?"
"Yes we do. Most people know deep down that there is something very immoral and wrong with this whole project, and once we manage to expose the true nature of what is going on up in Lundby, I am sure popular opinion will be turned firmly against it."

The interview ended abruptly on this optimistic note, and the anchor woman thanked the interviewer for her contribution without the interviewer having a chance to respond. Up next was a piece on the inauguration of the ex-prime minister as the new head of NATO, followed by some economic news with a piece dedicated to the falling gold price which was seen as proof of an imminent recovery of the world economy.

"Why did they choose Jens as new head of NATO?" Bjorn wondered out loud the moment Frank turned off the TV set.
"Well, he did lead our government for two terms in a row, and he got plenty of political experience," Frank replied.
"But he's not much of a fighter is he?" Bjorn continued. "Whenever there was a conflict he just disappeared for days on end until the dust settled. He was little more than a figure head."
"I liked him," Geir interjected. "He managed to hold the coalition together. You have to give him credit for that."
"Sure, but he was fiercely anti-NATO in his youth. He's a pacifist at heart, don´t you think?"
"People change," Geir replied thoughtfully. "But you're right, he is not exactly a great military leader."
"It is a bit strange," Frank conceded. "Odd choice for a leader of a military organization. Our foreign minister would have been a more natural choice. He is at least actively making military decisions on Libya these days."
"Yeah," Geir said with a big smile. "He's really showing those rag heads who's boss, isn't he?"
"He is pretty much running the whole government if you ask me," Bjorn added in agreement.

The conversation would have continued had it not been for Espen and John appearing in the doorway, wondering if there would be the regular card playing session despite the change in daily routines caused by Bjorn and Geir's visit to Lundby.

"Well, Thomas is still in the glass cage," Frank responded. Then turning to Geir he asked if he could take over for Thomas for an hour or two so that the four card players could get together for their regular session.
"Well, I still have three hours of service to complete for today," Geir replied. "I might as well take that now."

44

Bjorn hung off his coat in the hallway before going into the living room, leaving Ante to clean and dice vegetables in the kitchen. He pulled out the crumpled copy of the Lundby Gazette from his pocket as he left his jacket behind, and sat down in the sofa next to the large window with a view of Lundby, half hidden behind the near hill.

A football match was playing on the TV in the corner, and Frank and Geir were sitting in front of it in their separate easy chairs, watching it while talking softly about Ane's factory. Bjorn did not bother to listen in on their conversation, un-crumpling the newspaper instead.

Bjorn scanned the article on the imminent influx of asylum seekers to Lundby until he reached the point were he had stopped reading it while down in the village, and while doing this he noticed how the grammar was much improved from the previous copy of the newspaper. This latest copy was far easier and more pleasant to read.

Reading on from where he had stopped, Bjorn learned that the old military airport would be opened the next week to handle the immigration, and that "special arrangements" were being put in place to make sure any criminal elements would be "identified and neutralized". There was no mention, however, of what exactly the special arrangements and neutralization entailed.

This was all new to Bjorn, and curious to know how much of this was known to his colleagues, he asked Frank about the airport and the screening that evidently was going to take place down there.

"Yep, that's true," Frank replied. "The airport is going to open on Thursday, and we will have to go down there on Wednesday to make sure everything is in order."
"And what about the special arrangements put in place for the immigrants?" Bjorn asked.
"I have no idea. As long as they do not break the terms of our agreement, it's all up to them what they do with the refugees."
"And what exactly are these terms?"
"I believe they agreed to comply with the UN rules on the matter. Isn't that so Geir?"
Geir nodded. "Which leaves the field wide open, apparently," he added. "You've seen how they are treating the people already there, haven't you?"
"And now they're going to add another layer of misery to it all?" Bjorn asked rhetorically.
"Apparently," Geir answered. "But on the up side, I'm sure that will cut down even more on how many people come to Norway begging for asylum."

36

Still waiting for the black boy to come back from the casino with his change, Bjorn finished his coffee, tossed the paper cup into a bin next to Peter's stall, and started unwrapping his cheese and ham baguette while looking around at the people coming and going through the little market place.

There were a large number of cigarette packs, stacked neatly on top of each other on the right hand side of Peter's stall,  flanked by a metal basket containing what appeared to be the latest copy of the Lundby Gazette. "Pack of 20 cigarettes = 20MG" a small sign read, taped onto the table in front of the packs. "Free news" another sign read, this one taped onto the metal basket.

"May I?" Bjorn asked, reaching for a copy of the newspaper. "They are free, right?"
"Yes they are," Peter replied while handling another customer.
"And a pack of cigarettes," Bjorn continued.
"That will be 20MG... Help yourself!"

Bjorn grabbed a newspaper and a pack of cigarettes with his free hand, put the cigarettes in his pocket, and proceeded to read the top headline, all while taking a first bite of his baguette. "Preparing for the big invasion," the newspaper read in fat types all over the top half of the flimsy paper. "What's this?" Bjorn thought, immediately curious to read on.

The article turned out to be a local angle on the fact that all the asylum centres in Norway would soon be shut down, with the asylum seekers having to choose between going to Lundby or leaving the country. And while the author assumed that most people would choose to try their luck some other place, he was nevertheless convinced that the influx of new residents to Lundby would be significant over the next couple of months. However, before Bjorn had time to read all the author's thoughts on the matter, Peter's little helper returned with Bjorn's change as promised, and Bjorn had to stuff the newspaper into his pocket, together with the cigarettes, in order to handle the change.

Geir who had been inspecting, as it were, the rest of the tiny market place while Bjorn had been hanging around Peter's stall, suddenly appeared next to him, just as he clumsily directed a small handfull of casino tokens, held in his right hand, into his left hand trouser pocket.

"Stuffing yourself with free stuff, I see," Geir said with a smile, obviously finding it amusing to see Bjorn's difficulty in handling all the things he had eagerly acquired.
"Yeah, they really are giving stuff away for free down here," Bjorn replied, also with a smile, realizing how silly he must look with a newspaper sticking out of one pocket, a baguette in his left hand, and his right hand crossing over to his left hand pocket in order to put away his change.
"Here! Let me help you with that," Geir suggested, taking the baguette out of Bjorn's hand for a moment to give him two free hands.
"Thanks," Bjorn replied, relieved to have full control of the tokens again.

Handing the baguette back to Bjorn, Geir suggested they cut over to the casino to see what the work in front of it was all about. "Yeah, let's do that!" Bjorn answered, eager to see if there was any sense in it all.

22

Bjorn leafed through the newspaper, reading the article about Nora's place, and skimming through an article about the casino. The paper was clearly a mix of local news, right out promotions of various kinds, and bits of global news, probably cut and pasted directly from the internet. But it was certainly very unexpected for a village the size of Lundby to have a newspaper, and this was the biggest new as far as Bjorn was concerned.

However, as soon as the four o'clock news came on TV with its characteristic fanfare, Bjorn put the Lundby Gazette back on the table, turning his attention instead to the  news readers. There was nothing truly new on the news this afternoon, and the predictability of the official line and editorial focus made it almost a mind numbing experience to watch it. International news was again about the Middle East and Israel's supposed provocations and meddling in the region. Economic news was all about the crisis, with politicians talking tough, promising more regulations, and central bankers arguing for continued monetary stimulus in order to stabilize the markets.

The local news from Norway was an equally predictable series of reports on lay offs, financial hardships due to rising interest rates and rising unemployment, and deteriorating health services as well as a general lack of old people's homes. And once again, there were the usual promises by politicians to sort out the troubles, but also stern faced appeals to people to be patient and positive.

Then there was the usual series of short news flashes from around the world, with sex scandals in France and the US, and a viral video, this time of a singing dog from Singapore. And finally there was about fifteen minutes of sports highlights from the day before.

Espen, John and Thomas all appeared pretty much immediately after the end of the TV news, and Frank turned the TV off as soon as they entered the room. The four men had clearly made a habit of playing cards in the afternoon, seating themselves around the table where Bjorn had met them the day before.

"Do you play Bridge?" John asked, looking over at Bjorn, out of politeness rather than any genuine desire to invite a fifth person into the group.
"No, I don't," Bjorn answered, clearly causing a bit of relief in the card playing group.
"You should. It's fun," Thomas added, as he sat down, making an effort to take the edge off the rather transparent fact that they did not really want to include him.
"I might, one day," Bjorn replied, not feeling offended in any way by the group's desire to keep things unchanged.

Ante left for the kitchen as soon as the other men entered the room to play cards, and Bjorn decided to go and join him for a while before going up to his room. He had taken an immediate liking to Ante, and he had a feeling that Ante felt the same way about him. Come to think of it, Ante did not seem to have any great liking for any of his other colleagues. Not that he gave any indication of disliking them either, but it could well be that Ante was in need of a proper friend at the check point just as much as Bjorn.

Ante was in the process of taking out some fish and vegetables from the fridge when Bjorn entered the kitchen, and Bjorn was welcomed by Ante's usual talkative friendliness. Bjorn poured himself a mug of coffee, and pretty soon the two men were busy talking about everything from current affairs, their background, their plans for Friday, and about life in general. All while Bjorn sipped his coffee and Ante prepared the dinner for the day.

21

Back in the common room, Bjorn found Ante leafing through a flimsy little newspaper in an easy chair over by the window, and Frank still sitting in front of the TV.
"So what does 500 MG stand for?" Bjorn asked as he sat down in the sofa across from Ante.
"It is short for 500 milligram," Ante replied without putting down the newspaper. "It is half a Gram."
"Half a gram of what?"
"Of gold," Ante replied, now putting down the paper. "You can get physical gold delivered in return for those chips over at the casino. They only accept round numbers, though. The smallest gold wafer is two and a half Gram, and is really tiny. And there is a fixed service charge of 100 MG for each wafer to discourage people from trading in their chips for gold."
"So if I have five of these, I can get one of their smallest gold wafers?" Bjorn asked, holding up the green chip.
"Well, it would cost you 100 MG, so strictly speaking, you would need 100 MG in addition to your two and a half Gram in order to get one of their smallest wafers."
"That´s kind of cool, though," Bjorn remarked. "But why are they doing this?"
"Beats me. Jan and Pedro just decided to do things this way, and that´s how it has been."
"Jan and Pedro?"
"Oh, you haven´t heard of Jan and Pedro, have you?"
"No."
"Well, Jan owns the casino, and most of the land out here. And Pedro is the guy who negotiated the asylum centre deal with the foreign minister. Pedro is in charge of the asylum centre. He is into all sorts of businesses, apparently, and this is his latest venture."
"Making a living off of other people´s misery?"
"Perhaps. I don´t know. How about you? Aren´t you too making a living off of this asylum centre?"
"Well... yeah... I guess I am, in a way."

Ante was right, of course, and it was silly of Bjorn to point a moralizing finger at anyone regarding the ethics of the asylum centre. He leaned back in the sofa, and put the green chip back in his pocket.

"So have you decided whether or not you´ll come with us to Lundby on Friday?" Ante asked, changing the topic to something less political.
"I´m not sure. What´s the plan?"
"I have reserved a table at Nora´s place. It´s a Philipino place. Very good food, they say. And then we´ll go over to the casino and have a few beers afterwards."
"That´s it?"
"Yeah. What did you expect?"
"Nothing really. Who´s going?"
"Me, Thomas, Espen, and Frank. There is room for one more in my car. You know. You really should come with us. It will be fun."
"So you are going too?" Bjorn asked, looking over at Frank.

Frank confirmed the fact with a short "yep", and for some reason, this was the bit of encouragement Bjorn needed in order to accept Ante´s offer.

"Okay. I´m in," Bjorn said with a smile.
"Great!"

Ante looked at Bjorn, very pleased with himself. Then he pushed the thin little newspaper he had been reading over to Bjorn, pointing to an article on the front page. "Five stars for Nora´s place," was the title, spelled out in English rather than Norwegian.

"Here, why don´t you read this? It will make your mouth water!" Ante said. But Bjorn´s eyes was on the title of the newspaper. "The Lundby Gazette."
"They got their own newspaper?" Bjorn asked puzzled. "In English?"
"Yeah. Its a free weekly thing, and it´s all in English. Most people in Lundby don´t speak Norwegian, so I guess that´s why. I picked this one up last time I was down there. You find them everywhere. Didn´t you come across this on the ferry. They have them there too. In those metal boxes, you know."
"Really?"
"The articles are mainly promotions of Lundby as a tourist destination. But it features real news too."
"And who´s behind this?"
"I don´t know. Who cares? It´s a pretty good paper, for what it is. You find them on line too, if you´re interested. I´m sure you´ll find out who runs the thing if you´re curious. I suspect it's controlled by Jan, though. He is the one with the casino, so he is the one most likely to benefit from the PR."

Bjorn picked up the flimsy paper, and started reading it, quickly noticing that the grammar was far from perfect. Someone with a fairly limited knowledge of English was behind this, and the spelling was probably only as good as it was due to automatic spell checking. But the layout and look and feel of the thing was as good as anything. It looked very professional, so it was painfully irritating that the grammar made it hard to read at times.