80

Thomas tried to conveniently forget about the balloon on his way out of Nora's place, but was prevented from leaving it behind by his colleagues who insisted on him taking it with him to the casino. And seeing no way around this, Thomas put the weight at the end of the string in the breast pocket of his shirt. He then put his jacket on, zipped it up, and stepped out in the cool evening air with the balloon hanging above his head.

The air was completely still which made the walk back to the village square quite pleasant despite the low temperature. Even Frank, in his light summer jacket seemed to be doing all right in the cold.

Another family from Kirkenes, by the look of it, came walking up the other way, and the mother in the group asked if they were returning from Nora's place.

"Yes, we are!" Ante answered, delighted to help.
"So there will be a table ready for us when we get there?" the mother continued.
"I guess they are preparing the table as we speak!"
"Oh, that's good to hear. You see we are a little early."

Ante checked his watch. "Yeah, I see... We finished our seating early... I guess we could have hung around for another fifteen minutes."
"And it's right over there, right?" The woman asked, pointing to Nora's place.
"Yes! That's it... Enjoy the food! It´s fantastic."
"Yes, we will!" the woman answered before thanking the men and leading her group onwards to the restaurant.

The small talk put a smile on Ante's face, perking him up even more. "I love helping people out," Ante commented as he too was aware of his positive reaction to the woman's simple questions. And his colleagues nodded in agreement.

"There's something wonderful about being nice," Bjorn agreed. "I think that's pretty universal."
"And yet there's no end to the wars and riots, it seems," Thomas continued without dismissing Bjorn's thesis.

But before they had any time to continue their philosophical musings, they were again asked to help. This time by a man in a casual grey uniform, with the logo of Lance Security displayed both on his jacket and on his military style hat.

"Have you seen anyone loitering around here?" the man asked in broken English.
"No!" Ante answered, again quick to be of help. "Only a family heading for Nora's place."
"No teenagers?"
"Among the family members?"
"No. On their own?" the man corrected, looking anxiously in the direction of Nora's place.

The man did not wait for an answer, as he seemed to have caught sight of something, and left the men wondering what was going on as he started running towards the restaurant. Not being in a hurry, the men watched the security officer disappear around a corner, only to reappear a little later right behind the family at Nora's doorstep.

Nothing much happened after this, and the men resumed their walk towards the casino. The last they saw of the security officer was him first talking to Aung, and then remaining on the porch before drifting into the garden, disappearing behind the house, clearly still looking for the teenagers he was looking for.

"I thought they did not have any police in the village," Espen commented on the episode as they neared the village square.
"Well, that guy was working for Pedro," Bjorn replied, happy to show off some knowledge on the subject.
"Really?" Frank asked.
"Lance Security," Bjorn continued. "It's Pedro's insurance company."
"Insurance company?" Espen asked. "But that was a police officer of sorts, not an insurance sales man."
"Sure," Bjorn answered. "But there are no police in Lundby, so I guess the insurance companies have to pay for their policing themselves."

The men went silent on this latest comment until Thomas nodded in agreement. "That does make sense," he concluded, with his colleagues joining in with nods and grunts of their own.

The village square was as busy as always, and paraffin lamps, hung from the roofs of the stands, lit it all up in a pleasant warm glow. And some of the store fronts at the far end of the square were also open, with a few people window shopping in the cool arctic night. There was a kiosk selling all sorts of stuff, including PC's, mobile phones and other electronic equipment, a drycleaner, and a fashion store, all of which had escaped Bjorn's attention on his first trip to Lundby.

Pingo was still open across the square from the casino, and so was the petrol station, both still doing good business, although less so than when the men arrived earlier in the evening. And the men laying down the final bit of side walk in front of the casino were finishing up their work at the far end of the big building that used to be the local administration office for public services, according to Ante who pointed out the irony of a public building being turned into something as un-Norwegian as a house of sins.

"Everything goes in there," Ante said with a smile. "Except smoking your cigarettes."

Ante pointed to the familiar circular signs with a line crossing out a lit cigarette, posted on either side of the entrance and on every door going into the casino. And it was clear that people followed the rule, as there were plenty of smokers standing outside with their cigarettes in hand, huddling around paraffin heaters set out for comfort. But just as Bjorn was about to make a comment on this, they were all approached by two scanty clad black girls commenting on Thomas' balloon. "Hey birthday boy!" they said with mischievous glee. "Are you ready for a party?"

79

Aung put a small chocolate cake in the middle of the table while the men were digging into their baked bananas and drinking their liquor and coffee to go with it. The cake had a single candle at its centre which Aung lit with a lighter before leaving the men alone with their deserts. But as soon as they had all finished their treats she returned, asking them if they would like to sing the birthday song for Thomas.

"Of course we do," Frank replied on behalf of them all, and immediately started waving his hands in the air as if to direct a choir. The men started singing, and the other guests in the room also turned their attention to Thomas, some of them joining into the short little song. And as soon as the song was over Thomas leant over towards the cake to blow out the candle.

Everybody applauded as the candle was extinguished, and Thomas got the task of cutting the cake into five equal pieces. An endeavour he managed to the satisfaction of his colleagues. They all got a piece of chocolate cake dished out on clean plates provided by Aung, who swiftly collected their used desert dishes, stacking them expertly up in her hand before disappearing back into the kitchen.

A little later, when the chocolate cake was consumed and the men all sat leaning back in their chairs, finishing their coffee, Aung reappeared, this time with the bill and five mint chocolates.

"Anyone want more coffee to go with that?" she asked as she put the tray with the bill and the mint chocolates on the table.

Frank, Thomas and Ante all accepted her offer with thanks, and while Aung went back to the kitchen with their plates, Ante grabbed the bill to see what it had all added up to.

"Almost exactly one thousand five hundred MG," Ante announced. "That's three hundred from each of us."
"That's all?" Espen asked, genuinely surprised.
"That's all!" Ante confirmed. "You are not being ripped off for a change, huh?"
"No, I guess not... But that casino lady... I don't know..."
"You know?" Frank said, leaning towards Espen as if sharing a secret. "Why don't you stop that whining? I mean... Things are dirt cheap down here... And nobody is forcing you to go here."
"It's not like this is your first time to Lundby either," Ante added. "So why are you so surprised? The tokens were a bit more expensive than you expected, but things are as cheap as ever."
"Okay, okay!" Espen protested. "I'm happy about this... I am!"

"So who has exactly three hundred in change?" Ante continued, focusing again on the bill. "My smallest token is five hundred."
"I got three hundred," Bjorn answered, tossing a two hundred and a one hundred MG token into the little dish where the bill and chocolate mints had been.
"Me too," Thomas added, tossing three one hundred tokens into the tray.

The three other men each put a five hundred MG token in the tray, removing two hundred of the change left there by Thomas and Bjorn, and pretty soon the dish contained exactly three five hundred MG tokens.

"It's a fortune for many people living here in Lundby," Bjorn commented to his colleagues just before Aung once again appeared by the table.

"You can keep the change," Ante told Aung generously as she picked up the tokens.
"Thank you," she replied with a smile. Then she pulled out a small handheld device, the size of a credit card, checking each token before dropping them into a pouch in her apron.

"Just checking for counterfeits," she explained, sensing the curiosity of the men at the table. "I haven't actually ever come across any counterfeits, but with this kind of money it is always good to know for sure."

Aung put the device back in the pocket of her apron, and thanked the men again for their generosity before going over to a neighbouring table.

"What sort of tip are we giving her?" Bjorn asked as Aung headed for the kitchen again.
"Twenty MG," Ante answered shamefully.
"But that's nothing!"
"To you maybe," Espen answered on Ante's behalf.
"Come on!" Bjorn replied, finding a twenty MG token among his remaining change and putting it on the table. "Anyone else have some spare change to give the girl for her excellent service?"

Thomas and Espen each had a ten MG token of spare change, but apart from that they were simply all out of small tokens, so there was noting they could do, short of asking Aung to break a bigger token just to get some smaller change. And finding that just as awkward as leaving a relatively small tip on the table, they ended up leaving the restaurant with just a modest sixty MG in total tip for the young woman who had taken such good care of them.

78

All the tables in Nora's restaurant were occupied, and the men agreed that it was a shame that she did not have a larger place so that she could serve more people. "She should expand her business at the earliest opportunity," Ante said, echoing the sentiment of his colleagues. And everyone nodded in agreement. The food was fantastic and plentiful, and it was tempting to stuff oneself to the point of it becoming painful. However, as the main course drew to an end, Aung asked if everyone were ready for desert and coffee, and this stopped Bjorn from scraping the serving dishes spread out over the table, and appeared to have the same effect on both Thomas and Espen who leant back in their chairs as if to contemplate the offer.

"That sounds great!" Frank replied. "What's for desert?"
"Deep fried banana with ice cream," Aung answered with a smile. "And a birthday cake for the birthday boy."
"In addition to the banana, I hope?" Thomas asked, looking concerned.
"Of course!"

Ante looked at his colleagues, to see if everyone were finished with the main course. "So, are we finished?" he asked, just to make sure, and everybody nodded with a "yeah, sure, it was delicious."

Aung immediately sat about clearing the table while the men leant back to give her easy access to their plates and glasses. Bjorn looked around in the restaurant to see if everyone else were as pleased with the place as him, and there was no doubt about it being a success with everybody.

Three foreigners were sitting at a table by the far wall, talking just loud enough for Bjorn to identify them as Italians. A table in the middle of the room had what looked like a family party of locals from Kirkenes, with parents, a grand mother and three teenage children. And two strong looking men, also Norwegians, were sitting at a table for two by the near wall.

Everybody were enjoying themselves. Even the teenagers looked pleased and not at all bored by their company, and when Aung started coming in with the deep fried bananas for Bjorn and his colleagues they perked up even more, clearly eager to try some themselves.

The men got a cup of coffee and a small glass of banana liquor to go with their treat. And before anyone could stop him, Ante had swallowed his liquor. "Man! That's good!" he exclaimed shamelessly as his colleagues looked with some concern at their designated driver.

"You better stop drinking now!" Thomas protested. "We've all been drinking. Who's going to get us back to the checkpoint?"
"Come on!" Ante retorted. "I have the whole night to burn off this alcohol. Two beers and a bit of schnapps isn't going to make any difference in a few hours time."
"So you're going to quit drinking now?" Thomas asked.
"Yes of course. Stop being so worried!"

77

The men were seated at a table by the window which gave them a great view of the water separating Nora's place from Ane's factory. And Bjorn, sitting right by the window, facing North, also had a wide view of the alpine mountains at the far side of the Lundby bay. The bright red glow behind the mountains signalled the end of the day, and the rising moon, coming up behind the church, would soon be the only source of natural light for the village.

Turning his head to look south, Bjorn noticed that very little of the village could be seen. The knoll with the parked cars obscured the view completely, so the only other buildings visible from where he sat, was a couple of wooden houses next to the church, and another house behind the factory.

But Bjorn had little time to contemplate the view. Aung handed out the menu to everyone, and engaged them all in small talk. When Ante told her that they were celebrating Thomas' birthday, she lit up and told Thomas that he would get an extra treat on the house.

"We also have balloons," she added with a smile. "Would you like one?"
"Uh... No thanks..." Thomas answered embarrassed.

But everybody around the table protested and insisted that he accept the balloon, and it ended up with Thomas getting a silvery and blue helium balloon when Aung returned with drinks to everybody. It had "Birthday Boy" written in large gold letters, and it had a small weight attached to the end of its string.

"Just in case you should accidentally loose hold of it later tonight," Aung explained. "The weight will prevent it from flying away... Are you ready to order?"

There were not a lot of choice on the menu, which made it easy to decide on the set menu with a bit of everything. Nora's concept was clearly to stick to a few dishes and do them well rather than to provide a lot of variety and risk doing them poorly, and possibly being stuck with a lot of unused ingredients.

Very soon after placing their order, food appeared on the table, and the men dug into the goodies with eagerness. The review in the Gazette had certainly not been unjust. The food was great and the service friendly and homely, with hardly any waiting for anything. As soon as Bjorn had emptied his glass of beer, he was offered a new one, and the food appeared in such a steady stream that there was no waiting at all.

Ante took a small exception to his no alcohol policy for the night, finding the prospect of trying some authentic Philippine beer irresistible. He had one at the start of the meal, arguing with his colleagues that the alcohol would be worked out of his system by the end of the night, so there was no reason why he shouldn't embrace this unique opportunity to try something new. And when he had his second beer towards the end of the meal he simply said that it was too good to resist, and that the night was still young.

"As long as you stop drinking after this," Thomas insisted. "But don't go all drunk on us again. You're our designated driver, remember?"
"Sure!" Ante answered with a confident smile. "It's not like I don't know when to stop."
"Really?" Frank asked. "It did not look that way last time we were out."
"Hey, give me a break! That was a one off. I'm not like that normally... Have you ever seen me drunk up at the checkpoint?"
"No, but I have seen you pretty hopelessly drunk down here," Espen answered on Frank's behalf.

76

Bjorn too felt let down by the higher than expected price for the tokens, and ended up buying just 500 MG instead of one G which was his original thought. However, he found Espen's reaction ridiculous. Considering all the things they could buy for the tokens, they were still cheap, all be it less so than the gold price had led them to believe. And the lady behind the counter was right. It was not like they were asking for gold. They were asking for tokens, and the tokens were naturally priced according to what people were willing to pay for them.

But Espen kept going on about how they had all been scammed, and did not calm down before all his colleagues started ignoring him, focusing instead on the changes that had taken place during the week since their last visit. "Even the sun is different today," Thomas remarked as they walked in the direction of the bright red sunset. "It was dark by now last weekend."

"And in a month from now there will be no sunset at all," Ante added with a smile. "I love the midnight sun."
"Never experienced it," Bjorn remarked, glad to have something trivial to talk about.
"It's like the long summer evenings down in Oslo, only better!" Ante continued, still smiling.

The men stopped at the street corner next to the knoll with the parked cars, not so much to look out for traffic, of which there was very little, as for reading a sign on the other side, advertising the opening of a bowling alley in an old warehouse behind the casino.

"Anyone for bowling?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, we should do that one day," Ante answered. "But we're already a little late for our dinner at Nora's place."
"Maybe after dinner?" Thomas suggested.
"No! After dinner is casino time." Frank said resolutely. "We'll just have to note bowling down on our to do list."

The men looked at Frank, finding his resolute intervention amusing.

"And what about Thomas? Shouldn't this be up to him? It is his birthday after all?" Ante asked.
"Never mind," Thomas said, not waiting for an answer from Frank. "I'm fine. We can go to the casino as planned... It's not like I'm a die hard bowling enthusiast or anything."

They all continued down the shore line towards Nora's place which was situated directly across the water from Ane's fish processing plant. The little white church above and to the right of the factory was also clearly visible, flood lighted and literally shining as a pearl against the huge rock behind it.

It was a muddy gravel road they were walking down, full of potholes and with a soft shoulder that at places had slid out and disappeared into the water. However, it was not like the road was completely unfit for driving. In places, it was even wide enough for two cars to pass. And being a road only meant for access to a handful of houses, it was no doubt good enough.

Nora's place turned out to be the third house down the road, and was marked with a square box at the edge of the road, functioning both as a sign and as a lamp. It read "Nora's Place" in large friendly letters painted on the translucent surface of the illuminated box.

The restaurant was, as it turned out, simply the living room of a private house, converted into an open dining area with several tables. The house was, as the church across the water, flanked by a rock, all be it a much smaller one than the one by the church. Still, the boulder was as large as the house itself, and shielded it perfectly from any winds coming from the north.

But none of this came as any big surprise to Bjorn. He was getting used to things being ad hoc and improvised in Lundby, and there was nothing uncomfortable about walking into the private sphere of Nora's house. The front door was set with a large glass pane, with an "open" sign clearly visible. And a little desk with a book containing the appointments for the evening was visible through the window in the door.

Stepping into the hallway a bell signalled their entrance, and almost immediately a young Asian woman appeared, ready to help the men find their table. There was something familiar about her, but Bjorn did not immediately recognize her. Only after hearing her speak a few more words as she lead the men to their table by the window, did he suddenly, in a flash, make the connection. The woman was the same one who had welcomed Geir and him over at Ane's factory a few days earlier, and full of curiosity he immediately asked if she happened to be Nora.

"No, no..." she answered with a smile as the men sat down at their table. "I'm Aung. I help Nora out in the evenings."
"So you are still working for Ane?" Bjorn asked, still curious.
"Oh yeah. That's my day job," she answered. Then, taking another look at Bjorn, she blurted out "ah... I see, you are the one we had over the other day."
"Yeah," Bjorn answered with a smile.
She giggled. "Please excuse me... You really all look the same to me."

And with this the men burst out laughing, and the mood was set for a relaxing dinner.

75

There had been quite a lot of progress made at the building site at the top of the long straight road going down to the village square, and Bjorn, fascinated by the ambitious project, leant forward to take it all in. The concrete walls at the base of the building were in place, and the beginning of a stairwell and two elevator shafts could also be seen together with numerous columns.

Bjorn was about to wonder out loud about the insanity of building anything this large in a small arctic village when Ante made a remark about the road instead. "They really did do a good job of filling in those potholes," he said as he drove the car slowly down towards the village square. And shortly afterwards he commented happily on the activity down at the village square. "Well, things have clearly been happening while I've been away!" he said. "Just look at all those stalls!"

And even over the two days since Bjorn last was in Lundby, the village square had seen noticeable changes. There were more stalls, and all but a few of them were now under improvised roofs. It was now looking more like a real market, and business was as brisk as ever.

"Look at all those people!" Ante blurted out enthusiastically as they entered the road circling the square. "Are there anyone left in Kirkenes? It sure looks like everyone decided to come here for the night."
"Well, there were some people coming all the way from Alta this morning, up at the check point," Bjorn added, confirming Ante's impression that people were coming from far and wide to visit the village. "That's quite encouraging, don't you think?"
"Sure is!"

Cars were lining up for cheap petrol over at the petrol station, and Pingo was evidently doing well too, with people coming out with cartloads of stuff. Not everyone were in Lundby for a night out. Some were clearly heading back home now that the sun was setting.

There were a lot of cars parked over at the knoll down by the water, but there was no shortage of empty parking space to choose from, so Ante had no trouble finding a place for his car. And as soon as he stopped his car, everyone stepped out of it to stretch their legs, eager to get started on their adventure.

The very first thing they needed to do was to buy some local currency over at the casino, since everyone but Bjorn seemed to be short on Gram tokens. So they all headed across the square, skirting the market in order to get to the casino as quickly as possible.

"It makes no sense," Espen complained as they strolled along. "Why do they insist on using those tokens instead of real money? It only complicates things."
"It's to make it all the more difficult for the locals to escape this place," Thomas explained. "The tokens are not legal tender. They cannot be used outside the village, so if someone manages to escape, they will still be stuck since they will have no money to pay their way to Oslo."
"Is that so?" Frank asked, apparently new to this fact.
"The foreign minister said something to that effect the other day, on TV," Bjorn added helpfully, finding Thomas' explanation reasonable and logical, at least on the face of it.

The men walked in silence for a bit until they reached the casino with its new sidewalk being completed. The north corner was still being worked on, but the rest was fully in place, and it looked great. Ante was again enthusiastic about the changes, and was almost besides himself of praise for the fancy bit of artistry that had been accomplished since his last visit. But there was no time to dwell on this as they were all eager to get their tokens to start the evening.

The casino was nothing more than a large space divided into various sections, where the area close to the entrance was reserved for money exchange. There was a staircase going up to the next floor across from these counters, and beyond that there was a bar and a small stage, and off to the right, a section dedicated to gambling. There were hardly anyone in the bar, and only a few people by the slot machines, so the main activity in the casino was at the moment the exchange of real money for tokens.

Bjorn knew from experience, and from being told so by Ante, that many people would not accept any kind of real money, credit cards or electronic payments in the village, making it essential to have cash in the form of Gram tokens even for people like Ante who had earlier acquired a card for himself, as well as a card for paying for produces in Pingo. And when Bjorn's four colleagues lined up to get some tokens, Bjorn figured he'd buy some for himself too, just in case. Bjorn felt confident that he would come back to the village in the future too, so a few extra tokens would not go to waste. "Better to have a few tokens too many than too few," he thought to himself as he lined up behind Espen.

Thomas and Ante lined up at a counter to Bjorn's left, and Frank stepped up to a counter to Bjorn's right, marked clearly with a sign saying "Gold Members Only". Bjorn's immediate thought about this was that Frank must have overlooked the sign, but that was evidently not the case. Frank presented a gold card and was promptly given a small stacks of tokens in return.

Ante on his side, presenting a plain green card to the cashier was informed that he could better use one of the automatic teller machines over by the staircase, unless he had special banking needs he wanted to take care of as well. And realizing that the man in front of him was filling in a form to get a bank card, Espen too headed over to the ATM machines, followed by Bjorn and Thomas.

The ATM machines accepted various types of credit cards as well as real money and the local bank card that Ante was carrying, so there was no need to waste the cashier's time. However, Espen got very upset when he discovered that the exchange rate had actually gone up by a bit since last time he bought Gram tokens, despite the fact that the gold price had cratered a full twenty percent over the last week.

"What the hell is this?" Espen asked rhetorically. "They are ripping us off!" And with this he walked over to the cashier at one of the counters to demand an explanation.

"Well, that is the exchange rate we are offering," the lady behind the counter said blandly. "If you think it too much, feel free to find someone willing to part with their tokens for less."
"But that's absurd!" Espen insisted. "You're the only one selling these things."
"Exactly," the lady retorted, unimpressed by Espen's argument. "That's because no one except us are willing to part with these tokens at lower prices."
"But the gold price is down twenty percent," Espen protested.
"But this is not gold... These are tokens backed by gold... If you are interested in gold, we can arrange for that too. At the current spot price, you can get gold delivered in six months from now. However, if you want your gold now, you will have to pay the current Gram price, plus our service charge."

74

They were all in excellent spirits as they stepped out into the cool crispness of the arctic evening. The sun was setting, giving everything around them a warm glow that no doubt further lightened their mood. John too stepped out for a bit of fresh air, even though he was going to stay at the check point to take the night shift after Geir. However, he too seemed festive in his own way, probably taking enjoyment from seeing his colleagues all being so up beat and eager for a night out.

Ante opened the doors of his red sedan by a click of a button on his key, and everybody but John crammed into it, making themselves as comfortable as they could. It being Thomas' birthday, he had the pleasure of taking the seat next to Ante, while Espen had to take the middle seat in the back, being the smallest of the three going in there.

Bjorn, sitting behind Thomas, was suddenly struck by curiosity regarding the cars at the check point, and asked Ante about this as soon as the car started rolling.

"So why are we always using your car?" Bjorn asked leaning a bit in Ante´s direction. "This is your car, right?"
"Yep! This is my car," Ante confirmed. "But it doubles as our shared military vehicle."
"Really?"
"It´s all part of the cuts in the military budget," Frank added helpfully. "They pay Ante a monthly lease instead of giving us one of their own cars. Saves them money, they figure."
"And gives me a bit of extra money to spend," Ante concluded with a smile.

Bjorn leaned back in his seat, pleased with the explanation, and further impressed by Ante's ability to make the most of every opportunity.

"But you managed to convince the guys in Oslo to set up a fence for us anyway," Bjorn asked casually of Frank. "I'm sure that's not going to be cheap."
"Ah! But I'm a master negotiator," Frank answered with a smile. "They are putty in my hands!"

Everybody laughed, and then there was a bit of silence before Espen set the conversation going again.

"Is that your gun?" he asked Frank.
"It sure is!"
"You brought your gun?" Thomas asked, visibly shocked and concerned. Turning in Frank's direction he added "why the hell did you do that?"
"You know what they say," Frank answered with a smug smile, while patting the side of his chest where the contours of his gun could be seen under his thin summer jacket. "When in Rome, do as the Romans."
"Well, we are not going to Rome," Thomas noted dryly.
"But we are going to Lundby. And they are all a bunch of gangsters down there, aren't they?"
"Which suits you perfectly it seems," Thomas added, still dismayed by Frank's decision.

There was again silence among the colleagues. But this time it did not take long before Espen broke it with another question.

"I thought it was against the rules to take arms into the village," he asked.
"Not anymore," Frank answered with a triumphant smile. "In fact, we are from now on always going to carry guns with us when in uniform, and this includes times spent on duty in the village. And there are no restrictions regarding guns when going down there as civilians, as we do now."

There was again a bit of silence, this time to let the news sink in. Then, Bjorn asked when Frank had put on the gun, since he did not see Frank wearing it while in the living room.

"I made a snap decision to put it on when I went up to get my jacket," Frank replied helpfully. "I couldn't resist it, actually. And I figure we might as well start broadcasting the message right away, that we're not going to take any abuse from anyone laying down."