Chapter 4 (Lítið Fólk)

Marel is invited to a free dinner. This chapter is rather short

22 September 1990. Annette and I had been invited to have dinner with our old friend Gréta so she could introduce us to her new boyfriend. I wasn’t too enthusiastic to go, but I wouldn’t let Annette go by herself; no one feels comfortable being alone with a young couple. My brothers were staying with her parents - her father didn’t mind one night with them. I was pleasantly surprised and extremely grateful when Annette told me her parents had offered. I made sure to remember it.

Gréta’s house was very warm compared to outside; I felt my bare hands and arms begin to thaw the second I stepped over the threshold. She led Annette and I through the house toward the back, where there was a nice dining table, set up with candles and flowers of autumn colors. The smell of salmon and jasmine rice filled the air, and my stomach ached at the thought of eating a full meal. It had been a long day, with only 200 kr to show. Now that I had bought Stefan’s jacket, I could start worrying about food again. I had decided it was best to wait on Magnus’ shoes - they weren’t in the worst shape they could be. In fact, mine were far worse. Aside from me, he was the oldest - and I figured I shouldn’t have had to worry about him as much as I did.

All thoughts of stress and worry left my mind when Gréta set a plate before me. The salmon and the rice were prepared beautifully, and steam was filling the room. I wanted to start eating as soon as I saw it, but I waited. Gréta’s new boyfriend was already ten minutes late.

“He should be here any second now,” she said, sitting down at the head of the table. “You two can go ahead and start eating…”

I wasn’t going to argue - someone tells me to eat and I eat. But before I had a chance to, Annette put her hand over mine and gave me a warning look. She then looked up and smiled at Gréta. “We’ll wait. It’s no problem.”

The girls began conversing about their days, while I sat between them with a scowl on my face. It was a little bit of an over-exaggeration, but at the time I felt perfectly reasonable in my reaction. How could anyone deny a poor, hungry boy a hot plate of food?

We ended up sitting there, waiting, for fifteen more minutes, until our food eventually got cold. Gréta had just gotten up to heat them up in the microwave when there was a knock at the door.

“Marel!” she yelled from the kitchen. “Will you please get the door?”

I stood up without complaint and went to open the door for the young man who had already made an awful impression on me. Gréta and I didn’t spend all that much time together, but I still felt very protective of her. I was a month older, after all.

When I opened the door, Gréta’s boyfriend didn’t bother to greet me or thank me - he only looked me up and down for a quick second and bolted past me and into the kitchen to, hopefully, apologize to his girlfriend. I dejectedly closed the door and went back to my seat.

I think Annette could see that I was annoyed - she raised her eyebrows at me and I just shook my head. The two lovebirds finally came back to the table after a few minutes of whispering and laughing in the kitchen while dinner heated up. Finally, I was allowed to eat.

I was interrupted once more when Gréta tapped her knife against her glass. We all looked up at her and waited for her to speak.

“My dearest, closest friends,” she said with a small smile. I prayed that this would be over soon, as much as I loved her. “I’ll make this brief - this is Reinar Konráðursson. We met last week…” I stopped listening. I cared deeply about Gréta and her feelings and her affairs, but I was so unbelievably uninterested that I couldn’t possibly force myself to pay attention. Eventually it was over, and I don’t think anyone noticed I had zoned out.

Gréta sat down and I looked across the table at Reinar. His nose was turned up to the sky and his eyes were closed. He seemed to be mumbling a little prayer. I looked away quickly and began eating.

Author's Note

Any way to beef up this chapter/make it less strained? Let me know! I don't particularly mind it being shorter than the others.