We'll Call You Read online

  We’ll Call You

  Published by Nordisk Books, 2020

  www.nordiskbooks.com

  Jacob Sundberg, 2018.

  Copyright © Bokförlaget Atlas. All rights reserved.

  This English translation copyright

  © Duncan J. Lewis, 2020.

  Cover artwork © Simon Ackeby

  Cover design © Nordisk Books

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd,

  Elcograf S.p.A.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 9781838074203

  eBook ISBN 9781838074227

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Contents

  An Exotic Touch

  A Sense of Style

  Head and Heart

  Close to City Centre

  That’s Just So Me

  The Soulless

  Bigger than Dylan

  Slow Cooker Saturdays

  Infectious like Ebola

  An exotic touch

  Alfred Hansson was waiting for the next candidate, he’d step through the door and into his office any minute now. Hansson was trying different positions to look relaxed for when the door would open. It was important to look relaxed this time, very relaxed. He would not display a shred of astonishment, or scepticism, or fear. He tried to lean back with one arm hanging down his side, the other arm leisurely clicking the mouse. Rolled up the sleeves of his light-blue shirt. Then he tried a more formal posture, fixed his eyes on the screen as if focusing hard, doing a complex calculation or reading something enigmatic. When the man would enter, Hansson was going to slowly raise a friendly finger, still with his eyes on the screen, as if to communicate ‘give me a second, I’m just going to finish this first.’ Then he’d look up and offer a smile, get up, perhaps look discreetly at his watch as well, as if silently saying ‘is it already time?’ It was a matter of showing that time flies when you’re having fun – and you sure did have fun at Ice Consulting. But the main reason for Hansson wanting to look relaxed and utterly untroubled when the man walked in, was that he to all appearances was a foreigner. He had an exotic name: Said Ansari. If there was anything Hansson wished for, it was that these poor refugees would also feel welcome, treated the same way as everyone else. To be unruffled in this situation was, in other words, absolutely necessary.

  Said could of course be a good kid in spite of his origins, thought Hansson. He was after all very careful to treat everyone equally, even foreigners, yes, especially foreigners, something he often pointed out. I barely see that they’re different from us, that they’re dark and swarthy, he used to say. He didn’t think about such things, for he saw the person inside. He was a really good man, that’s what everyone thought. Every month a hundred kronor were transferred from his account to a charity organisation. That’s the least I can do, he said if the topic came up, which it did now and then. And if it didn’t come up, he himself could make sure it did, because shouldn’t more people sacrifice their wealth for the survival of others? He felt so grateful for all he had, that now he wanted to give a little back. That was something that everyone should do, each according to their ability of course, not everyone could set the bar as high as he did. Who knows, maybe Said had benefited from a share of his money in a refugee camp somewhere? Hansson smiled compassionately when he thought about how it would now all come full circle, Said would get a chance to stand on his own two feet, to start working and make his own money. He wished that for everyone, also foreigners. But it wasn’t self-evident that Said would get the job, since the competition was hard. Although an exotic touch wouldn’t hurt.

  But then there was the religion thing. Said Ansari, it did sound rather religious. Hansson had nothing against that, if people would treat it as a private matter. There wasn’t much to do about the fact that Arabs and Africans were religious, you had to accept that, they hadn’t had the same possibilities of education, and they were a bit more driven by emotion. But if there was anything that provoked him, it was when ordinary people, Swedes, were believers. That people, despite schooling, even university in some cases, in a modern society could practice such things, was baffling. History had progressed, taken us to the moon, given us insight into the reality in which we live. In the past, people thought that supernatural beings governed the weather, now we had science. It made sense thousands of years ago to believe that the dead were resurrected and that people walked on water, but scientists had now disproven all that. And still, still there were people – blond, Swedish people – who clung onto these fairy tales. They were reactionaries, they wanted to go back to the old days. What Hansson meant by the old days he wasn’t sure of himself, but it was clear to him that it was a time of ignorance, intolerance, superstition and, yes, religion. But if Said brought his religion to Sweden, you sort of had to tolerate it to some degree, because down there they didn’t know better. He would treat him exactly the same regardless. Also, a number of years in Sweden would scrape away most of the delusions. Patience, integration was all about patience, to give them a chance to be like us.

  A young man walked through the door, they shook hands. He was handsome, Hansson could see that - not that he was gay, no, he really wasn’t, absolutely not, but he could see that this Said definitely had not had to work hard to get attention from women. In his own circle that is, among his own people.

  ‘Welcome,’ Hansson said and pointed to the chair opposite his own.

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Did you take the car here?’ Hansson said, gripping an imaginary steering wheel in the air.

  ‘No, I walked. I live just ten minutes from here,’ said Said.

  ‘Oh. Great that, not having to look for parking. And not getting stuck in rush hour. You know, rush hour.’ Hansson spoke clearly, slowly and rather loudly.

  ‘True. I have a driving license, but I haven’t bothered with a car, it’s mostly a liability here in Stockholm.’

  ‘It can be, it can be,’ said Hansson pensively. ‘We are rebuilding the place, hope it doesn’t deter you. It’s going to be great when it’s done.’

  Said nodded.

  ‘Let’s see... Said was it, yes?’ said Hansson and looked down on his paper. ‘And you are twenty-nine years old. What are you doing right now?’

  ‘I have a communications position at Värmdö Municipality. A lot of internal communication, intranet, various types of brochures, all kinds of things. Some press queries come up too.’

  He spoke good Swedish, Hansson had to admit. A lot of people who come here are willing to make an effort after all, he thought.

  ‘It’s a little different in a private company,’ Hansson said, ‘but you have some valuable experience. As you saw in our advert, we want someone to develop our brand. To find out what it is that makes us unique.’

  ‘The USP,’ said Said.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘The USP. Finding the USP, so to speak.’

  Hansson smiled unconfidently. ‘Yes, well. Definitely.’

  This was going to be a challenge, that much he realised. He wasn’t averse to suburban slang, he would jokingly throw in the occasional ‘habibi’ himself, but this was an employment interview and under such circumstances they should keep their mother tongue to themselves. “USP,” now that was a word with an unmistakable odour of Rinkeby. But he couldn’t help feeling a slight empathy for the young man. Imagine the journey he’d made, what he’d gone through. Hansson himself k
new what it was like to be new in a country, having to adjust to new customs and hobble along in a strange language. Three months as a language student at the Goethe-Institut in Munich as a twenty-year-old had made him humble. They weren’t that different after all, Said and he, both had their history of alienation and challenges. New culture, new food, new everything. He was hoping that Said had someone to share his life with, someone who could talk to him in his own language or, for that matter, someone who could be a gateway into society.

  ‘Do you have a family?’

  ‘Yes. Wife, two kids.’

  Hansson smiled. It felt good to hear. Perhaps Said didn’t have to feel lonely after all. When he would come home in the afternoons, when he’d fought his way through culture clashes and misunderstandings, perhaps endured racist comments – oh, how Hansson hated racists – then a woman and two children waited for him back home, giving him comfort and joy.

  ‘What does your wife do?’

  ‘She’s at home with the children right now. Otherwise...’

  ‘I see, I see’, Hansson replied before Said had the chance to finish. Said didn’t have to make excuses for his wife being a stay-at-home mum. Words weren’t necessary. Cultures were different. Besides, that’s how it was here as well in the fifties. They’d catch up on Swedish society, eventually. If not in this generation, then in the next.

  ‘Otherwise, she’s a psychologist,’ said Said. ‘She’s just finished her training, actually.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Hansson, more surprised than interested. ‘So she’s...’ He went silent. In other words, Said had found a Swedish wife, he thought, that’s a good sign. He changed the subject.

  ‘At the moment we’re working very intently on developing a set of core values. It’s the very foundation of our branding. We want it to permeate our entire business. It’s one thing when you’re ten employees, when everyone knows each other well and it’s ingrained in the company. But now we’re approaching a hundred and so we need to pinpoint what we stand for together. Your role would be to coordinate that project and then to communicate it externally.’

  ‘Interesting. What are your key concepts?’

  ‘That’s sort of where you come in. We’ve got a direction, but we need to encapsulate it in a few clear points. Social responsibility is a given, of course. And responsiveness.’

  ‘Good,’ said Said.

  ‘Do you think so?’

  ‘Yes. Then of course they need to be rooted in something more than words.’

  ‘Naturally, naturally.’

  Hansson observed Said, the symmetrical face, the perfect teeth, the shirt. He could become a great representative for Ice Consulting. It would also be apt to have someone younger, and someone who could mirror the new Sweden. It was astonishing really, that there was such diversity in this country. People of all kinds of languages and cultures. He’d had a colleague once who was from Bosnia. Her name was Zlatka. There was truly nothing wrong with her. You hardly noticed she wasn’t Swedish. ‘Are you comfortable with English?’ said Hansson. ‘We work a lot with foreign clients.’

  ‘Yes, I’d probably say I am. But perhaps not to the extent of writing long texts.’

  ‘We have translators for that, no problem. But you speak English then, that’s good.’

  Hansson looked around and let his gaze rest on a tree outside the window. ‘Do you speak any other languages?’ he asked in passing, still fixing his eye on the tree, as if emphasising that the question wasn’t premeditated, just something that popped up in the moment, and that he didn’t attach any importance to.

  ‘I speak Arabic as well.’

  Hansson put his hands to his mouth.

  ‘Wow! Arabic?’ He let out a surprised smile. ‘So cool! It must be hard. Where did you learn that?’

  This was one of Hansson’s great strengths, his total lack of prejudice – he hadn’t noticed that the aspiring marketing coordinator could be of foreign descent. Everyone was innocent until proven guilty, so to speak.

  ‘My parents are from Lebanon.’

  Hansson looked at Said in amazement. ‘You don’t say?’

  He rocked his head pensively, back and forth. ‘I would never have guessed,’ he said quietly.

  Said laughed. ‘Where did you think I was from then?’

  Hansson raised his palms and pouted with his lower lip. ‘Uppsala?’

  ‘Yes, that’s true as well. But I don’t really look typically Swedish. And my name...’ he said, and finished the sentence soundlessly, with a look clearly seeking confirmation.

  ‘Perhaps now that you mention it... but on the other hand I don’t know what a typical Swede looks like. We’re all different. Lebanon, you say. How about that! Do you like it here, in our country?’

  He was speaking slowly and clearly again and pointed his finger to the floor when he said, ‘our country.’

  ‘I was born here. But I do like it,’ Said laughed.

  Hansson laughed too, forcedly. They were silent for a while.

  ‘It may be worth pointing out, speaking of core values...’ Hansson started, and became more serious.

  Said nodded.

  ‘...that in this place we work very, how should I put it. We are on equal terms. Men and women together. No separation.’ He studied Said’s reaction carefully. ‘Do you understand what I mean?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘It means that women aren’t subordinate to men.’

  ‘Of course, of course.’

  ‘So, men aren’t supposed to call the shots just because they are men.’

  ‘No, clearly not.’

  ‘Women have exactly the same opportunities. And we are very careful with salaries. Same job, same pay.’

  ‘Very good, very good.’

  Said was obviously acting along, Hansson thought, he said what an executive wanted to hear. But what did he really think?

  ‘We are also, how should I put it... open-minded. You can express yourself freely here, regardless of gender or position,’ he said. He cleared his throat. ‘Or religion, for example.’

  Hansson studied Said again.

  ‘I think that goes without saying,’ said Said.

  ‘And if one were ever to get upset, then, well... That is, you could say that here we have a tradition, and I mean in Sweden in general, a tradition of not solving things with...we haven’t been at war in two hundred years, so a lot of it has to do with...’ Hansson couldn’t express what he really wanted to get across. He took a deep breath and made a new attempt. ‘So, what I mean is that we don’t solve conflicts by resorting to violence.’

  ‘I don’t understand’, said Said and frowned. ‘Where are you going with this?’

  He doesn’t get it, Hansson thought. This is remarkable, worrying even. He doesn’t understand that we don’t solve conflicts by violence in the workplace.

  ‘What don’t you understand?’ said Hansson.

  ‘I don’t understand what this has to do with the job.’

  Hansson’s eyes indignantly opened wide.

  ‘It has everything to do with the job! That we can work together, have different opinions on matters without resorting to violence, it is absolutely essential!’ He struggled to talk calmly and keep smiling.

  Said smiled wryly and shook his head. Hansson felt that the immigrant was patronising him, that was more than he could take. Was he going to show up here and put him in his place? That was a big mistake. He had to show restraint, but what he really wanted to do was to tell it like it was, that Said ought to be grateful, we’ve given you shelter, given you education, medical care, we’ve been hospitable. Instead, he looked sternly at Said.

  ‘I agree. Violence is never a solution,’ said Said. ‘Have you had a lot of that kind of problem in the workplace?’

  Hansson flinched. ‘No?’ he said, with a blank look.

  ‘I was just wondering, since you brought it up,’ said Said.

  Hansson calmed down a little. ‘No, no. I’m just very concerned that everyone wo
rking here share the same basic values.’

  Said nodded. ‘Yes.’

  Hansson smiled. He felt for the boy, he really did. He should hire him, he was a likable kid. Skills were something you could learn, but personality was constant. Gut feeling was key, and at bottom it was good although there were still some question marks.

  ‘Do you watch football, by the way?’ said Hansson.

  ‘Not really. Well, I watch the World Cup and the European Championship. I find it hard to get involved in football clubs. It just seems to me you just choose a colour to cheer on while the players change teams all the time.’

  ‘Definitely!’

  ‘You know what I mean? It doesn’t feel like you’re supporting a city or whatever, since you can buy players. Manchester hardly has Manchester players. But the national team is another matter.’

  ‘I completely agree. There’s only one football shirt in my wardrobe,’ said Hansson and paused. ‘And it is yellow and blue.’

  Said smiled.

  ‘What about yourself, if you had a shirt, what colours would it be?’ said Hansson.

  ‘A football shirt?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I don’t like match shirts, I only wear button-down ones. Short-sleeved if it’s hot.’

  He’s dodging the question, Hansson thought. It’s the ultimate test, which national team you support. People could be as integrated as ever, crispbread-eating, sing-along-raving individuals with Ikea kitchens, it didn’t matter, it was after kick-off they showed their true loyalty. He had even seen it in apparently ethnical Swedes, the kind with a Värmlandic accent and all, who at the sound of the whistle had revealed a blue-white bent, a Finnish bloodline, a latent sisu that had been smouldering in the Swedish forests for generations. That was the kind of thing you didn’t quench so easily. When it came to Finns it wasn’t really a disaster, they were more or less like us, perhaps a bit more aggressive and fonder of booze, thought Hansson, but when the Arabic pride was awakened, then Pandora’s box would be opened for real. Then we’d have sharia and terror and every imaginable devilry. A football shirt was more than a football shirt, it was tied to an identity, a set of ideas, views, preferences.