#nhikas

[nhikas-art]

SixFanarts Magical Girls edition! ✨

Hosted this one on instagram. It was super fun to do!

(Also hi tumblr, long time no see. I may be back?)

[nhikas-art]

Sixfanarts 1/6 DoReMi

This show is so nostalgic and cute!

[waytray]

Jayvik Stamp Washi tape // Arcane

Jayvik Stamp Washi Tape // Arcane League of Legends fan-made merch ✧ 6 different 'stamp' designs ✧ Silver holographic foil

gorgeous stamp washi tape by nhikas on instagram~

product photos:

and this pic is from a member of a server i'm in ^o^

direct link to shop page: https://nhikas.jumpseller.com/jayvik-stamp-washi-tape-arcane

direct link to nhikas' instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLAm-4SKaVZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[allting-ordnar-sig]

Varning för fula fiskar: Ch. 10 (1/1)

Chapter 10: Micke the Marvellous Mechanic

When Sven reached the phone booth the earl was already waiting impatiently. “Hurry up.”, he said and opened the door.

“Why didn't you just make the call yourself?”

The earl turned his jacket pockets inside out and a fifty-five Öre coin and a five Öre coin appeared. “You have a Krona, right?”, he asked anxiously.

Sven winked. “Just one, now let's pray the phone isn't broken.”

It was Kent who picked up the phone, and it took Sven nine whole minutes to explain the situation to him, and when he hung up he still hadn't given a definite promise to help. “I did what I could.”, said Sven angrily.

“Yeah, what you can.”, huffed the earl. “It takes less than two minutes to explain that we have found a treasure at the pirate bay. You can bet they would have been here in a flash.”

“And they would have been gone just as quickly.”, said Sven, but fell on deaf ears, for the earl was obviously on his way again. If you could call it a way. The headmaster, who had recently built a summer house half way up to the Captain's Villa, had spread some gravel on the most dangerous parts, but the rest was barely a trail covered with a layer of pine needles.

Since the sky was despite everything still a little brighter than the woods one could barely make out where the path was leading. There was no sign of the earl. An owl cried now and then, maybe a little nicer than a real owl, but it was hard to tell.

His heart beat in all the wrong places and he started to dream about his bed, since the woods were full of uncomfortable sounds and he had no idea what he was doing there all alone. If he could at least be sure that he was alone. That would have been nicer than walking ahead until the earl – or someone who wasn't the earl – showed up and... just as he wondered what they would do his heart stopped completely for a second. A dark figure stood in front of him and pulled him behind a thick pine tree.

„Like crying children.“, whispered the earl hotly. “Just like the old said, the one I told you about. He said he was going to report them because of the van, but I think it was the crying. So they got nervous and took off. They came here because they had place else to go. In the headmaster's cottage.”

“Good God, uncle Anton will be terribly angry.”, Sven said quietly. “But how did they know he'd be in Stockholm?”

“They know surprisingly much about us, like how Ulli's hard to wake up. And how did they know that Nils had seen the blue van in another dubious context so they wer eforced to paint it green?”

“Now we're going to call the police...”

Sven didn't get any further. The earl's had had covered his mouth. They heard voiced further at the top of the hill and soon after two strong flashlights appeared on the headmaster's front yard. The van's green hood was visible behind the garage.

“Aren't we going to take the car? It's freezing cold.”, shivered one of them.

“Felix”, whispered Sven into the earl's ear. The earl nodded.

“It's better if it stays here.”, said the other one. Sven immediately recognised it as the same voice he had heard that night on the roof. The man had covered his face with a long scarf and a baseball cap was pulled over his eyes. Sven had seen him somewhere before – but where?

“There are too many of those damn boys who could recognize it.”, the man with the cap continued. “If we left it at the habour the police would look for our boat and that wouldn't be helpful either – not until we are on the other side of the continent. Then they can look for it all they want.” HE laughed triumphantly.

“And what about the pups?” Felix has stopped in front of the garage.

“They'll survive. Now hurry up. It'd be nice to get away from here.”

“They haven't had anything to eat today. Nothing to drink either. We weren't able to give them anything.”

“For the last time – when are you finally going to get it? It was a damn close call, the brats almost caught us today, I already explained that to you. If we hadn't painted the car we wouldn't have made it.”

Sven heard the earl whistle.

“What was that?”, Felix asked anxiously.

“There you go. See how brave you are?” A mocking laughter resounded from behind the scarf. “Do you want to stay behind? You, who can't even take it when an owl cries? Well, I won't stop you. Stay and take care of the dogs. But don't complain about how I left you behind later on.”

Felix pointed his flashlight ahead and moved along. “We could call someone, without saying who we are.”, he suggested. “Or write a quick not – just to let someone know where they are...”

The other man did not reply. He only walked a little more quickly and soon he vanished down the hill.

Sven and the earl did not move until they couldn't hear the men anymore, and a few minutes longer, just to be sure. Then they rushed into the yard.

“Now we're c-calling the police, now, right away, we'll run to the booth.”, Sven stumbled over the words like he always did, when he was getting worked up.

“But you only had one Krona?”, the earl asked soberly.

Sven started rummaging around his pockets. “You look too.”, he said impatiently.

“There's no point.”, the earl said philosophically. “I've been looking for a week. I only have a five Öre coin and a twenty-five Öre coin, and the phone isn't taking those. No other machine either, believe me, I tried.”

Sven found two packs of bubblegum, three little transistors, a candy bar wrapper, two twenty-five Öre coins and a fiver. Moreover a foto of a girl with long, black curls appeared. He was the only one who knew the foto was there. Micke did not know, so he slipped the picture inside his inner pocket.

“We can run to out farm to make the call.”,he suggester, although he already knew that was a stupid idea. They would need about twenty-five minutes to the Hedgård and the criminals were already on their way to the pirate bay.

“What are we going to do?”, he shouted and waves his hands around. The earl said nothing, he thought so hard that he forgot to blink, although his eyes followed the dancing light beam of Sven's flashlight. Suddenly he startled. “Light over there again.”, he said. “No – not there, give me the flashlight!” He wrested the flashlight from Sven and directed it at the window beside the headmaster's front door. Half hidden behind yellow checkered curtains he saw a white telephone. He looked around and found a suitable stone and threw it without any warning trough the window pane.

„Amazing.“, gasped Sven appalledly. “Just remember to talk to him when he comes back from Stockholm.”

“Nonsense,”m said the earl. “We've got 233 Krona ad 60 Öre in our fund at the club. Also he's actually a pretty okay guy after he's blown off some steam. Come and help me and hold the light!”

Sven held the light and the earl called the police.

“Inspector Brandt.”, he demanded. “Criminal Investigation department.” There was a short silence. “This is the earl.”, he said then. “The Radio Detectives, I mean, we would like to speak to Inspector Brandt, it is a matter of life and death, if we don't... no, we found the rabid dogs!”

The earl covered the speaker with his hand. “It's Jönsson.”, he said and rolled his eyes. Then his face brightened. “Yes, it's us, the Radio Detectives and we found the dogs, they are at the pirate bay... the culprits are about to get away, they have a boat waiting for them at the bay...” The earl explained certain parts of the story. Sven huddled up beside the earl and heard Brandt's regretful voice through the phone.

“I'm sorry, but we have no car to spare at the moment. There was a heavy accident on the motorway and a few other minor incidents, that why I'm sitting here working overtime... but it's great that you found the dogs!”

“Yeah, but...”, began the earl.

“Don't do anything stupid now.”, Brand threatened. “Don't touch them! Don't go near them, do you understand? We'll send a patrol as soon as we can. To the pirate bay sou said?”

“You didn't say the pups were here.”

“No, why should I?”, the earl replied. “We need help at the bay. I wonder how Micke... come on, let's run!”

The way down seemed much shorter. They crawled up the dune above the pirate bay and peered over the top.

Micke was nowhere to be seen, but instead the yacht was visible all the better, with a light in every outlet, and the boat only a few meters away from the stern.

“What if they caught him.”, Sven worried. “Maybe the keep him somewhere inside the ship...”

“You reed too many thrillers.”, the earl grinned. “Look, over there!”

The yacht had just switched one its searchlights lights and right in the light beam, crossways in the canal, rested the Loppan and looked very innocent. The skipper stood at the stern and tried to patch his stubborn motor the same way every outboard turbine had been tried to fix since they were invented. He pulled the cord, pulled again, threw his hands up in the air, murmured something and pulled again. He poked his nose between the cables and murmured and cursed, put his wrench aside, dried his hands with a dirty towel and hopefully pulled the cord again – without success. Of course. He turned his head to face the blinding lights of the yacht and shrugged with an apologetic expression, looked at the motor and started working again.

“They can't get past the Loppan.”, said the earl with a delighted grin. “Micke will make sure they can't get away.”

“What if the police will be here in time after all.” There was new hope in Sven's voice. “Although they could still take the landroute of course.”

“If only they didn't have the jollyboat.”, said the earl. “I stumbled across an big old canister. Dare you come?”

“Of course.”, said Sven without thinking. All of his doubts were suddenly gone, idleness, fear, reason, worry what people might say – all he saw was Micke standing out there all by himself in his small fragile boat. If he dared to...

“Come on then.”, whispered the earl. “But no light.”

The yacht directed all its lights and attention at the idiot out there in the canal. Nobody cared to keep an eye on the dark beach. The boys were able to skid down the dune unnoticed, the earl picked up the can and crept to fisher Jönsssons boat wreck, which was half-full with water. He took a hold of its edge and Sven did the same. The pushed and pulled and fought and finally they managed to kick over the boat with their knees, so most of the water could run out.

“What about the oars?”, whispered Sven.

“There are non, but you know the current. If we can only make it to the other side it could work with a little luck. Duck!”

So they started to push the boat along the coast around the bay, until they were as close to the light beam as they dared to come. They knew from the experience of many summers that the current would carry them right towards the stern of the yacht. Just to be sure the earl threw a piece of bark into the water and their eyes followed it as long as they could.

“That looks promising.”, he whispered. “Alright?” He jumped into the wreck. Sven nodded and did the same and pushed them off the shore.

“Scoop!”, whispered the earl nervously and sat down at the bow, trying to row with his hands. Water poured in.

Sven scooped with the can as fast as he could, but wasn't able to get more than half of the water that streamed in out again, and soon enough the bottom of the boat was filled with icy water. They barely noticed, the situation was to exciting... Would the stream carry them to the ship's boat, would the wreck carry them this far?, would someone one the yacht see them, would they have to swim back to the shore...?

Sven scooped and the earl leaned over the edge and rowed with his hands, one on each side. Before long the boat was half-full with water and they didn't move any further. Sven stopped scooping. He stood up, took off his jacket and used it as a sail – and saw the earl stretch until his feet almost lost grip on the rowing bench – to reach the rope spanned between the ship's boat and the yacht's deck. Both the first and the second try failed and they and came so close to the boat that the rope passed above their heads. It was almost completely out of reach when the earl took a leap and caught the rope with one hand.

“Everything will be alright.”, he sighed with relief and triumphantly looked at Sven, who now sat with his boots up on the rowing bench while the water level in the boat increased. “Now help me holding on to it!”

Now things happened at the deck of the yacht. Felix had come out and yelled at Micke.

“Move – you can continue your tinkering some other place!”

Micke looked as if he did not understand. “I'm stuck.”, he shouted. “If only I could get the motor going.”

Felix went back inside to confer. At the same time they boys reached the stern and were close enough to the jollyboat to grab the railing and the earl climbed inside. A few seconds later Sven was save as well. The earl bent forward and cut the rope with his knife and Sven pushed them away from the yacht with his foot. Then all they had to do was sit still until the current carried them to the shore.

“Now they can take a nice cold bath if they ever want to get back to their van.”, grinned the earl. “Sixty meters, do you think they'd swim that far? They probably aren't that stupid?”

“You would have been.”, Sven said tactlessly. “You were going to jump. To reach Micke's boat... If the navigator hadn't caught you...”

“Then I would have been forced to climb back, but he did catch me.”

“But you climbed over the railing...”

“I had to, the way you were screaming. When I saw the waves I knew it wouldn't work. But you didn't pull me down either, you didn't have that much sense.”

Sven sighed. It wasn't easy to understand the earl. Be he didn't have nay more time to think about the phenomenon because no the capped man had stepped out on the deck as well. Micke still stood right in the white flood light and worked diligently. Now and the he stood up and pretended to apologize for blocking the way, before sitting back down.

“Pull anchor!”, the man with the cap shouted. “Or we're going to ram you.”

Micke pretended not to hear, but Sven saw him cast an inquiring look at the back from time to time. A police car had to appear between the dunes soon – very soon. He couldn’t go on like this for much longer, the guy on the yacht were starting to get impatient. Something had to happen.

That's what Felix and the man with the cap thought as well, because they vanished again and a few minutes later the boys heard a strong motor start.

“Do you think they can ram the Loppan without damaging the yacht in the process?”, asked Sven.

“I have no idea.”, the earl whispered and, without realizing what he was doing, bit down on his own wet sock he had just wrung out. “The question is if they would take the risk.”

“They are going to come aboard instead”, Sven groaned as the yacht slowly and smoothly slid out of the habour basin and approached its small victim.

It stopped ten meters away and Felix stepped out again.

“Now, how do you want it?” There was something shiny in his hand.”Do we have to come aboard and have to make things unpleasant for you? I'm going to count till twenty-five, then you'll be gone, or else...” He started counting, slowly and threatening. “One... two... three... four... five...”

Micke did not budge.

“He's crazy.”, said the earl and spit out his sock.

“... six... seven... eight... nine... ten...” Felix slowly raised his had with the shiny thing. Micke began to loose the anchor.

“Phew” Sven sighed with relief. “I was scared he was going to play the hero.” the boys stood up without caring if anyone saw them.

Now the anchor was up. The Loppan moved.

“... eleven... twelve... thirteen...”, counted Felix threateningly, because Micke did not sit down at the rowing bench. He climbed back to the stern and with a straight face and pulled at the chord again. But now something unexpected happen. The motor came to life, it worked like it was the most natural thing. Micke sat down at the bow and now the boat flew back and forth in the small canal, always in the yacht's way, so t could not move a single meter.

“They won't dare to ram him!”, shouted the earl.

“But they might dare to do something else, look at the guy with the cap!”, screamed Sven. Zhe capped man grabbed the shiny thing in Felix' hand.

The earl and Sven yelled as loud as they could: “Stop it, Micke – he's going to shoot!”

Micke heard them and ducked while steering.

But the man with the cap did not shoot. Instead he shouted something at Felix, who stood at the wheel, and suddenly the white bow trembled – and stood still.

At first the boys didn't understand. All the saw was hat something approached the entrance of the narrow canal. The man with the cap and Felix rushed to the stern, Felix reached for the rope, but all caught was the clipped end.

At the same time a new search light appeared in the canal, a long, narrow boat's body glided towards the yacht.

“The custom ship!” Sven jumped up so the water swapped inside his boots. “Brandt's one hell of a guy! He sent the custom ship!”

Felix and the man with the cap took off their shoes and measured the distance to the beach with their eye.

In this moment a slightly asthmatic sound was audible from the beach and a pair of headlights, that were anything but halogen lights, slowly crawled across the hill top.

At the same time another light appeared, blinking mysterious signals from behind a grass hill a few meters from the shore next to the yacht away and Sven realised the space beside him was empty, neither the earl nor his flashlight were there.

The men put their shoes back on.

Something shiny flew over the railing and there was a tiny splat. And then another one. The man with the cap had bent over to tie his shoes. The cap must have been a little to big and flew over the deck. He tries to catch it, but the wind took a hold of it and blew it over the raining.

The man stood up reluctantly and in the Plymo's lights they saw his face for the first time.

They heard a screech from the beach. “It's Alexander – he must have caught the criminals, hey Alexander, we're here to help you now!”

Alexander looked at Nils, who had just jumped out of the Plymo, with tired eyes.

“Hey Nils”, he called, waving slowly and turning around. The game was over.

The only thing left to do was a job for Sven. He ran down the beach, rounded the bay and aught up with the custom ship. It took him a few times to get an uniformed guy's attention, just when the ship drove out of the canal.

“What about the pups?”, he shouted. “They are up in garage of headmaster Berg's summer house on the Captain's mountain.

The uniformed man looked at him politely, but that was all.

“They had no food today, they won't survive the night if they won't get any. And it might only be a few that have rabies, maybe non at all...” The custom's ship increased its speed and Sven had to run faster. “ “If you don't promise to feet them tonight then we'll do it.”, he shouted. “Although Inspector Brandt told us not to. Do you promise?”

The uniform collar bowed slightly. I promised. But that wasn't enough for Sven.

“Do you promise?”, he panted. “They had no water either!”

Now there was no doubt: the man nodded. But that wasn't enough either. Sven would have preferred to have it in written form. “DO YOU PROMISE?”, he yelled. “OR ESLE...”

Finally the man understood how serious he was. “Yeees, I promise!!!” The corners of his mouth curved upwards. He was really going to do it, thought Sven and was satisfied.

When he turned around he saw Micke, who had stopped the Loppan and was one his way to the Plymo. He paused and waited for Sven.

“Everything turned out to be alright indeed, as the earl would say.”, he grinned.

“Hmmm”, said Sven sheepishly. He was about to burst with all the things he had wanted to say, but simply could not tell Micke. So he blurted out the absolutely worst thing he could come up with – but he was really curious. “How did you fix the motor?”, he said.

Micke looked at him and said casually: “I refilled a little fuel. It's been a little stressful since I left Svedinge...”

Sven tried to contain his laughter and succeeded.

Micke continued hastily: “Guess what I found at the yacht?! I was able to look trough the window in the cabin before I heard them coming and had to get back on my boat. Well, there was...” What Micke had seen gave the gang a new job, and it wasn't an easy one. The gladly would have postpone it to the next day, but that would have been too late. So Micke, Sven, the earl and Nils went aboard the yacht and looked for the biggest glass in the pantry, while Kent warmed up the Plymo. Micke washed out the glass as thoroughly as he could, just like his mother cleaned the fruit jars, but at Nils' disposition without dish soap. The same happened to a couple of bottles. Finally some plastic bags were carried in the jollyboat and vanished in the Plymo.

The result of all of this was a happy Nils, who watched the sunrise from a a mattress on Sven's floor.

On the table in front of the window stood a luxurious aquarium. The sunlight reflected on the water, which was rippled by tiny waves. Behind a red Stone on the ground hid a small, shiny red fish and stretched his long shiny fins and dreamt of a lake in China. Nils cast one last look at him, then he fell asleep.

[allting-ordnar-sig]

Varning för fula fiskar: Ch. 9 (1/1)

Chapter 9: The Captain Gets A Nephew

“Funny guy.”, murmured the earl. “Why didn't he go to the police?”

“You're one to talk.”, said Sven bitterly and stared out into the darkness. The lights of Svedinge lay far behind the already. They had tiptoed up the stairs and almost walked right into the navigator, who was on the scout again. The right door at the right moment had saved them – the only one the navigator had not opened. They only understood why when they came back out and saw the sign with a girl in a checkered skirt. They managed to pass the next stairway without any adventures.

Now they stood with their backs pressed against a ventilation shaft outside on deck and shivered. There was a lot of icy water between the ship and the shore. Sven felt pretty miserable. He wondered how it felt to get be beaten up. It was something he had never experienced before.

“I'll hit back.”, he said fiercely. “If someone tries to beat me up. It probably won't hurt, but...”

“Quiet, I'm thinking.”, the earl replied. “Can you telegraph? You probably can, right? You're a radio communication amateur after all – not that I understand why – but you are one, even though you're not the best, right?”

“Well, I can do the most important signals – I mean, if it's not a lot of nonsense.”

“Good. Can you change the frequency, too?”

“Which frequency?” Sven had a bad feeling about this.

“If I buy you ten minutes maximum, maybe only five, alone in the radio room – can you telegraph this to Micke: 'Thoring habour Loppan, stowaways Beate, come close, give a signal and we jump, the earl'. Micke's waiting for a message from South Afrika, Noone, he said. Can you do it?”

“I can at least try.”, said Sven without enthusiasm.

“It's the door on the left outside the dining room. Hurry up – it's urgent.”, the earl said with a look at the lights on the shore, which faded more and more.

Sven wasn't excited about leaving the shelter of the ventilation shaft, but he obediently followed the earl to the door, they had come trough only several hours earlier.”

“Stay here while I take care of the telegraphist.”, he whispered before he went in. “Leave the door ajar, so you'll hear when the coast is clear. And if I don't come back it'll be me alone who's taking a punishing and it'll take a few minutes. Try to hide behind one of the life boats when you're done, we'll meet there. We'll jump when we're passing Thoringe – if Micke's there of course. Otherwise...”

“Can't we just do what we were going to do otherwise?”

“So you'll get a chance to hit back?” The earl sounded amused. “Didn't you also promise Joakim to not say anything about Gloria? Hm?”

Sven sighed. Of course there was no flaw in the earl's argumentation. There never was a better way out of a dilemma than than the earl's plan. The only problem was that you usually didn't understand it until afterward.

The earl was already gone – of course. Sven listened. Someone knocked on the door inside. The he hear the earl's voice, sounding very polite and mannerly.

“My uncle asks you to come quickly. He can't go away and it's important.

“Which uncle?”, replied a young, surprised voiced.

“My uncle of course. Uncle Oskar.” The earl sounded completely casual. “It's very urgent, he said.”

“The Captain?” Now the voice sounded awstruck “He has a nephew?”

“I am a nephew.” That's true, thought Sven and grinned. Just not the Captain's nephew. “My Mama's name is...”

“You can tell me another time. When the captain say it's urgent he mean it's urgent, so come on, let's go. Where is he?”

“At the back. It's called stern, you know... or is it starboard.”

Finally the voices disappeared. Sven carefully opened the door a few centimeters and peeked inside. Now it was up to him. He reached the telegraph cabin.

He immediately realized that might had promised too much, the ship was obviously equipped with a modern marine radio device he had never seen before.

After a desperate search he finally found the frequency adjustment and changed it to the frequency Micke was hopefully listening to right now.

The radio device didn't want to obey at first, time was running out, and apart from this he wasn't very keen to hear Micke's comment. He could imagine things that were more fun.

Confused he realised that the recording buttons started to turn all by themselves, the automatic transmission must have been turned on. They had something like that at the club, too! Now he could start to enter the message with the Morse key. First he sent Micke's calling sign. Then the message itself. It wasn't actually that hard, he was just so nervous that he was sure if he did everything right. The hall was still empty so he recorded the whole message again, just to be safe, and then a third time – the he didn't dare to stay any longer. He switched back to the original frequency, stuck his head trough the door – no, there was no around – and tiptoed outside on the deck. Until now everything had worked out smoothly, but now it was do or die. It wasn't far to the life boats – if only he had time to hide...

But he didn't. Walking around the corner he stumbled right into the arms of the chef, who came from the opposite direction, carrying a bucket.

“Who are you? I'm gonna...” He was about to grab Sven's arm, when he dropped the bucket. Sven helped a little with his elbow as he tried to duck. The result was very pleasing. The bucket had been filled with herrings and the herrings were slippery so the chef's wooden clogs – with the chef still inside – slid across the whole deck to the railing. Sven's Socks provided a better support and he was gone long before the chef managed to get back on his feet he and make use of his impressive vocabulary.

A few meters further between the life boats he heard a hiss from above: “Idiot – quick, to the backside!”

Sven could really use a voice from above at the moment and within a second he was at the side of the lifeboat which was facing the railing. The canvas covering the boat was lifted a few centimeters. “Get on the railing.”, commanded the voice.

Sven hesitated. The railing was wet and looked slippery. Beneath him white foam spluttered against Beate-Sophie's bow. But he heard the chef testing if his leg was broken or only sprained, and realised, that he would hardly have a chance to hit back. He climbed up and when he stood on the wet rail her understood just how slippery herrings really were. One foot skid off – but that was when the earl grabbed his hand and seconds later his other hand found the edge of the life boat. The earl stemmed and Sven pulled and ended up headfirst on the life boat's floor.

The chef would have surely heard the bang if he hadn't drowned it in his own yelling:

“That little beast's hiding somewhere.”, he cursed. “But just wait until I catch him, I'll teach him a damn lesson. My whole damn pants are ruined, that kid's in for it...”

“He surely got scared.”, said a voice which belonged to the navigator.

“It was such a pretty boy.”, said the telegraphist. “Slim and black-haired and so well-behaved...” “Well-behaved? Him?”, the chef scoffed. “He tripped me up is what he did...”

“If only I knew what he was doing int the radio room.”, wondered the navigator. Now he and the chef stood just below the life boat. Sven still lay in the same uncomfortable position he had landed in and didn't dare to move a single centimeter. His head hurt and he felt a small, warm trickle run down towards his collar.

“We'll have to look around with a lamp.”, said the navigator. “To be sure.”

“The life boats?” That was a third voice getting involved in the discussion.

“Unlikely.”, said the navigator scarcely. “Maybe if he'd had more time, but it takes some minutes to climb up there and get under the cover. Go and stop the engines, Jonsson, and turn on the floodlights. You never know with those kids... and you go and change your clothes, Olsson, or we're going to lose our appetite...”

“And the mess?” That was the chef's voice. He didn't sound happy.

“I can wait for a while longer. If we can find the boy it'll be his first job, I can promise you that much.”

They heard steps, the chef's wooden shoes and Jonssons boots took off together.

The earl put his hands over Sven's while a faint smell of cigarette smoke crept under the canvas cover. The navigator still stood there. The zoom of the engines had faded away and light fell trough the wholes in the cover. Beate-Sophie let her flood-lights wander back and forth over the ocean.

Sven didn't know how long they were just lying there. The navigator tried to chase away his worries with cigarettes. Orders echoed from the loudspeakers, they heard running steps and the ship still did not move. It was torture. The small trickle had dried but his legs hurt so much that only pure fear stopped Sven from stretching them to see if it was only the uncomfortable position, or maybe more. Finally the engines were started again the smoke disappeared. It took a few minutes, maybe five, but the earl's hand still rested on Sven's arm. They hadn't heard the navigator walk away. Finally they heard a shrill voice: “Light ahead. A ship signal!”

The navigator's receded. “What kind of ship is it?”

“It must be Micke.”, whispered the earl, while Sven stretched out his arms and legs and realised in surprise that most of him still functioned. “Let's jump then.”, the earl continued bravely.

“Not me.”, replied Sven insistently. “I'd rather lie here until we arrive in Amsterdam.”

“Fine, then stay here and freeze!”, snapped the earl. “Although they'll probably find you because you smell like herring. I'll jump either way, so don't you try to stop me.” He lifted the canvas cover and peeked out into the darkness. The water lapped against the ship's side and the icy wind swept into the life boat.

“You can't.”, Sven whimpered. “You'll get yourself killed!”

“Coward.”, said the earl and cast a look behind. He was halfway out of the boat already. “There”, he whispered. “There he is!”

The earl started to flash with his flashlight and the other boat quickly came closer. He slowly climbed out of the life boat and stood on the railing, one hand still on the edge of the boat and his eyes fixed on Sven.

He's flashing pretty carelessly, thought Sven and hoped the navigator would notice.

But nothing happened and finally Sven yelled: “Don't! You can't... I won't let you go... don't do it, do you hear me?”

He saw the earl jump – one foot leaving the railing – he jumped up to pull him back... when a long dark arm shot up and grabbed the earl's jacket.

“You can come down no.”, said the navigator. “Before you jump into the ocean and get pulled into the ship's propeller! There's also something you have to take care of on deck, the chef will gladly show you where.”

The earl climbed down obediently. Surprisingly obediently. Then the navigator spotted Sven who was looking out from under the cover.

“Gasp! There is another one, the captain's brother maybe? His cousin? You can scrub the deck together, how about that?”

He reached out a strong hand and Sven took it thankfully. “But Micke's waiting down there.”, he argued. “Him in the boat.”

“So Micke is his name.”, said the navigator. “Micke seems to be the only one among you with some common sense in your little group. He morsed us that some fool was going to jump off the ship. So – what was that about?”

“Well, we're doing a group work about ship in school, so we secretly got on board but we didn't meet anyone we could ask, and then the ship put out...”

“Poor you.”, the navigator said ironically. “Why didn't you just come to me and tell me you were on board then?”

“Because Sven was scared you'd hit us.”, explained the earl.

“It would have been a pleasure.”, replied the navigator with a sparkle in his eyes. “And that why you contacted this Mick – and to do so you had to lure the telegraphist out of the radio room?”

The earl nodded. Sven wasn't able to make a sound, he was droozen with shame.

“The deck will have to wait till next time.”, the navigator said. “Micke can't sit around and wait forever.” He turned to face the crew which had gathered around the boys. “We'll let them down, Jonsson, that's the easiest way to get rid of them.” He directed his gaze at the earl again. “And the next time we're in Svedinge I'm curious if they'll tell us the truth.”

Five minutes later Sven sat at the bow of Loppan, Micke's motor boat. Five minutes he hoped to forget as soon as possible. He would have rather starved or frozen on the way to Amsterdam or the south pole , he decided for his next time as a stowaway on a ship. Dangling in a loop of rope between heaven and Micke's little boat – no, he didn't want to think about it. Now it wasn't much better.

The seas were choppy, Beate-Sophie disappeared northwards and Micke started the motor. He tore and pulled at the line without any result.

“It probably got wet.”, the earl offered helpfully. His mood was obnoxiously good.

“Nonsese.”, Micke retorted. His mood wasn't very good.

“We can just go to Germany, that'd be fun.”, the earl continued incorrigibly.

“Well you can row us there then.”

The earl went silent.

“I said row!”

The earl offered the oars to Sven.

“You're supposed to row.” Micke glared at the earl.

“But I'm the youngest and all.”, he protested – but not for long, there was something threatening in Micke's eyes... So he rowed, and he rowed well.

“What the hell did you do on the ship?”, asked Micke and looked for his tools.

“We were looking for Gloria.”, Sven said sheepishly. Suddenly the idea didn't sound all that smart anymore.

“Why that?” Micke had found his screwdriver by then and bent over the motor.

“Well – that receipt.”, Sven replied. “It must belong to some boat and it was from the service station at the habour, so...”

Micke turned around and looked at the both of them. “You thought a big freighted just pulls up at the service station to fuel? And the captain gets the receipt?” He stooped over the motor again. “The managed gets the receipt and he pays the oil company directly. The receipt must belong to a much smaller boat.”

Sven was suddenly grateful forth the darkness, because he felt his face heating up. The earl accidentally let go of one of the oars, but managed to grab it again. Non of them said a word.

Both of them had seen a big ship getting its tank filled from a whole in the ground countless times.

“You really need a fully time babysitter.”, Micke said calmly. “I didn't managed to reach someone via radio either tonight, I really close when Sven interrupted me.”

It became silent, only the sound of the waves against Loppan's wall and the squeaking sound of the oars moving in their holder. Sven felt miserable, and the earl rowed like a robot. But suddenly he left the oars hanging in the air, raised his head and listened. “Do you hear this?”, he exclaimed.

Micke listened, then dropped his screwdriver and rushed to the front of the boat and grabbed the oars. The earl pulled back and sat down on the rear. Micke started rowing as fast as he could. Now Sven heard the swelling roar ahead of them. They had being going for much longer than they thought. A few hundred meters further and they would have ended up between the dangerous under water archipelago south of Thoringe.

“We have to try reaching the pirate bay.”, shouted Micke. “There's no way we can row around the archipelago with this landward wind.”

Sven and the earl nodded silently. It was never easy to find he entrance to the small channel to the small natural habour, not even at full daylight. Sven desperately grasped the edge of the boat and stared out into the dark. If only they could see the coast. Just a small light... Micke's farm must be a little more to the right, but he wasn't visible from sea... just like his own... but what was that?

“Look, there's someone at the Captain's Villa!”, he called and almost dislocated his head trying to get a better look.

“It's probably only the headmaster.”, Micke replied tiredly.

“No, he's in Stockholm, also this is way too high to be his vacation home, don't you see?”

“He's right!”, the earl exclaimed excitedly. “It must be the Captain's Villa, or someone having a picnic up there Look! There's nothing else up there.”

Micke just rowed, he rowed for his life. Let the boys talk, he thought, it keeps away the fear – but dear God, what if Sven was right – then they would at least have a point to lay – but it was impossible – the Captain's Villa had been vacant for many years – no one would climb up there just for fun – it must be imagination...

The earl had leaned forward and looked as if he was about to turn Micke's head around with his own two hands. “Just take a look!”, he shouted. “Don't be such a pighead! It can't be a plane either, it's not moving.”

Okay, thought Micke and turned his head just so the earl would finally shut up – Jesus Christ, someone was up there! He blinked, but the light was still there. And whatever it was, they had to go for it, they had no other choice.

He rowed with newfound power and frequent looks over his shoulder to check whether they were steering the course. Now their heard the surge of the waves ahead of them, which meant they were approaching land. Micke rowed a little more slowly, prepared to run aground any meter. The waves had changed, this could mean... and he though he had seen something, too...

“Put on the flashlight!”, he shouted.

“We're there!”, the earl cheered and stood up and lighted the grass bank less than five meters in front of the boat. “We made it!”

“Stay put!”, called Micke, but it was too late. A big have hit them from behind, the earl stumbled a few steps ad laded on Micke's lap.

The flashlight fell over the railing and at the next moment they heard Loppans bow hit something hard. They were stranded.

The earl covered his ears to avoid having to hear Micke's kind words.

“We can just jump.”, he said carelessly.

“Yes, if you got an Olympic medal or two.”, snapped Micke. “But don't let me stop you. If you jump we might get the boat loose.

This wasn't what the earl had meant to achieve. “He's heavier.”, he said and pointed at Sven.

“But you're the better jumper.”, grinned Sven.

“I'm gonna throw the both of you.”, Micke threatened and finally dared to laugh, when, in the beam of Sven's flashlight, he realised that they had stranded just behind the little cape you had to round to reach the small habour. They had made it indeed, but it had been a close call. He wondered if much Sven and the earl understood just how close.

“Wait.”, the earl hissed suddenly. “Light here, Sven. There's something inside the bay.”

Sven did as he was told.

“A boat!”, he whispered, without knowing why. “And what a boat, that's almost a yacht – like the one the king owns! And there's something else – there's a jollyboat at the beach!”

Without another word the earl stretched out his legs, handed his shoes and socks to Micke and climbed over the railing. He didn't have much time to enjoy the footbath. Within a few long steps he reached the land and grabbed the rope end Micke threw at him.

Sven shifted to the stern, Micke thrust one oar into the ground, the earl pulled at the rope for all he was worth – and there stood the Loppan, halfway up the beach.

The earl already sat on a tuft of grass and dried his blue frozen feet with an old blanket, while they discussed how they were going to proceed. They still hadn't come to an agreement when they finally reached the small jollyboat, which stood beside fished Jönsson's former fisher boat. But it wasn't the jollyboat the earl was interested in. It was a broken box, which lay a few meters away from the boat.

“It the same kind the redhead loaded into the van while I was watching him.”, he said.

“You don't say.” Micke didn't sound impressed. “There are boxes like that in a lot of vans.”

“Not this kind.”, the earl said scarcely. “No animal carriers.” Er quickly told them about the cat Fido with the white ears and the white tail tip and and owner, who had almost reported the green van to the police. Micke had heard some of it before from Nils on the telephone, but hed had had no time to fully process the information. When the earl was finished he said eagerly:

“So the 400 liters diesel might have been bought for this boat.”

“And this is where they hide the animals they do not want to pay quarantine for. Three months quarantine, that's pretty expensive.”, added Sven.

“The Captain's Villa.”, said the earl suddenly. “The perfect place for smugglers! They sea every ship come but no one sees them. The lights are only visible from the water, but you only wonder about them when you're lost at sea. I'll creep up there and take a look. Are you coming?”

“I want to check the boat first.”, Micke said wistfully.”

“You, Sven?”

Sven pushes the dreams of his warm home ate the farm aside. “I'm coming.”, he said, but he could have saved it, because the earl was already gone.

“Call the club when you pass a telephone booth!”, Micke shouted . “We can use the Plymo if the try to get away.”

[allting-ordnar-sig]

Varning för fula fiskar: Ch. 6 (1/1)

Chapter 6: Danger on the Roof

It was no Sunday trip, they had to face an icy headwind, it was dark, and non of them was in the mood to chat. After half an hour cycling they saw a farm appear in the darkness on the right side of the road.

“There it is.”, Ulli said and jumped off his bike.

A spooky blue light was glowing in one of the windows.

“They're watching TV.”, Sven deduces jealously and leaned his bike against the door. “You can go ahead, I'll get myself a coffee inside and follow you...”

“No”, Ulli said heartlessly. “They all sit there together and if they catch us here they'll think I'm crazy, that's how they are. And soon enough my whole family will know.”

In the metaphorical and literal light of Ulli's family so close by Sven could forgive him. Fifty-six cousins thinking you're crazy...

“I'll go in and distract them, otherwise they'll notice right away that someone's snooping around here. Jens said it's the building next door, you just have to go across the field... it has to be the big den over there. Well – I'll see you later at the agreed point!”

“Wait, which point did we agree to? What I'm I supposed to say when I'm done snooping around?”

“You'll think of something. As long as you don't say that you've been snooping around the Kennel. Maybe that you're coming from the next village and don't dare to walk home in the dark, or anything...”

„Damn it...“, Sven had a lot more to say, but it was too late. Ulli had already vanished in the warm hall and the door fell close behind him.

And Sven stood alone outside and was already freezing.

It was approximately zero degrees and a cold wins blew across Scania. The only thing he could hear was the howl of a dog across the fields. Sven decided on a quick examinations of the Kennel. The quickest examination imaginable. Actually, it didn't even had to be imaginable.

First he had to find shelter from the wind. This pint was crucial for survival and he might as well look for shelter in the Kennel building. He threw his bike into the thicket and headed for big shilouette, which stood out against the icy green sky on the other side of the field. He ran straight across the frozen lumps of earth, uncaring if All of Ulli's cousins saw his rampage. He just wanted to get out of the wind. Now.

It only took him one icy minute to reach the inner yard between the three large buildings, which reminded of an old closed Scanian farm in their array. He stood and panted for a few minutes, enjoying the shelter from the wind. The he continued to jump ahead for a few meters, and finally he felt like he was starting to defrost.

Really, this was stupid. How many blue vans could you find in Svedinge? It still didn't prove that Nils' infamous van had actually followed him. Nils had a lively imagination, the van might not even have been blue.

The longer he pondered over the whole incident the more unnecessary it seemed to strike out in this murderously cold wind to look for something that might not even exist. And if he did find something chances were one to one million that it was somehow connected to the disappearance of Gloria. He took out Micke's flashlight and let the beam of the flashlight wander over the whole yard, without skipping one single corner. The first thing he noticed was that it was impossible to get into the house. The earl had mentioned something about open windows, but when he got back Sven would be able to confirm that all the windows in the ground floor had solid shutters and the doors were locked. If the earl thought he'd climb the front like a burglar he could do that himself. Well, he did not literally have to climb the front, for in this very moment the shine of flashlight fell upon a brand new aluminum ladder, which was places against the wall up ahead. Under the ladder Sven saw something white, a slip of paper, which seemed rather new, compared to the other things lying around. The paper, he decided, was proof enough that he had examined the place with utmost care.

He looked at his watch. He'd have to wait five so he could claim he had been working hard. But barely two minutes had passed when he was overwhelmed by the though of coffee and a warm fireplace and cake, and he quickly headed for the white glowing window in the distance. But halfway across the yard he stopped abruptly. He had heard something – the sound of an engine, very close by – but that wasn't possible. What would anyone want at an empty building in the middle of the night. And why did he see no headlights?

He stood on the middle of the yard and listened. There was no doubt about it, a car was approaching in the dark. He started to panic. Was there some corner he could hide in?

Then he saw it. A huge dark shadow crept up the narrow street to the farm. Within seconds someone with a flashlight could appear. He was trapped.

What was he supposed to do?

A shadow on the wall – a stairway down to a cellar – a dark corner – anything! Although he knew very well that there was no such place to hide. He had searched the whole yard himself.

By then the car was about to drive into the yard. Sven ran along the wall and found the ladder and the next thing he knew, without really understanding how it had happened, was that he was standing on the top rug and fumbling for a place to step on the gutter at the edge of the roof.

It should be mentioned that this was completely untypical for Sven. Climbing was the worst thing he knew, it was worse than an old, dark building, worse than rats and ghosts.

If in the morning a fortune teller had told him that in the evening he'd stand on the roof of a three storey storage building he would have laughed and replied that they must have confused with the earl, and probably demanded to get his money back.

Now there he stood, his stomach pressed against the icy tiles, wondering how he would get down again. And how he he could have been stupid enough to climb up there in the first place. Why hadn't he just waited for the goddamn van and said something about a stroll in the moonlight in this lovely weather? Because it was a van, he saw that now that a dark figure got out of it and the shine of a flashlight fell upon the car. It was blue and there was a clearly visible bump at the wing. It was Nils' van – so what? Nothing could be more dangerous than standing on and old rusty gutter three storeys above the ground. He had already raised his left foot to climb back down again, when he heard a voice driver's cab:

“See if the coast is clear, Felix, I think I saw someone run across the yard when we came. We don't want anyone to call the police...”

It was a soft, gentle voice which gave Sven goosebumps.

“It probably was a rabbit, boss.”, the figure with the flashlight replied.

“You better make sure! We can't make any more mistakes, it bad enough that we can't sell the pups anymore.”

The bright shine of the flashlight looked like a pale finger, touching everything in the yard; the frozen hassocks, the wheelpaths, a couple of beer cans and a terrified little mouse, which quickly hid in its whole.

“It probably was the damn mouse, boss.”, laughed Felix.

„A 'probably' is not enough, Felix. It's a great risk for us to be here. Hurry up – someone could see us!”

The other man did not reply. He checked every inch of not only the yard, but also the walls, windows, the ladder...

The light beam touched Sven's feet, but the flashlight moved by so fast that he no one had time to notice something as crazy as two boots on a roof.

“Nothing, boss.”, reported Felix. “It's save.”

“Fine! Then go and get the ledger. It's at the bottom of the fodder bin. I threw some litter over it. I know it's there – so don't come back without it!”

His voice was no longer soft.

Sven had given up on any ambitions to climb back down and show himself. He stood completely still and tried to hold onto the edge of a tile.

The only comforting thought was that no millimeter would be able to save him, if he did happen to slip – or if the gutter gave in,

Felix vanished in the door. If Sven had dared to clasp his hands he would have doone so. But then he would have to let go of the tile, so he tied to utter his prayer without clasped hands. He closed his eyes and prayed: Make him find the ledger right away, so they can drive away. And make Ulli see that there's a car standing here so Jens' whole family will come over and catch the crooks. Make...

He didn't get any further, for God had answered at least half of his prayers already. Felix left the house. A key turned in the lock and was passed trough the window of the driver's cab. In the pale shine of the flashlight Sven saw the same thing happen to a thin brown book.

“Good.”; said the voice, and sounded sweet was sugar again. “Now get in and let's go!”

“Yes, please. Hurry up, or I'll fall down like a frozen apple.”, Sven whined.

Felix jumped in the ca and started the engine. How Sven only had to find the rug with his left foot – and then with the right foot...

He had raised his left foot from the gutter for the second time when the engine stopped. Felix jumped out of the car again and the voice followed him back into the yard.

“...thank God I thought of it – on the one hand it was expensive and on the other hand ladder are easy to track, they aren't sold that often. Can you lift it?”

“Me?”, Felix snorter. “With my little finger...”

Sven did not see which finger he used, but he managed to lift the ladder and fastened on the roof rack. The the car started again and vanished.

I guess you have to clasp your hands after all, Sven thought. Because this wasn't a very good answer to a prayer. Of course they were gone, but so was the ladder. And what about the rest of the prayer? He carefully turned his head a little. And the a little more... now he could look into the room with the blue light.

There was another light source, a reddish one, which was dancing on the wall – someone just put a few new log into the fireplace and the fire flared up... now and then Sven caught a glimpse of Ulli's red shirt on the sofa.

How could he make Ulli notice him?

Telepathy did not work very well against the fire and the TV. A signal fire might have been an option, but where should he get one of those. He heard a dog cry in the distance. So there was someone else who could not seem to find a solution to his problems. Shouting seemed pointless, when everyone sat inside and watched TV. The would think it was part of the movie. A signal fire... Suddenly he felt a sharp edge dig unto his ribs. Micke's flashlight! He could... but it was stormy and he did not have much time...

Inside on the sofa sat Ulli. The hot chocolate was long empty and he hadn't been able to ask his questions yet, because there was program about politics and sports, and Jens loved sports. And his father loved politics.

Ulli had tried a couple of times: “Hey, Jens.”, he had said quietly, to as little of an interruption as possible. “”That kennel...”

„Mhhhm – but look – did you see that? What grace – as if he was flying – now he's pulling ahead!! He can keep his place – he's WINNIG!! What did you say, Ulli, just now before he came home?”

“No, there's been this shady kennel next door...”

“This way they'll get richer and richer of course!”, said Jens' father next to him. He looked threateningly at a smiling minister on TV. “Just because one idiot runs one tiny part of a second faster...” The minister vanished. “What did you say, Ulli?”

“Nothing important.”, sighed Ulli and looked at his watch. Twenty more minutes, and no more hot chocolate.

Jens' father looked out of the window in irritation. “This star really is annoying. Flashing the whole time – it's hurting my eye. Must be Saturn.”

“Judging by the intervals it could be Vega.”, said Ulli. “It has to be a really bright one. But it shouldn't be visible at this time of the year!”

“Just shut the blinds, Jens, you can't even watch TV in peace. Now they are showing the financial minister.”

Just when Jens reluctantly got up from the sofa Ulli noticed a certain pattern in the flashing.

“Short, short, short, long, long, long, short, short, short – an astronaut flashing SOS?”

Jens was about to let down the blinds when Ulli shouted;

“Sven! It's Sven!” The sofa table shifted half a meter, coffee sloped over, a pretty little mahogany chair fell.

On the door sill he called back over his shoulder: “Don't let them down, it's Sven...”

Jens' family exchanged looks.

“They've always been a little clumsy on your side of the family.”, said Jens' mother, who sat in front of the fireplace with a book from the library.

“You mean crazy.”, murmured Jens and went outside. “Someone has to go and look where the idiot ran off to.”

At the bottom of the stairs he saw no sign of Ulli, but he heard him. Heavy boots stumped across the field, a few rabbits fled in panic and different calls were heard from the direction of the old estate: “Where are you? Flash again – I'm coming – I can' see you.” A short analysis of the flashed answer followed. “Where are – ah, I see you now – just one more...”

Now Jens saw the flashing as well. Only a few times, but that was enough. Someone was on the roof! And Ulli yelled: “Jens, is that you? Get a ladder! And hurry up, or he's going to fall down!”

“A ladder, father.”, Jens panted, addressing his father, who had come out as well by now, angry and confused. “There's someone on the roof.” He was already halfway at the barn. Thirty seconds later he tries his best to set a record for sprinting with a ladder and he still almost arrived too later. Ulli stood at the wall f the building now, his arms stretched out and pleading: “Hold on for a few more seconds, Sven – they are almost – there they are!”

Jens heard a thud and cried: “Don't tell me that was...”

“It was his flashlight, I mean Micke's flashlight – bring the ladder!”, Ulli shouted frantically. “He's up there – no, there!”

It took almost fifteen minutes to get Sven down. Ulli and Jens held the ladder, Jens' father climbed up and half carried, half pulled Sven onto the ladder. That was the worst part. But the rest wasn't easy either, because Sven was frozen stiff and shook so hard, that every move was a gamble.

Had Jens' father not held him at the hem of his Jeans the whole time he probably wouldn't have dared to climb down. When he finally was back on solid ground Ulli let out a shaky sigh and said: “And I thought you didn't like climbing.”

Sven bent down mechanically and picked up the small slip of paper and put it into his pocket. “Micke's flashlight.”, he said hoarsely. “What did I do with it.”

“Don't worry about it.”, smiled Jens' father. “You should be happy it wasn't you that fell down from the roof. Run back home and put the fire back on, Jens, and make fresh coffee... no, hot chocolate with a lot of sugar is better!”

Jens set off and the other three walked slowly across the field. Non of the boys said anything, Sven was barely present and Ulli thought about all his cousins.

Mister Olsson did not say anything either, but he gave Sven a questioning look now and then. Finally he couldn't hold back anymore.

“But how in God's name did you get onto the roof? Did you climb up there?”

Sven looked at Ulli from below his fringe. Ulli raised his shoulders in resignation.

“There was a ladder when I came.”, Sven explained. “But they took it.” “Who's 'they'?”, Mister Olsson asked skeptically. They had reached the farm now and he opened the door. To Sven it felt like stepping into a dream.

“Them with the van. I was in the yard, looking for – for a lead.”

“Who's 'they'?”

“Them came without headlights in their van, so I could barely climb up the ladder and onto the gutter in time. Yes – and then they took it – the ladder I mean – and drove away with it.” Sven realised himself that his explanation could have been more in detail, but he was so tired.

Mister Olsson was silent, but it was a charged silence and smoked furiously on his pipe.

Ulli could only add a few details until Jens came in and brought along the smell of hot chocolate and fresh cookies.

“You have to understand, father, they build radios in their club.”, he said apologetically. “And sometimes they hunt criminals, so... You remember the story about the smugglers in the newspaper?”

“Oh, it's about them?” Mister Olsson leaned back on the sofa. Finally all the puzzle piece put themselves together and the whole picture was visible. But he still wasn't satisfied.

“And who were the guys with the van?”

“Those where the guys who owned the kennel.”, Ulli intervened. “We came here tonight to find out a little more about them. We have a schoolmate who got rabies...”

“Yeah that thing about the kennel was a bad story. What was the owner called again?”, Mister Olsson asked his wife, who had sat down in her armchair again and secretly looked into her book.

“Well, he...”, she said and looked up for a second. “Didn't he say his name as Napoleon or Caesar... Nero... a strange name, in any case. It was in the newspaper.”

“Yeah, but that wasn't his real name.”, Jens protested. “They called him Anders, I heard it trough the window that last night when they were in a hurry and I went over to the kennel. Just before they vanished.

“And you heard no surname?”, asked Ulli, because he had been told to do so, although he knew it was painless.”

“No, only Anders.”, Jens replied. “We barely knew them at all. They never even said hello, they weren't that kind of people.”

There was a laud giggle from Sven, who sat with his toes as close to the fire as he could without setting his socks on fire. The very though of the guy with the gentle voice saying hello, or inviting their neighbours over to a barbeque. He shivered despite the warmth from the fire. He had been so close to falling. Seriously.

Mister Olsson stood up. “It's getting late, I'll drive you home.”, he said. “Where do you live?” Sven jumped to his feet. “We only have to go the uptown.”, he said hastily. “And I have to take my bike home.”

“Yeah, we'll go by bike.”, Ulli said without batting an eyelash. Sven seemed to plan on spending the night at Charlottenruh. Fine, so at least Ulli didn't have to spend the night on the sofa and listening to burglars alone.

But when they arrived at the club he asked, shaking: “Why again did we declined a ride home? I'm frozen to the bone.”

“Because he would have brought me all the way to our farm and then he would have come inside and told my mother the whole story and I hate honey mild with skin on it.”, Sven explained. “I'll just call home and say that I'll spend the night here. Also, Micke was going to drop by after the school dance, and there's so much I want to tell him.”

“Me too!”

The voice came from a deep armchair, which stood with its back towards the door. A pair of feet was dangling over the armrest and magazines piled up in various stacks on the floor around the chair.

“What are you doing?”, Sven asked irritated. “Do you have to sit there and eavesdrop to people?”

“No, I surely don't. “, said the earl. “I just sat here and happened to heart you. What was you wanted to tell?”

“That's non of your business.”, Sven snapped and thought quickly. How much was he allowed to tell? They had no more secrets from the earl. But he knew the earl never would have climbed up that ladder. And if he had, he wouldn't have remained standing up there like and idiot, but would have gotten back down in some elegant way. Sven just couldn't imagine how. “Just that I saw the blue van and we know the owner's called Andersm and not Knut Nilsson, like the police believes. We also know that they used the van to evacuate their shady kennel – just like Ulli thought. If they followed Nils, it must be those crooks who stole Gloria.”

“And how do you know all of this?”, the earl asked.

“Because I have been eavesdropping myself for a change, I learnt that trick from you.”, said Sven. “Have you been answering ads?” He gestured towards the magazines.

“Nah, it's only because Nils had the idea to get himself a little boa constrictor, he saw an ad for 20 kronor, but couldn't remember in which magazine. I couldn't find the ad either, but here's a “search and sell” kind of page and someone wants to sell a rattle snake for a tenner. That's ten kronor less for Nils. He could keep it in the kitchen...”

“But he already has a snake.”, Sven grinned and ran upstairs to his dusty bed.

Micke would have to wait until the next morning.

[allting-ordnar-sig]

Varning för fula fiskar: Ch. 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5: 100.000 Worms

After an unpleasant evening in the club ever finally went home and Ulli made himself comfortable on the sofa in the yellow parlour. It had been a whole moth since his parents had left for their vacation. But this night he wasn't able to fall asleep. Which wasn't like him at all.

The sofa wasn't the problem. The beds on the first floor weren’t really his cup of tea, with their velvet curtains and tassels and all – no, he'd rather curl up on the sofa with only a woolen blanket. So far that had worked fine for him. But that night... Barely five minutes later he was on his feet again – to check if he had locked the door. And of course he had.

He lay back down and tried to sleep for another fifteen minutes until he realised it was pointless. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep until he had stood up to check the kitchen door as well, although he knew it was locked – and of course he had.

Now he would surely be able to sleep. He lay down again – and immediately started tossing and turning, until his blanket slipped down. He pulled it back up and continued to toss and turn. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone what looking trough the window. He couldn't say why. This time he wouldn't give in, even if he was going to lie awake the whole night.

One sleepless hour later he pushed his blanket to the floor, sat up and started mumbling things you couldn't find in any Swedish dictionary, and you could find a lot of things in those. That didn't help either, and he stood up again and drew the brocade curtains, which took him more than half an hour, because in his anger he pulled a little hard on one of them and the whole curtain pole came crashing down on his head.

There was no point in just letting it go and ignoring the windows, he understood that much. That way all of his work with the other windows would had been in vain. It wasn't easy to reinstall the curtain pole, he had to move a few pieces of furniture to reach the window in question. But in the end everything was back in its place. He could pull the curtain close and clam down.

By then it was two in the morning. He put the lights out and went to the sofa – that had been his plan at least. Instead he hit his left big toe on one of the table legs, which didn't stand in its usual place.

The toe swelled up and it was three am before the worst pain was over, and by the he was wide awake again. So he lay awake and listened to his own heartbeat in the desolate silence of the house. Well, it was not completely silent, he heard squeaking and creaking in all corners of the big villa.

“Pure imagination, of course.”, he murmured and pulled the blanket up to his chin. The desire to walk around and check everything was gone, although he was so tired that he wasn't sure what was real and what was only his imagination. He wasn't even sure if he had really locked the kitchen door – and did he check the front door? Another thirteen minutes later the only thing he was sure of was that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep anymore.

Then he heard something, and this time it definitely wasn't his imagination. Silent steps walked outside the house, steps that scrunched in the frozen grass as they crept around the villa. To the kitchen door of course, Ulli though nervously, that way the thief would have to come trough the parlour – past the sofa... he hid under his blanket and lay absolutely still. No – not the kitchen door. The cellar door – Ulli knew the sound. He had fought with that door many times himself. You had to pull with all your might, and that's exactly what someone had just done, without worrying much about the consequence. The door gave in with an awful noise, then everything was quiet. Someone waited and listened.

Ulli decided to snore. Snoring people were harmless and harmless people didn’t have to be killed. So he snored, and he had a lot of practice with that.

Soon someone came up the stairs from the cellar, without trying very hard to not to be heard. The door to the hall was opened with a creak and the steps went on, up to the first floor. Calm, careless steps. That's when Ulli understood. Suddenly there was a very easy explanation for the whole, miserable night; the earl. It was him who sneaked around all night and squeaked and creaked and looked trough the window, that was just like what he'd been up to lately. He wanted to scare Ulli and ridicule him – but nothing doing!

Ulli moved to a more comfortable position and laughed to himself. He would not get up on his blue pyjamas, he knew very well that it wasn't the most flattering piece of clothing for his figure. He would not stomp up the stairs, the earl would not get a good laugh, he wouldn’t do him that favour.

No, Ulli would simply stay on the sofa. He felt much safer now that they were two, although the other person was the earl. Ulli smiled. He would pretend to sleep and snore, that would annoy the snake more than anything. And when would come into the parlour it would be Ulli who'd have something to laugh about.

The earl took his time. Ulli spent some minutes wondering what the guy was up to – except for playing a joke on Ulli. Closet doors were opened and closed again and again. Ulli didn't listen for much longer. His snoring became more realistic by the minute and soon he was fast asleep, the blanket almost drawn over his head.

„It's pure hell, having to stay here any longer.”, said Ulli shakily that same afternoon. “And I thought it was you, who wanted to pull a trick on me!”

“At four in the morning?” The earl looked amused. “If there's someone pulling a trick on you it may very well be me – but not after the last bus to Thoringe went. If you want to be wound up afterwards you gotta lend me the money for a cab. It wasn't me this time.”

“Of course you say that now.” Ulli still didn't seem convinced.

“Do you think the earl would cut the telephone line?”, Micke asked impatiently. He had been outside and had found two lose ends of the wire tangling from the wall and shining in the sunlight.

“And do you think the earl would bother to come through the cellar door when he has a key to both the front door and the kitchen door?”, Sven asked hotly.

„No, of course that's kind of suspicious. But that's exactly why I thought...” Ulli's tired eyes skeptically regarded the earl's innocent expression. “I mean, if it wasn't him the who was it? Because when he walked in – he didn't even try to be quiet. He just walked through the house like it was no big deal.”

“He probably didn't know someone lived here. Normally that's true.”, Sven said thoughfully.

“Or he knew Ulli well enough to know he didn't have to be careful, once Ulli's asleep. You snored, didn't you?”

“Yeahhh”, Ulli said lowly. He wouldn’t brag with his snoring, everyone knew about it anyway. “I did so you – he, I mean – would think I was asleep. I'm not sure what happened the, because I really fell asleep.

“The you snored.”, the earl said calmly. “We all know that. So why would he bother to be quiet?”

“Yes, but why was he here anyway?”, asked Ulli, finally giving up.

“Well” The earl smiled mysteriously. “People do things for strange reasons.”

Micke and Sven exchange a look. Was that guy toying with them? Was he guilty after all?

“You said he was looking for something?”, Micke continued the questioning. He turned towards the earl. “Are you sure there's nothing worth stealing up there?”

“You mean like the Tsar's rubies or a golden goblet from the middle ages? Now that you mention it, they might still be here, but I wouldn't know where.”, the earl grinned. “Maybe a few tons anscient dust...”

“Quit fooling around!”, Micke interrupted him. “Ulli heard how someone looked trough the closets.”

Nils who sat on the floor beside the door had been quiet the whole time. Now he vanished like a little shadow. Nobody noticed it.

“... did he look trough the drawers, too?”, asked Micke.

“Boxes!”, cried Henrik. “That's it. I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. The boxed with the stuff for my invention are up there. With blueprints and sketches and everything! That's what he's after!” Er jumped to his feet and rant towards the stairs.

A silent smile went trough the room. “No thief is that stupid.”, the earl whispered.

They heard Henrik's determined steps on the way to the closet. A door was opened and a chair pushed aside.

“That's just what it sounded like last night.”, whispered Ulli. “And I lay here and laugehd to myself because I thought it was you.” He shivered.

The earl laughed. “That's the stupidest thing. As if I'd come here at four a.m. to rearrange around the furniture. Not if I could do it during the day.”, he added.

Upstairs it had been silent for a couple of minute. Now they heard a scream and then the mannerly Henrik blurted out some curses the radio communication amateurs hadn't known he was familiar with. And it seemed like he wanted the colonel's wife in the villa beside them to learn them as well... or whole Svedinge.

“He found a dead body.”, said Kent and stood up.

“Surely not.”, smiled Micke. “Maybe a rotten apple. He's easy to shock.”

Thee earl had stood up. He tried to look unmoved, but Sven notices that his eyes were alert.

Now they heard Henrik's steps on the stairs. Slow, careful steps, that didn't really seem to fit the obscene words coming from his mouth.

He entered the yellow parlour like he was walking on a high wire. Between his thumb and his index finger he held the handle of a greet plastic bucket he placed on the table with the same expression Neil Armstrong had when he placed the American flag on the moon. Except for that Henrik was as green as the bucket.

“That does it!”, he yelled. Which means, actually he used a really ugly word, but the meaning was the same. He wanted to continue cursing, but he couldn't get anything out, because he was forced to do a quick retreat to the toilet.

From there they finally heard a weak “Take those creatures and bring them somewhere else, where they can continue to reproduce... the whole's closet's full of them...”

The others sat like stupefied in front of the green bucket, all except for the earl, who discretely approached the door. Now everyone notices a small white worm that tried to crawl over the edge of the bucket. Other worms started to follow him.

“Oh, that's nothing.”, the earl said cheerfully. He had reached the door now and groped for the door handle behind his back. “That's only Nils' poor fish food. They need to get living food once a week, and Alexander taught Nils how to...”

The earl wanted to showcase another great escape, but this time Micke was there to pull him back into the room.

[flyingbra]

I’m an horrible friend Nhikas…. shit…. it took me almost 5 months to finish this, I kept drawing Jean over and over and over *sob* ohgod last week he even looked like a korean singer

I made a lill extra for you <3 :3