The Mist

home by today but I, well, I managed to lose them.’ He gave a rueful sigh.
‘You lost them?’
‘Well, I think I was the one who got lost. They’re both much more experienced than me. I can’t imagine how they’re feeling right now – they must be worried sick.’
‘What were you doing in the area?’
‘Shooting ptarmigan. Look, I couldn’t possibly borrow your phone, could I? You do have a phone?’
He pushed back his chair and stood up.
‘Yes, of course,’ Einar replied. ‘The line can be a bit crackly in weather like this, but it was all right the last time –’
‘Yesterday,’ Erla interrupted. ‘We made a call yesterday.’
‘It’s in the sitting room,’ Einar went on. ‘It can take a few goes to get a connection, as it’s a shared line, so you might have to be patient.’
Leó disappeared into the other room.
‘I’m not getting a dialling tone,’ he called after a while.
Einar stood up and went into the sitting room. ‘You don’t need to press anything, you should just hear a dialling tone when you pick up the receiver. Though, like I said, it can take a few tries if other people are using the line.’
Erla stayed where she was in the kitchen, listening as the men tried repeatedly to get a connection.
‘Damn it,’ Einar said when they came back in. ‘The phone’s dead. The line must be down.’
‘The line? But what … what about…?’ Erla trailed off. ‘Are you sure? It’s ages since that last happened.’
‘Must be the sheer weight of snow,’ Einar said. ‘It’s a bloody nuisance.’
‘Will someone come and sort it out?’ Leó asked.
‘It depends. Sometimes we have to wait a while for the engineers to fix it. We’re not top of their list, as you can imagine.’ Einar gave a wry smile. ‘I’m afraid this puts you in a difficult position, but I’m damned if I know what to do. The road’s impassable for the jeep in these conditions. We don’t normally stir from here in the middle of winter.’
‘Oh, I see,’ said Leó. ‘The thing is, I don’t know if I feel up to heading back straight away.’
‘Goodness, no, of course not. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to. I was just thinking it must be pretty urgent to get a message to your friends that you’re alive.’
‘Well, yes, it is. I just hope they don’t send out a search party to look for me, but I suppose that’s possible.’
‘If they do, they’re bound to find our place,’ Einar said.
‘Speaking of which, how did you find us?’ Erla chipped in. ‘How did you know there were houses up here?’
‘What? Is there more than one?’
‘There are two, actually,’ Einar replied.
‘No, I didn’t know anyone lived out here at all,’ Leó said.
Erla had an uneasy feeling about this visit. She studied the man, who had sat back down at the kitchen table, and tried to work out if he was telling the truth. He was hard to read. His gaze was intent and unwavering but his expression gave little away. She noted that he was strongly built and looked fit. He must be somewhere between forty and fifty. Despite his fatigue, he didn’t seem to be in too bad shape for someone who had just been through such an ordeal, but of course appearances could be deceptive.
‘I stumbled on this place by pure chance,’ he continued. ‘An unbelievable stroke of luck. There were markers sticking out of the snow here and there, so I guessed it was a road and tried to follow it. Do you really mean there are only two houses in the entire area?’
‘Yes, in a very large area, in fact,’ Einar said.
‘There are us two on this farm,’ Erla elaborated, ‘and then our daughter Anna’s place, which is a bit of a walk from here.’
‘You were extremely lucky,’ Einar told him.
‘I realize that.’ Leó took another mouthful of stew. Erla was sure it must be cold by now, but their guest didn’t seem to mind.
‘There was nothing about it on the midday news,’ she remarked, then immediately wished she hadn’t mentioned it.
There was a tense silence. She caught Einar frowning at her, clearly annoyed by her comment.
‘About what?’ Leó asked after a pause, though it was plain that he knew perfectly well what she meant.
‘About you, about the fact you’re missing.’
‘Oh, well, now you come to mention it, it didn’t occur to me that I could end up on the news. My friends are tough guys. I doubt they’d go straight to the police. In fact, I bet they’re still trying to track me down themselves. It’s not that long since we lost sight of each other and they’ve got a map of the area, or at least one of them has. Your farm’s definitely marked on the map, isn’t it? I expect they’re on their way here as we speak.’ He smiled awkwardly.
‘On some maps, yes. Still, I imagine they’ll turn up soon if you got separated on the moors near here. It would make sense.’
The conversation petered out and no one said anything for a while. Erla didn’t like to stare at their visitor while he was eating, so she swung her gaze back and forth between her husband and the window. It wasn’t snowing, but a fierce wind was blowing outside and the whole house chimed in as usual, while icy draughts sought out every chink in the walls or window frames. When the temperature plummeted, like it had yesterday evening, the heating was powerless against the cold. Today was a little milder, though presumably still below freezing. But then it was highly unusual for the mercury to rise above zero in midwinter.
‘Thanks very much,’ Leó said at last, his bowl empty. He had polished off most of the bread too.
‘You’ll stay with us – we have a spare room for guests down the passage,’ Einar said.
‘That’s very kind, thank you.’
‘I would offer to guide you back to the village tomorrow, but it’s Christmas Eve, you see, so