Christmas Island

by Natalie Normann

  ‘Will you get off my pants and my bra, Frøy?’ she said.

  Frøy thought it was hilarious, that much was clear. He sprawled out all four legs and waved his tail in her face.

  I’m not going to be bested by a cat, she thought. Holly flipped him over and grabbed her clothes.

  Frøy jumped up and gave her a proper judgemental cat look before strolling away to sit in front of his dish. There was food in it, probably from the day before, but he ignored that.

  ‘I’m so not giving you tuna. I don’t even know if Tor has anything like that.’ Holly looked behind her when she heard the familiar sound of her phone.

  ‘Now what,’ she muttered. She found the phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

  It was Jack. Holly read the message and then looked at the time. Bollocks, she thought. They’re on their way home now and the house is such a mess!

  Suddenly all of her calm disappeared. She started putting on the rest of her clothes, and looked around for something to write on, so she could leave a note for Tor.

  By the time she had written the note, put it on his coffee maker, and was ready to leave, Frøy had disappeared.

  Holly figured he had returned to Tor and opened the door to the lounge carefully. Tor was still sleeping upstairs and she didn’t have the heart to wake him.

  The wind wasn’t too bad outside and she pulled down her woollen hat and headed towards the road.

  By the time she arrived at the house, Holly knew she was too late. All the lights were on and she could see smoke curling up from the chimney.

  Damn, damn, damn, she thought. How on earth did they manage to get to the island already? She knew the ferry didn’t run this early.

  The moment she put her hand on the door handle, a dog started barking like a maniac from inside.

  Frikk, Holly thought. She had never met Ninni's dog, and judging from the level of barking, he hated her already.

  ‘Shut up, you stupid mutt,’ she heard her brother shouting.

  Holly hesitated to open the door. It would be a really bad holiday if the dog mauled her right before Christmas.

  ‘Jack, it’s me! Will Frikk attack me if I come in?’

  The door cracked open and a bleary-eyed Jack looked at her.

  ‘Ah, look at you, my sister who wasn’t here to greet us,’ he said, grinning from ear to ear.

  ‘Don’t be a bastard,’ Holly said. ‘Can I come in? Or do I have to sleep in the stabbur?’

  ‘Look at you! Picking up all the Norwegian culture,’ he teased her.

  ‘Will you let her in before you let all the heat out?’ Ninni called from inside the house.

  Jack nodded. ‘Okay, come in, Holly. Heating is very important in these parts.’

  As soon as she was inside and the door locked, he lifted her up in a bear hug. ‘I’m so happy to see you!’

  Holly squealed and tried to wriggle loose. ‘Will you stop it, you madman! I’m not five years old anymore.’

  Jack put her down. ‘You will always be my snotty baby sister, so get over it. Take off your coat and boots and get inside. Where did you get that gear, by the way?’

  ‘Wouldn’t you like to know. What about Frikk?’ Holly took of the boots and coat, stuffing the woollen hat and mittens in the pockets.

  ‘Frikk is with Ninni. He’s guarding his house and his flock, but once he understands you’re part of the family, he’ll be fine.’

  ‘Where has he been? I forgot to ask you if you had brought him to Spain with you,’ Holly said.

  Jack rolled his eyes. ‘He’s been with Petter, Ninni's dad. We went to Bergen first, picked up Frikk and then took the night bus. A friend of Petters ferried us to the island in his boat. God, travelling is exhausting.’

  Holly could hear Frikk growling from the lounge. ‘How is he with cats?’

  ‘Cats? Where?’ Ninni came out from the kitchen with Rosie on her hip. Rosie was chewing on a sweet bun.

  ‘Not here, obviously, but I have been in contact with a cat lately,’ Holly said.

  ‘He loves cats.’ Ninni smiled before giving Holly a hug. ‘Welcome. I’m so happy you are here!’

  Rosie became part of the hug and giggled. Holly looked at her.

  ‘She’s grown so much since I saw her last. Hi, Rosie.’

  The baby grinned and offered her the now soggy bun. Holly pretended to take a huge bite, which made Rosie giggle even more.

  ‘You have no idea,’ Jack said and took Rosie from Ninni. ‘Watch this.’

  He put Rosie down on the floor and she ran off. She stretched up to reach the handle to the lounge door.

  ‘Flikk out,’ she said, and pushed the door open.

  The dog stopped growling and licked Rosie on the cheek. She pointed at him with a tiny finger. ‘Flikk, sit,’ she said.

  Holly gaped as Frikk sat and was rewarded with the bun.

  Rosie patted him on the head.

  Ninni laughed. ‘You should see your face, Holly.’

  ‘When did she start to walk? And talk like that? Dad didn’t say anything.’

  ‘She does this more and more now. I can barely keep up.’ Jack's voice brimmed with pride.

  Holly looked at Ninni. ‘I’m so sorry about the mess. I had plans to clean and hoover, but I got distracted by the market and… and everything.’

  She hadn’t noticed that Frikk was sniffing her leg. Holly held out her hand and he graciously gave it a small sniff and then wagged his tail. ‘You’re beautiful, aren’t you?’ Holly said.

  ‘Flikk!’ Rosie said, holding onto her other leg.

  ‘Right. Frikk.’

  Ninni saved her. ‘Are you up for breakfast? As you know, thanks to Jack we have plenty of what he calls proper tea, and we also have coffee. What’s your favourite?’

  ‘Tea would be heaven. I didn’t really get much sleep last night.’ The moment the words left her mouth, she groaned inside.

  Jack burst out laughing, followed by Ninni and a few seconds later, Rosie joined in.

  Holly bent down and picked her up. ‘Laughing at your poor aunt already? That’s not nice.’

  Rosie giggled and said something intelligible.

  ‘I totally agree,’ Holly said.

  Jack steered her towards one of the chairs in the kitchen. ‘Sit down, tell us all about the cat and the not sleeping. Does this have anything to do with the hermit you kissed?’

  Holly rolled her eyes. ‘You sound exactly like Dad. Poor Rosie when she becomes a teenager.’

  ‘First of all, that was mean. Second, Rosie will be sensible. Not wild like you,’ he said.

  ‘That… that’s ridiculous.’ Holly took the cup of tea Ninni handed her. ‘Thank you. I can’t discuss things with Jack before tea and breakfast.’

  Jack picked up Rosie and put her in the high chair. Then he handed her a piece of toast. Rosie threw the toast away, and Frikk caught it before it touched the floor.

  ‘No more toast for you, silly,’ Jack said.

  ‘You gave her the bun. I told you not to,’ Ninni said, handing Jack his cup and sitting down with a coffee for herself. ‘I mean, would you eat a dry toast when you know there are yummies in the house?’

  ‘Yummy,’ Rosie declared and looked at her father. ‘Yummy!’

  ‘Oh my god, I’ve created a monster,’ Jack muttered. ‘There are no more buns, baby, because you ate them all.’

  Holly smiled. ‘No buns, but there is lefse, if she likes that. I brought it from the market.’

  Jack lit up. ‘Is there more than one?’

  ‘Yes, you can go see for yourself. It’s in the fridge.’

  Jack brought back the paper bag and made a show of it for Rosie who clapped her hands in anticipation.

  ‘There’s cinnamon and that sticky cheese,’ Holly said.

  ‘Brown cheese? We love that, don’t we, Rosie?’ Jack broke one of the lefser in half and then again, and handed Rosie a quarter.

  ‘Enjoy.’

  Rosie grabbed it with both hands and jammed
it in her mouth. She was clearly enjoying herself.

  Ninni split a cinnamon lefse with Holly. ‘Did Alma make these?’

  ‘No, two women at the market did. It was like watching a very cold version of The Great British Bake Off,’ Holly said.

  Jack looked at her, his eyes shining. ‘So, tell us about the hermit. Or the not-so-hermit anymore, if you’re staying with him.’

  ‘He’s not totally lonely. He has a cat, you know,’ Ninni said.

  Holly nodded. ‘A huge, black cat. He’s gorgeous, all fluffy and massive.’

  Jack raised his eyebrows. ‘Please tell me you’re still talking about the cat.’

  ‘Of course it’s the cat, silly. Tor isn’t fluffy,’ she said, watching her brother almost choke on his tea.

  Ninni laughed so hard she lost her breath. ‘Oh my god, we have to meet him,’ she said when she finally managed to breathe normally again.

  ‘You’ll meet him at some point,’ Holly said, a bit hesitant.

  ‘I’m so happy to be home. I’m exhausted from spending too much time with my mum,’ Ninni said. ‘We get on a lot better with shorter visits.’

  ‘She wanted us to stay over Christmas,’ Jack said, smiling at Ninni.

  ‘Yes, like that was ever going to happen. She knows that. I want to celebrate Christmas in my own house, and she doesn’t want to come to the island.’ Ninni shook her head.

  Jack and Holly exchanged looks, but didn’t say anything.

  ‘But Rosie and mormor had a great time together, didn’t you, sweetie?’ Ninni stroked Rosie’s curls.

  ‘Yes, they did.’ Jack smiled. ‘It was lovely to see. The connection between them, it was instant.’

  Ninni smiled. ‘And she almost managed to not comment on how much Rosie looks like “our side of the family”.’

  Jack scrunched his face. ‘Can we go back to talking about Holly’s sexcapades? You know, with the massive, not so fluffy hermit?’

  Holly offered up the requested distraction. ‘Tor is… nice and sweet, and really hot, so you better be nice to him.’

  Jack lifted his hands. ‘I will treat him like royalty.’

  ‘Good, because he’s a bit out of practice with socialising, so be really nice.’

  ‘What does he do? And why is he here on the island?’ Ninni handed Rosie a sippy cup.

  ‘He’s an architect, actually, working from home. Why he’s here, I don’t really know, to be honest.’ Holly shrugged. ‘I haven’t asked him.’

  ‘I bet he’s done something dodgy, and now he’s in hiding. Like, he stole the cat and someone wants it back.’

  Holly gaped at Jack. ‘No, that’s not it at all. He came from a shelter and he’s not some expensive breed. The cat, I mean.’

  Jack chuckled. ‘I hope not. But maybe it’s not the cat. Maybe he’s not an architect, but an actual, bona fide fisherman.’

  ‘Again, so much no. He’s an architect and I know that because I checked him out on social media. So there. Also, are you trying to tell me that being a fisherman is dodgy? Because I really don’t think so.’ Holly scowled at him.

  Ninni shook her head. ‘Please don’t stick out your tongue, Holly. You’ll be a bad example to Rosie. She’s copying everything these days. Which reminds me, if she starts swearing in English, I’ll know who to blame.’

  ‘Harsh,’ Holly said, tickling one of Rosie’s chubby hands.

  ‘Halsh,’ Rosie said with glee.

  Ninni smiled. ‘Point proven.’

  Holly looked at her brother. ‘See? You better watch your mouth, Daddy.’

  ‘I didn’t say anything. You did.’ Jack pulled a face at her and laughed when Rosie tried to copy him.

  Ninni rolled her eyes. ‘She’s like a little parrot.’

  Jack looked at his watch. ‘I have to meet Tobben and Olav. We’re setting up the fire pit for New Year’s Eve. How cool is that?’ He looked thrilled at the idea. ‘Want to come with me, Holly?

  Holly shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

  Ninni handed Rosie a toy. ‘I think I will put this one down for a nap and then maybe take a nap myself before I have to even imagine being social. Travelling from Costa Blanca to this island is a long trip and I don’t feel human yet.’

  Jack looked at Holly. ‘Are you sure? We’re going to dig a fire pit, maybe two, on our beach. Might be fun.’

  ‘No, it sounds like hard work. I’m tired,’ Holly said.

  ‘Ah, that kind of night,’ Jack said. ‘Better not tell Dad then.’

  ‘Please don’t. He’s going to give me the sex talk again. He loves doing that.’

  Ninni leaned over. ‘What is the sex talk?’

  Jack looked at Holly. ‘Dad has this theory, and it started with me, of course, that if he explained sex as embarrassingly as possible, none of us would get ourselves into trouble. And now that I think we’ve proved that to him, he does it because he’s mean.’

  Holly rolled her eyes. ‘The first time he told me, I was fifteen and ready to go on my very first date. There were graphs and explanations and long stories about how to not do things and also to always wear protection. He does this whole presentation with drawings and quotes from Health and Safety.’

  Ninni was shaking with laughter. ‘That sounds like Paul, yes.’

  ‘He claims it’s his fatherly bonus to torture his children.’ Jack tickled Rosie under her cheek. ‘And it’s a proud tradition I will continue with my children. You have so much to look forward to, Rosie.’

  Rosie put a sticky hand on his face and then threw her toy on the floor.

  ‘And that’s the cue for us to leave. Jack, I will see you later. Holly, will you be fine?’

  ‘Of course I will. I’ll take a quick shower and then I’ll go see Tor.’

  ‘Tor? You mean Thor, right?’ Jack looked confused.

  ‘Please don’t call him that. He absolutely hates being called Thor.’

  ‘What is wrong with Thor? He’s awesome,’ Jack said.

  ‘No Norwegian Tor would spell their name with “th”. I’m with Holly’s Tor on this one,’ Ninni said, lifting Rosie out of the high chair. ‘Remember the first time someone called you “yak”?’ she said to Jack. ‘You hated that.’

  He cringed. ‘I’m not a bloody ox,’ he said.

  Holly waved her finger at him. ‘See? That’s the exact same reaction Tor had.’

  ‘That’s hilarious,’ Ninni said.

  She bent down and kissed Jack, making Rosie squeal with laughter.

  ‘I’ll see you later, Holly,’ Ninni said, before going upstairs. They could hear her talking to Rosie as they climbed the stairs.

  Jack turned to Holly. ‘How have you been here these last few days? I’m guessing you’ve done things other than just… frolicking… with the architect slash fisherman?’

  ‘Frolicking? Really?’

  ‘Yes, you know what I mean. How have you been doing here alone?’

  Holly leaned back in the chair. ‘I’ve hiked on the island a few times. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it’s not very interesting, at least not in the winter. It’s mostly grey stones and grey sea and grey sky, total Nordic Noir. I also went fishing on Tor’s boat. We caught crabs and fish,’ she said, when he looked like he was about to interrupt her with his nosiness. ‘It was gorgeous. We drank coffee and watched the sun rise.’

  ‘Sounds like a proper holiday romance,’ Jack said and pulled a face.

  Holly ignored him. ‘And after that I slaved at the market for my forgetful and ungrateful brother. Oh, and I also helped Emil when Ole threw a snowball in his face.’

  ‘You have been busy.’ Jack filled up their cups. ‘Have you managed to relax a little? Dad doesn’t want to ask you too much, in case you don’t want to talk about it. I have no such reservations. Tell me. Have you heard from the hospital?’

  Holly shook her head. ‘Not yet. Drives me bonkers, as you can well understand.’

  ‘Are you worried they won't let you come back?’ Jack looked
concerned now.

  Just hearing it said out aloud made Holly cringe. ‘Of course I am,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if they don’t. I’ve worked so hard for what feels like forever and to lose it now when I’m finally nearly there, is terrifying.’

  ‘That’s how I felt when I lost my job in London. All those years felt completely wasted. And now look at me.’ Jack looked around the kitchen and picked up one of the brownie-nisser and grinned. ‘Now I live in a house filled with psycho dolls.’

  Holly laughed. ‘They are so creepy. Like giant elves on shelves. First time I came in the door, I wasn’t sure what to think. Luckily Alma insisted on following me inside.’

  Jack smiled at her. ‘You look better. Happier. These last few years all I’ve ever seen from you are worries about exams and high stress. No wonder you flipped.’

  ‘I did not flip,’ Holly said, on the defence at once. ‘I… had a small breakdown.’

  ‘You flipped. A complete 180 degree flip of the century,’ Jack said. ‘Dad said he had to come and pick you up and then you stayed in bed for a week. I’ve never seen him so scared.’

  Holly looked down at her fingers. ‘He told me. I’m sorry I did that to him.’

  ‘Well, he did the right thing sending you here to be un-flipped.’

  ‘It was your idea. But you're right. He probably did. I do feel a lot better. I can see why you love this place so much,’ Holly said.

  Jack laughed. ‘Yeah, I’m crazy about it. Have you seen the restaurant yet?’

  ‘I have. It’s fantastic, but I still don’t know how you can have a restaurant in the middle of the North Sea like that. Who will come and eat? How will you have enough guests?’

  ‘That’s the beauty of it. It turns out that in the summer, the “boat people” love restaurants like ours.’

  ‘The boat people?’

  ‘Apparently there are loads of Norwegians who own boats, and they like to use them during the summer, to travel up and down the coast. And hordes of them stop at this island. We had a great summer this year even if we weren’t officially open yet. People came from town too. And we even had a few Christmas office parties out here before we left for Spain.’