care of. He’s asking me to buy a car.
I have to fax him my account number immediately, then he’ll transfer enough money to pay for a car. I write my account number on the back of Børre’s racing car drawing. I also jot down a few questions regarding the car. What kind of car does he want? What colour? Does he want it to come with an airbag? Then I fax the sheet to America.
A few minutes later the racing car drawing comes back out of the fax machine, in black and white. Børre is ecstatic. Now he’s got two racing car drawings in his hand. An original and a second-generation fax copy.
My brother has written; What’s this? And where’s the account number? across the drawing.
I turn the sheet with the racing car drawing over and fax the account number and the questions again.
My brother replies, saying he’ll trust my judgement when it comes to the make of the car. But it has to be a cool car. A status symbol. It must have a fresh and sporty air about it. And the colour must be red or green. Maybe something like olive. And with an airbag.
Børre thinks it’s great that I’m going to buy a car. He thinks I ought to buy a racing car.
It is a big assignment my brother’s given me. I am flattered. I have never bought a car before.
Børre wants us to fax the racing car drawing to his grandmother. I tell him very few grandmothers have fax machines, but that we’ll mail it to her if he’s got the address. Børre figures we might just as well leave it if we can’t fax.
We go out to look at cars. Børre and I. First we look at the cars in the street. We look through the windows and check how high the speedometers go. To Børre, that’s the only thing that matters. He spots a BMW with a speedometer that goes to 280. He thinks I should buy that one.
We go to a Volvo dealership and test-sit a few Volvos. The dealer thinks Børre is my son. He treats me like a potential customer, showing us around and explaining technical things. Telling me Volvo put great emphasis on safety. Børre checks the speedometer. It barely passes 200. He shakes his head.
Børre, I tell him, 200 kilometres per hour is more than you think.
Now we’re test-driving the Volvo on the E18. Børre is clapping his hands. He is sitting in a kiddies’ seat we’ve been lent by the dealer.
Are we doing 200 now? he asks.
Almost, I say.
It’s a nice car. And green. When I get home I’ll fax my brother and tell him it has good road holding, whatever that means.
I come off the motorway and drive back towards town via a country road. It feels good to use the steering wheel a little. We stop at a shop to buy some ice cream. While we are eating, I read the notices posted by the entrance. Advertisements about bingo and riding lessons. But there’s another note. A nice note. Something for Børre. I read it to him.
Hi, my name’s Jessica. I am wondering if there’s someone who’d like to buy some of this stuff, because I’ve got some things in my room that I’m not using.
The things are:
– Shampoo, henna, around 10 cm long bottle, price: 10 kroner.
– Body lotion, melon, around 8 cm long bottle, price: 5 kroner.
– Twin trolls with long, white hair and key rings, one has a star on the tummy: 5 kroner for both.
– Stamp kit with packaging and flower: 10 kroner for both.
– White pearl ear studs, unused: 10 kroner.
– Brooch, unused: 5 kroner.
– Power Rangers pictures in a box, around 10 cm long, full of pictures: 20 kroner.
– Piggy bank with Sam the Duck on it: 5 kroner.
– Kinder Surprise figures, 3 lions (2 of the same), a frog, a turtle: all for 10 kroner.
– Cheerfully coloured coil spring. Flexible and pliable. Can walk stairs: 10 kroner.
– An elephant which is a toothpick box of porcelain: 10 kroner.
If you’re interested, call and ask Jessica at phone number …
Børre is interested. Not in the girlie things, but in the Power Rangers pictures and maybe some of the other things. He doesn’t quite know. He has
I have to fax him my account number immediately, then he’ll transfer enough money to pay for a car. I write my account number on the back of Børre’s racing car drawing. I also jot down a few questions regarding the car. What kind of car does he want? What colour? Does he want it to come with an airbag? Then I fax the sheet to America.
A few minutes later the racing car drawing comes back out of the fax machine, in black and white. Børre is ecstatic. Now he’s got two racing car drawings in his hand. An original and a second-generation fax copy.
My brother has written; What’s this? And where’s the account number? across the drawing.
I turn the sheet with the racing car drawing over and fax the account number and the questions again.
My brother replies, saying he’ll trust my judgement when it comes to the make of the car. But it has to be a cool car. A status symbol. It must have a fresh and sporty air about it. And the colour must be red or green. Maybe something like olive. And with an airbag.
Børre thinks it’s great that I’m going to buy a car. He thinks I ought to buy a racing car.
It is a big assignment my brother’s given me. I am flattered. I have never bought a car before.
Børre wants us to fax the racing car drawing to his grandmother. I tell him very few grandmothers have fax machines, but that we’ll mail it to her if he’s got the address. Børre figures we might just as well leave it if we can’t fax.
We go out to look at cars. Børre and I. First we look at the cars in the street. We look through the windows and check how high the speedometers go. To Børre, that’s the only thing that matters. He spots a BMW with a speedometer that goes to 280. He thinks I should buy that one.
We go to a Volvo dealership and test-sit a few Volvos. The dealer thinks Børre is my son. He treats me like a potential customer, showing us around and explaining technical things. Telling me Volvo put great emphasis on safety. Børre checks the speedometer. It barely passes 200. He shakes his head.
Børre, I tell him, 200 kilometres per hour is more than you think.
Now we’re test-driving the Volvo on the E18. Børre is clapping his hands. He is sitting in a kiddies’ seat we’ve been lent by the dealer.
Are we doing 200 now? he asks.
Almost, I say.
It’s a nice car. And green. When I get home I’ll fax my brother and tell him it has good road holding, whatever that means.
I come off the motorway and drive back towards town via a country road. It feels good to use the steering wheel a little. We stop at a shop to buy some ice cream. While we are eating, I read the notices posted by the entrance. Advertisements about bingo and riding lessons. But there’s another note. A nice note. Something for Børre. I read it to him.
Hi, my name’s Jessica. I am wondering if there’s someone who’d like to buy some of this stuff, because I’ve got some things in my room that I’m not using.
The things are:
– Shampoo, henna, around 10 cm long bottle, price: 10 kroner.
– Body lotion, melon, around 8 cm long bottle, price: 5 kroner.
– Twin trolls with long, white hair and key rings, one has a star on the tummy: 5 kroner for both.
– Stamp kit with packaging and flower: 10 kroner for both.
– White pearl ear studs, unused: 10 kroner.
– Brooch, unused: 5 kroner.
– Power Rangers pictures in a box, around 10 cm long, full of pictures: 20 kroner.
– Piggy bank with Sam the Duck on it: 5 kroner.
– Kinder Surprise figures, 3 lions (2 of the same), a frog, a turtle: all for 10 kroner.
– Cheerfully coloured coil spring. Flexible and pliable. Can walk stairs: 10 kroner.
– An elephant which is a toothpick box of porcelain: 10 kroner.
If you’re interested, call and ask Jessica at phone number …
Børre is interested. Not in the girlie things, but in the Power Rangers pictures and maybe some of the other things. He doesn’t quite know. He has
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