‘OK,’ Mr Almr said. ‘I understand.’
‘You do?’ Gunnar replied. ‘Because I do not. And I am ashamed and embarrassed that I did not know he was not at school.’
Now Hildur’s full attention was piqued and the older woman swivelled in her seat like she might be about to try and get up. He signalled to her to stop and she stayed where she was.
‘There is no shame, Mr Eriksson and there is no judgement either. All we want at the school is the very best for Magnús and to be able to support him and you.’
Gunnar shook his head. He was a failure. He had taken his eye off the ball. He had thought he could trust Magnús to follow the rules. He should have remembered better what it was like to be his age. ‘How long has this been going on?’
‘Only this week but…’
There was a ‘but’. This was not good.
The teacher continued. ‘But there have been a few other concerns we had that might have something to do with Magnús’s absence.’
Gunnar did brace himself now. ‘Go on.’
‘Well, last week, there was an altercation between Magnús and one of his classmates.’
‘An altercation?’ Gunnar was already thinking the word ‘fight’ and hoping he was wrong.
‘We do not know exactly what happened but both students were dismissive of it when we asked them, shook hands, settled down and?—’
‘And why did no one tell me about this? I am Magnús’s guardian. If there is anything going on I need to be kept informed.’
‘Mr Eriksson, at the time we decided it was an incident that needed no further action but, in light of Magnús’s absences?—’
‘And the other boy? Has he been missing from school too?’
‘Other boy?’
‘The one Magnús had whatever you are calling an “altercation” with. Can we not cut through to the truth? Which one hit the other first?’
Gunnar was caught between feeling defensive and annoyed. Had he had prior knowledge of this he might have been able to better control the situation.
‘I am sorry,’ Mr Almr said. ‘I was not clear. The other student was a girl. But, as I said?—’
‘What?’ Gunnar exclaimed. Now he was nothing but angry. Whatever had happened, Magnús was involved in a verbal or physical situation with a girl!
‘Mr Eriksson, I know this may have come as a shock but, really, this call was to?—’
‘You will leave this with me now,’ Gunnar spat. ‘I will speak to Magnús, I will find out what is going on, I will make him apologise and accept any punishment that you think is necessary and I will ensure that he is in school tomorrow and every other day after that.’
‘Mr Eriksson, if you could wait a?—’
‘Goodbye, Mr Almr.’
Gunnar ended the call and paced immediately towards the door that led to the bedrooms.
‘Gunnar, wait!’ Hildur ordered.
He wasn’t waiting, not for anything or anyone. He was going to get hold of Magnús and give him the talking-to of his life. How dare he miss school! How dare he lie to him, pretend that everything was normal!
‘Gunnar! I said no!’
The door to the corridor slammed shut and somehow there was Hildur, out of her chair, back firm against the door, blocking his path.
‘Hildur, you should be sitting down,’ Gunnar said.
