Aerospace II - The Island Cycle

Aerospace II - The Caretaker

Aerospace II : The Island Cycle

The Caretaker

Gordon Best

Chapter 1 : Billa

My name is Hjalti Hjaltason. That means my father is called Hjalti. I am 20 years and work in a bakery in Eskifjordur, on the east coast of Iceland. A good place to live since the warmup.

An old woman, I know, came into the shop one day. She usually comes on mondays for her weekly supply of breads and cakes. This was friday. She drives an old car and I was surprised she still had a drivers license. She is a cousin of mine or second cousin.

"How is it going, Billa? You got guests this week?"

She said, "I came in just to see you. This is your lucky day. Are you still single? I can't have you, if you are married."

"You looking for a husband old woman? I am a little young for you." I heard that she was loaded. If she really wanted me, well who knows what I would have said.

"Don't tempt me, Hjalti. A big strong fellow like you. I need someone to be caretaker of the house. I am getting too old."

She just lived down the road about three kilometres. A big house built about twenty years ago. Said to be used by the Moon people as a rest stop.

Billa continued, "It is bigger than it looks and has five apartments. Only one small one is mine. People are coming to Teigarahus and I need help getting the place up to scratch. You will have your own place to live. I will pay you twice what you get here."

"I thought you had Halla coming in on tuesdays?" I said.

"I need a lot more help than that. I hear you are handy with carpentry and plumbing. I need gardening done and a dozen other things. Halla is only doing housework."

I did not have to think about it long. Five minutes and I agreed. She gave me a week to get moved in. She told me I should bake in her kitchen on sundays.

* * *

It was spring and the crazy weather continues. I could barely remember the snow on the mountain tops. With the warming of the fjord waters, there was no snow anywhere in the country. Iceland, an island in the north Atlantic, was now surrounded by water that was 17C-20C degrees. The hot water was all roiling out of Mjoafjordur, two fjords north of here. No one could explain it, but I think that Billa knows.

There was a series of volcanic eruptions about ten years ago. They went on for three years. Lucky for Europe, the winds were blowing south, most of the time. Now this country only suffered heavy winds. There are always heavy winds. This still does not bring snow to the island and our glaciers are gone. One glacier was the largest in Europe.

I am not a great traveler and was only once to Reykjavik on a school trip when I was fifteen. My aunt and uncle raised me here in Eskifjordur. My mother is off in Canada somewhere and my father died in a fishing accident. He worked on the trawlers out of Nordfjordur.

It was raining hard the day I moved. My uncle drove me and my meager belongings there. He told me to watch myself. There were all kinds of stories about aliens and hidden folk inhabiting the area.

Billa was true to her word. She gave me a small apartment to use. I gave her my bank account number and she put three hundred thousand kroner in it.

Billa said, "Just to show you I am honest. I want you to stay. Tomorrow I have a project that will keep you busy into the summer."

Looking around the garden, it was deep in plants. It was my job to dig most of them out and move them higher up the slope. The slopes along here were deep in trees. But there were spots where the sun got through. I had a canvas bag, that I filled with the plants, I dug them out, then I would fling the bag on my back and carry it uphill. A shovel in one hand, I climbed and sweated. It truly took me two months to get the different plants moved.