We present an extract from Habitat, the debut novel from Catriona Shine, published by The Lilliput Press.
Habitat follows seven neighbours over the course of a surreal and life-changing week as their mid-century apartment building in Oslo begins to inexplicably break down around them.
Connected by familial ties, long acquaintance, simmering feuds and longing glimpses, the residents of the building are bound to one another in more ways than they know...
Monday
Knut
Knut and his grandson woke to one another's noises and met in the hallway. Knut bent over, with the intention of planting a kiss on Teddy’s head, but, feeling a pull under his right shoulder blade, he contented himself with ruffling the boy’s hair.
Good morning, little prince, he said. Where’s Mamma?
Teddy pointed in the direction of the bedroom.
The door was held open by Teddy’s trailing blanket. Knut edged the blanket back in and closed the door with only the faintest click of the handle. This had been his own room as a child, and he knew from the deep snug inside him that Bibbi would be safe there. He could not even feel guilty for letting his own mother move out to make room for them. This way, they could stay close.
Knut put a finger to his lips.
Let Mamma and Granny sleep, he said.
Bibbi had slept like a log the past week and, if she did, she needed it. Her marriage to that executive should never have gone ahead at all, if you asked Knut. But no one did, and if anyone had asked him, if Bibbi herself had asked him at the time, he would have said, What do I know? It’s your own choice.
Still, it was hard to regret it all when little Teddy was there, making music with marbles on the floor. Only a completely useless father would abandon his own son outright, but it was a good thing, for Bibbi, that he was gone. He made no marks, but that man had left a trace on her. Being an attractive young woman brought as much trouble as good. Knut worried about how often she went out at night ever since she came back. Staying in touch with friends, she called it, but before he knew it she would have a new partner. It never seemed to take long. Then she would be gone again, along with Teddy this time.
Apissu, apissu, all fall down, said Teddy.
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Knut didn’t mind getting up in the morning anymore. Teddy’s little voice did something to him. It was like a breeze which blew his eyes wide open, a string which pulled him up to standing. Still, to appreciate Teddy fully at such an early hour of the morning, he needed a cup of black coffee in his hand. In the kitchen, he spooned ground coffee into the filter bag, added water and turned on the Moccamaster. He heard marbles rolling along the wooden floor as he measured out oats and milk. Enough for two, because Teddy ate like a man. He snuck out one cup of coffee before the brew had finished and heard Teddy saying, Ball, ball, with increasing frustration.
Knut turned on the wall lamp in the hallway.
There, he said, will we have some porridge?
Ball, said Teddy.
He had managed to pull Une’s knitted jacket from the coat stand and was, with some success, removing the spherical buttons.
No, no, no, Teddy, they are Granny’s buttons, you see? Buttons. What have you done with your marbles?
Ball, said Teddy, and Knut decided that the harm was done and there was no point in waking the others with the child’s screams, which were sure to erupt if he took away the jacket without a replacement.
Where are the little coloured balls? he said.
It was with considerable difficulty he got down on his knees and felt along the skirting boards, around the mat and under the hall stand.
What did you do with the lovely small balls? he said, getting a bit worried now. He could hear the porridge spitting, needing to be stirred and turned down.
You didn’t eat them, did you? We don’t eat small balls, do we?
Gone, said Teddy, his palms raised in proof.
Knut put two fingers into the boy’s mouth and felt along the inside of his chubby cheeks – huge muscles – as Teddy squealed.
Say ah, he said, and then the screaming started.
Bibbi appeared, bleary eyed.
What happened?
I think he swallowed a marble.
Who gave him marbles? He’s only just turned three, Dad. Did you give him marbles? Teddy, say ah.
Ball, said Teddy.
He found them himself, said Knut. They’re from the game of solitaire. I’m surprised he could reach them.
Of course he could!
I can’t find any, Bibbi. He had them just now. He must have hidden them. He can’t have swallowed them all. It’s not humanly possible.
He put his ear against Teddy’s round belly, listened for clinking, and Teddy patted his bald patch like a drum.
Bibbi had the wooden solitaire board in her hands.
Nine – no: six, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four, she said. There were thirty-three of them, I think, no thirty-two.
We’ll find them and count them, said Knut. Teddy, where are all the little balls hiding?
Teddy pulled at the buttons on Une’s jacket, and Une came out in her dressing gown.
The porridge is burning, she said, and look what he’s doing to my jacket. We think he ate the marbles, said Bibbi.
All of them, said Knut.
It’s not possible, said Une, taking the game of solitaire from Bibbi. Knut, you can’t let him out of your sight. We’ll have to bring him to the A&E.
I’m sure he hid them, said Knut. I was only in the kitchen for a few minutes.
Bibbi and I will go, said Une. Let me just get dressed, and you can search, Knut. Ring us if you find them, all right?
Shine is published by Lilliput Press
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