The Ravens by Vidar Sundstøl

why?”
    “Snow.”
    “Oh.”
    “So it was all kind of foolish,” said Lance.
    “What did you do in Norway then?”
    “I had a vacation.”
    “But you were gone so long!”
    “I was just there—okay?” he snapped in annoyance and instantly regretted it.
    “Okay, okay. When are you going to come and visit me?”
    “I don’t really know. There are a number of things that I need to take care of after being away for so long. But I’ll come as soon as I can.”
    “Is everything all right?” His mother suddenly sounded worried.
    “What do you mean?”
    “There’s nothing wrong, is there? Nothing serious?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “Oh, never mind. Sorry. It’s just me being old and confused.”
    For a moment he thought she was going to cry.
    “Don’t say that,” he told her. “I’ll come and visit you soon.”
    “Oh, I can’t wait!”
    “Me neither. But I’ve got to hang up now. I’ve got a lot to do.”
    “It’s good to have you back home.”
    “It’s good to be home. See you soon.”
    “Bye.”
    “Bye,” said Lance, and ended the call.
    Afterward he sat with the phone in his hand, staring straight ahead. He thought about how he always used to take it for granted that he never lied. Previously it had simply been part of what he thought of as good manners. Only now was he beginning to realize how destructive lying could be. It was like a poison that was destroying him from the inside.

16
    “HEY, SON!”
    “Dad!”
    Jimmy threw himself into his father’s arms. Standing on the porch, Mary smiled as she shivered in the cold. Lance smiled back over the head of their son.
    “Did you have a good time in Norway?” she asked.
    “No, it was boring.”
    “Feel good to be back home?”
    “Definitely! I’ll bring him back in a couple of hours,” said Lance as he set Jimmy down on the ground.
    “Have fun.”
    Father and son both gave her a wave before she turned on her heel and went back inside the house.
    As they drove the short distance to Grand Portage Lodge and Casino, a big modern-looking building made of wood and glass, Jimmy talked nonstop about what he’d been up to lately, telling Lance about school and his grandfather and a mink that had come all the way up onto the porch and almost inside the house.
    “I don’t think it knew how to find food on its own,” he said.
    “Maybe it wanted to have dinner with the two of you,” said Lance.
    “We had fish cakes.”
    “See? What’d I tell you?”
    FROM THEIR TABLE they could look right into the gambling hall where a number of people were sitting in front of the slot machines. Lance thought the sound from the machines had something disproportionately childish about it, considering that most of the gamblers looked to be retirement age. Occasionally they also heard an avalanche of clattering coins followed by a shrill squeal if the winner was a woman; the men merely looked over their shoulders when they won.
    Father and son were both eating ice cream. Outside the windows ice crystals glittered on the parked cars.
    “What was it like in Norway?” Jimmy wanted to know.
    “Cold.”
    “Like here?”
    “Yeah,” said Lance.
    “So you could just as well have stayed home.”
    “You’re right.”
    “But now you’re back.”
    “Yes, I am. Have you visited your grandma while I was gone?”
    Jimmy shook his head as he ate.
    “Would you like to go see her sometime soon?”
    He nodded.
    “Maybe you and I could take a drive down to Duluth together someday.”
    “Sure. Can we go to the aquarium?”
    “We’ll see.”
    “Do you remember those big fish we saw there?”
    “Sturgeon,” said Lance.
    Then they both turned their attention back to their ice cream, but he noticed that the boy kept casting brief glances at him.
    “Dad?” he said after a moment.
    “Yes?”
    “Are you tired?”
    Lance put his spoon down on the napkin and looked at his son.
    “Do I seem tired?”
    Jimmy nodded.
    “Well, I guess I am.”
    “Do you have jet