The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

able to pick him up before lunch, I promise.’

Chapter 15
    Monday, 9th May 2005
    ‘Here are your three million, dear brother. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for how I behaved in connection with the money from Uncle Frasse.’
    Benny got straight to the point when he met Bosse for the first time in thirty years. He handed over a bag with the money before they even had time to shake hands. And he went on, in a serious voice, while his brother was still catching his breath:
    ‘And now I’ll tell you two things. The first is that we need your help, because we have created a real mess. And the second is that the money I have given you is yours, and you deserve it. If you have to send us packing then you can do so, the money is yours regardless.’
    The brothers stood in the light of the one still functioning headlight on the yellow bus, outside the entrance to Bosse’s substantial residence, Bellringer Farm, on the Västgöta plain just a few miles south-west of the little town of Falköping. Bosse gathered his wits as best he could, and then said he had some questions, if that was okay? And on the basis of the answers he promised that he would then decide about any possible hospitality. Benny nodded.
    ‘Okay,’ said Bosse. ‘This money you’ve just given me, is it honestly got by?’
    ‘Definitely not,’ said Benny.
    ‘Are the police after you?’
    ‘Policemen and thieves,’ said Benny. ‘But mainly thieves.’
    ‘What happened to the bus? The front is all smashed in.’
    ‘We rammed a thief at full speed.’
    ‘Did he die?’
    ‘No, unfortunately. He’s lying in the bus with concussion, broken ribs, a broken arm and a big open wound on his right thigh. His condition is serious but stable, as they say.’
    ‘You’ve brought him with you?’
    ‘Yes, it’s as bad as that.’
    ‘Is there anything else I need to know?’
    ‘Well, perhaps that we killed a couple of other thieves on the way, buddies of the half-dead one in the bus. They insisted on trying to get back the fifty million that happened to come into our hands.’
    ‘Fifty million?’
    ‘Fifty million. Minus various expenses — for this bus, among other things.’
    ‘Why are you driving around in a bus?’
    ‘We’ve got an elephant in the back.’
    ‘An elephant?’
    ‘She’s called Sonya.’
    ‘An elephant?’
    ‘Asiatic.’
    ‘An elephant?’
    ‘An elephant.’
    Bosse was silent for a few moments. Then he said:
    ‘Is the elephant stolen too?’
    ‘No, you couldn’t really say that.’
    Bosse was silent again. Then he said:
    ‘Grilled chicken with roast potatoes for supper. Would that be good?’
    ‘I am sure it would,’ said Benny.
    ‘Does that include something to drink?’ said an elderly voice from inside the bus.
     
    When it transpired that the corpse was still alive in the middle of his wrecked car, Benny immediately ordered Julius to go andfetch the first aid kit from behind the driver’s seat in the bus. Benny said that he knew that he was causing them trouble but that with his being an almost-doctor he also had to think of his almost-doctor’s-ethics. It was thus unthinkable to leave the corpse sitting there to bleed to death.
    Ten minutes later, they were on their way. The half-corpse had been eased out of the car wreck, Benny had examined him, made a diagnosis and with the help of the first-aid kit administered relevant medical care; above all, he had made sure that the heavy bleeding from the half-corpse’s thigh was stopped.
    Upon which Allan and Julius had to move into the back of the bus and join Sonya, to allow room for the half-corpse to lie across the back seat in the driver’s cabin, with The Beauty as nurse on duty. Benny had already checked that the victim’s pulse and blood pressure were in reasonable order. With an appropriate dose of morphine, Benny had also ensured that he could sleep despite all his injuries.
     
    As soon as it became clear that the friends really were welcome to stay with Bosse, Benny examined his patient afresh. The half-corpse was still sleeping deeply, and Benny decided that they should wait to move him.
    Then Benny joined the group in Bosse’s spacious kitchen. While their host busied himself with a meal, the friends – one after the other – described the dramatic course of the last few days. Allan first, then Julius, after that Benny with a bit of help from The Beauty, and then Benny again when they came to the ramming of thug number