Vaim Hotel

Why exactly I came to Vaim and checked into The Vaim Hotel, no, I don’t know, I just took my leather shoulder bag, put my two suitcases in the boot of the car, a brown estate car I’d bought only the day before, and drove off, I didn’t know where I was going, but something would work out, I thought as I drove along and let the road take me wherever it wanted to take me, and after I’d driven for a few hours, when I saw the sign for Vaim at the side of the road, it felt like I’d driven long enough and I decided to stop there, or take a break from driving there anyway, because Vaim, yes, well, I had heard of it, but I’d never been to Vaim as far as I could remember, and if there was a hotel in Vaim then, yes, I wanted to check in there, I thought and when I saw the sign for The Vaim General Store on the wall of a building I turned off the road down by the shop, and I saw a quay in front of me, and there, on the left, yes, there was a whitewashed building with Vaim Hotel painted on it in black letters, so if the hotel was still open and running I could get a room for the night there, but chances were that the hotel was probably closed, there were lots of old hotels like this one around the countryside here and there that had had their day and were now closed, and there, on one end of the building, was another sign, in similar black letters, but a little smaller, and it said Vaim Restaurant and maybe that was still open, but that was probably unlikely, because there used to be little restaurants like this in lots of places a few years ago, by the shore and inland, but now they probably couldn’t make enough money for anybody to want to run them, anyway most of them had shut down now and were empty and abandoned, but who knows, maybe this restaurant was still open, I thought and I drove up to the front of the hotel, stopped the car, stayed sitting there for a minute and thought about whether I should go up to the hotel entrance first and check to see if it was locked or open, but then again there was light in the windows on either side of the door, so I might as well take my chances and assume the hotel was open and bring my suitcases with me, I thought, and I got out of the car, put my shoulder bag over my shoulder, opened the boot, and took out the two suitcases, and they were heavy, heavier than I remembered them being, and the short staircase up to the hotel felt long, so it felt good to put the suitcases down in front of the door, and then I pushed down on the door handle and pushed the door and yes it opened, so The Vaim Hotel really was open, yes indeed, and I picked up the suitcases and walked into what had to be the reception area and someone was standing there who looked like she might be around my age and she looked at me

Welcome, she said

before I had even quite made it in through the door she said that

Thanks, I said

No, if it isn’t him, she said

and I thought what could she mean by that, had we met before, or had she seen a picture of me somewhere or another, in some newspaper or another, but that was such a long time ago, yes, and I looked totally different now from how I did back then, back then I’d had a beard and long hair, still, it was possible she had such a good memory that she remembered the features of my face and recognized me, and that was a terrible thought, I thought, but probably saying no if it isn’t him was just how she talked, I thought and I shut the door behind me, picked my suitcases back up and went over to the reception desk, put the suitcases down on the floor and I saw that the woman standing in front of me looking at me was already holding a big key in her hand and there was also a rectangular piece of wood on the key ring, it had probably been bright fresh wood once upon a time but now it was so brown and dirty that it was almost impossible to read the number 407 on the piece of wood, but that’s what it said, and the number was burned into the wood, so it looked like I’d have to haul my suitcases up three flights of stairs to the fourth floor, because of course there wouldn’t be a lift at The Vaim Hotel, it was much too old for that

You seem distracted, the woman at reception says

and I look at her hand holding the key, and then at her

It’s nice to see you, she says

and I think what is she talking about, what could she mean by that, the only thing I could think of was that maybe she meant that there weren’t many unexpected guests who turned up at The Vaim Hotel, or something like that, and for whatever reason I answered yes thanks same here

You want a room then, she said

and I thought that the answer to that was probably obvious enough and I thought that it was better not to say anything

I have a room for you, yes, we have plenty of room, she said then

Then I guess I’ll rent one, I said

Welcome to The Vaim Hotel, you’re most welcome, she said

It’s not full then, no, I said

Not at all, she said

How long do you think you’ll stay, she asked

I’m not really sure, I answered

Well, she said

Well, we have good deals for long-term guests, really good deals, she said

I don’t really know how long I’ll be staying yet, I answered

But if you do stay a while, then tell me, yes, she said

Yes, I said

And breakfast can be served whenever you want, she said

And you can have it brought to your door, she said

Just tell me when you want breakfast, yes, and I’ll come and bring it at the hour you want, she said

Yes, at the minute you want, I mean, she added

and I didn’t say anything

But we can discuss that later, she said

Now you’ll be wanting to go to your room first, she said

Unpack, relax a bit, she said

And we can talk about breakfast later, she said

But I assume you’ll want bacon and eggs, she said

Yes, thanks, that sounds great, I said

So that’s what it’ll be, yes, for as long as you’re staying at The Vaim Hotel, she added

And if you want something else, yes, just say so, of course, she said

Thank you, I said

Thank you, she said

and I stood there and wondered if she hadn’t realized she needed to give me the key she was still holding, she just kept standing there rubbing it between her fingers without handing it to me

And you probably saw the sign for The Vaim Restaurant, yes, on the side of the building, she said

and I nodded

Yes, so, The Vaim Restaurant is open from 11 a.m. till 11 p.m., and if there’s no one behind the counter then there’ll be a bell there, on the counter, yes, you can’t miss it, to tell the truth it’s an old sheep bell, we have a cow bell at the reception desk, yes, there it is, she said and she pointed, and there’s a sheep bell in the restaurant, and if you just pick it up and shake it once or twice you can be sure that someone’ll come and take care of you, it might take a little time, but you can be sure someone’s coming, and there’s a menu up on the wall behind the counter and you’ll see from the menu that you can get good solid Norwegian food at The Vaim Restaurant, she said

Thanks, I said

and I wondered if I had to ask her for the key, because it didn’t look like she remembered she had to give it to me, it didn’t look like she’d arrived at that thought, yes, it looked like she wanted to just stay standing there with the key in her hand

Is my room not ready yet, I said

Yes it is, of course it is, she said

Of course it’s ready, she said

The room is ready and waiting just for you, she said

and she turned around and looked at the wall behind her and there were keys hanging in rows and columns on a kind of board with hooks screwed into it, it looked like there were about thirty keys or something like that, and all of them except one seemed to be hanging there, and it looked like she was going to take a key, but she was already standing with a key in her hand and she looked at me

Yes, welcome, she said

Thank you, I said

And I hope you stay for a nice long time at The Vaim Hotel, we have a really good deal for long-term guests, yes, she said

and I looked at the key and then she did too, and sort of realized that she still had the key in her hand

Yes, here you are, here’s your key, she said

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