When they were all on the island Harri presented his wooden mökki. “When I bought it seven years ago it was in very bad shape. Every summer I repair a new part. This is the first summer that everything is fine,” he explained, proud of his work. The house was a typical red and white Finnish summer cottage with two floors, a terrace, a balcony, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and four little bed rooms upstairs. The sauna was in another little wooden house close from the lake.
The guests entered in the house. It was a very charming and warm place all in wood and very traditional. Everything was clean and tidy. There was no dust and each object was at its own place. Janne Happonen approached to the wall and looked at the pictures in the frames. “Is it you?” he asked while he show a picture of a man in winter clothes stood up at the summit of a mountain. “Yes, it’s me at the top of the Everest,” Harri simply explained. “Wow! That’s great. And here?” Havu asked while he showed another picture. “Here I’m at the top of the Mont Blanc. My first summit over 4000m. It was three years ago.” Havu was impressed. He never thought that Harri was an alpinist. On another picture he was also on a mountain with another person taller than him. “Who’s that guy?” “It’s my wife.” Havu was embarrassed. He noticed that Harri didn’t appreciate that he confused his wife with a man. But when he looked more carefully at the picture, Janne confirmed for himself that it was not easy to identify the gender of that person with hat, goggles, scarf covering the mouth and big winter jacket.
“We are seven for eight beds. Who want the individual room?” Harri asked when they were are the top floor. “I suggest Matti. He snores,” Janne Happonen answered. He remembered that in Norway he couldn’t sleep because of Matti. “Oh please! I was drunk. When I’m not drunk I don’t snore. But I can have the individual room. I force nobody to be with me,” Matti replied. “I can sleep with you with you don’t want to be alone,” Veli-Matti suggested. Matti smiled and explained that he was used to be alone. Finally after a long talk it was decided that Matti was in the individual room, Janne Ahonen and Tami Kiuru together, Veli-Matti Lindström with Kalle Keituri and Harri and Janne Happonen sharing the last room.
Outside Harri was grilling some meat and vegetables on the barbecue while his guests were drinking some fresh beers. “I’m already hungry,” said Tami Kiuru who was happy to spend the weekend with friends after a busy and stressful week. On Monday the Internet website of the bank crashed, on Wednesday the network was down and on Friday the antivirus blocked the mail server. Luckily all the problems were solved. Matti took his guitar, sat on a rock and played some notes. Harri was looking at him while he was turning the sausages. Matti was wearing a long dark blue shirt and a black short. From there Harri had the impression that his former teammate was sad. Maybe it had a link with the secret that he shared with his brother.
“It’s ready. Everybody take a seat. Here is the salad that Veli-Matti made, here is my potato salad, some chips, mustard, ketchup, meat and well… you can take whatever you want,” Harri concluded while he sat. “Your salad is delicious,” Kalle congratulated Vellu who was happy. “It’s nice to see you back to Finland,” added Janne Happonen. “Well, I’m just here one week in holiday. I fly back on Tuesday. I live in Germany and I don’t think that I’ll come there in a close future,” Kalle explained. “In Norway we all talked about our lives. Can you tell us something about yours?” Vellu asked. “Well, nothing special. I’m customizing cars for customers. It’s very creative and interesting. I’m specialized in the audio systems. With my friends we have a team and we are doing competitions. Otherwise I’m still married to Yvonne and we have a daughter, Karina. She will turn 5 next month,” Kalle resumed.
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