"Memoirs of Thordur Ágústsson" "Why this sudden love of the truth?" "Since I'm writing this bullshit, what's the sense in lying?" "Is that why you've called the children back all of a sudden?" "They're entitled to find out before anyone else." "Charles de Gaulle Airport." "We're in a hurry." "They'll have to twiddle their thumbs for a living." "They're old now, you know." "Good job they're being paid to stop." "Assholes!" "Look beyond the present!" "If we all thought that way, we'd end up in Brussels." "Why live in Iceland if it isn't economically viable?" "What'll they do once they've chopped up their boats and sold the village's quotas?" " They can't eat their Jeeps!" " The world's changing." "People want better work for their kids." "In Europe, there are millions on the dole." "Here, everyone has a job." "Here comes the Hamar, filled to the gunwales." "Bloody Mangi doesn't waste time." "200 tons, at least." "The cook's taking a leak!" "Isn't that Hrodmar?" "You recognize him from here?" "You bet." "He's had kids with three of my friends." "A nice guy." "Don't blow it so hard." "The mucus blocks your sinuses." " Says who?" " Axel, the doctor." "Is he sober now?" " I have to listen to you snore." " Sleep, then you won't hear me." "Bloody hell!" "This place is like an international airport." " Hello, Dad." " What do you want?" "Haraldur and I have checked the accounts." "They're not looking good." "A unit this size can't be cost-effective." "To be competitive on a global level, we must merge." "If we do that, fishing and processing will start to become profitable." "Nothing's for sale here." "Neither me, nor the company." "Consider the offer, Dad, before turning it down." "When hell freezes over!" "You've got quotas from 30 fishermen." "This place dies without us." " We want to make it work." " Rubbish!" "You want to do processing on board the boats." " No more fish here." " Dad, that's progress." "Progress in the wrong bloody direction, you dickheads!" "All you're doing is laying waste to everything around you." "Shit!" "What a fucking mess!" "I don't like the look of it." "I don't like the look of it at all!" " The look of what?" " What does he want from us?" " Maybe he'll send us a bill." " I don't owe him a thing." "Why do you let them buy up the fishing quotas?" "What else can I do?" "Go out and kill them?" "The days of the sagas are over." "We can't compete with the rich guys." "They started out with nothing." "Not like you." "They have factory trawlers." "You refused to invest in one." "Hundreds of people on land would have been out of a job." "And so I'm stuck with 100 unproductive, rheumatic geriatrics." "Factory trawlers throw half the catch away." "It's criminal." "They reckon dead fish grow in the sea?" "What's Mangi's rusty tub doing at our quay?" "We're buying his catch." "We don't buy fish from Mangi." "What has he done to you anyway?" "None of your business." "That's childish, Dad." "The factory needs fish." "I don't care if you hate him." "I refuse to let you buy a single tail from Mangi!" "You hear me?" "The tub was filled to the gunwales and..." "Hi, Thordur." "How's the fishing?" "Mind your own bloody business, Mangi." "And leave the women alone." "You've nothing to offer them anyway." "Don't worry about him." "You know him." "If someone else catches fish, he gets depressed." "They say you're selling the whole business and moving to a retirement home in the city." " Go on believing those lies." " They say there's an indoor pool, a sauna, a massage parlor, a manicurist and a pedicurist." "They call it Pedicure Paradise." "You'll be like a pig in clover with all the other shipowners." "Handy for the hospital and just a stone's throw from the graveyard." "What the hell's mother doing here?" "Maria, try to take her home." " Bye, Thordur." "Bye, Mom." " Goodbye, dear." "Send that old bag to the plant." "She's perfectly fit, she just refuses to die." "Hello, Kata." "What are you buying?" "Were you told to spy on me?" "Your feet are soaking." "Mind your own business." " Where's the cognac?" " What brand?" "The best." "I can't wait to see them." " Who's coming?" " Thordur's kids." "I haven't seen Ágúst for two years." "I can't wait." "Where has he been?" "He went to France years ago." "To study business, remember?" "Why are people always on the bloody move?" "Don't they get enough to eat here?" "No smoking in here." "Want me to get you fired?" "I started smoking too late in life." "The biggest mistake I ever made." "Let me get a few ciggies in before I die, okay?" "What a great view!" "What the hell's going on?" "I want to get away!" "Right now!" "Stop it, Áslaug." "There's no sense in this." "Everyone's staring at me." "Why?" "Why do they keep staring?" "Isn't that what you're after?" "You're done up like a Christmas tree." "Get out!" "I hate you!" "What's wrong, Áslaug?" "When will you get the fucking money?" "I've done all I can." "The old man just won't sell." "You'll miss the boat, as usual." "Are you going to bankrupt us?" "No, Áslaug, don't start that again, please." "Don't touch me!" "After three stays in detox, you're a joke." "Shut it, Haraldur, limp dick!" "Why are you going around barefoot?" "I'm not like the other oldies." "My feet are always boiling hot." "Put your socks on before the guests arrive." "Put them on!" " She can't hear you." " She hears what she wants." "Kristin's never felt happy in this house." " Only natural, it's not hers." " Why isn't it her house?" "It was built for her sister." "Mom and I have lived here over 20 years." "It's like these buggers never work, they just spend all day killing each other." "Then they get down on all fours and start wailing like wimps." "They should send them to sea and make real men of them." "Forgive me." "We have to stand together." "We'll pull through, won't we?" "Let's try to be nice to each other." "Kristin will have to give us collateral." "The house is in her name." "She's bound to help." "She adores you." "Putting up collateral won't kill her." "We have to get the old man to move to Reykjavik." "He'll only ever go feet first." "I won't end my days in this dump." "What do you need, Áslaug?" "Tell me one thing!" "What I need?" "Guess!" "You haven't got a clue what I need?" "No, I don't have the foggiest idea." "You'll never understand a thing." "Can't you see we're fucked?" "Can I have the car keys?" "What are you tarted up for?" " I'm picking up Ágúst." " The bus isn't good enough?" "Come on, give me the keys." "There's no need to dress like a slut." "I've made myself pretty for Ágúst." "Open the garage door before you back out." "Thanks for giving me the dirty jobs." "Hello." " What's new?" " Not a lot." "She's put up the collateral for you?" "Yes." "Can we settle everything now?" "The documents must be stamped." "It can take some time." "I need that money." "I know you do." "I'm doing something for the village." "We'll try to move it along." "This stays between us, okay?" "Kristin's doing us a favor." "It's nothing to do with Thordur." "I understand." "Will you reopen my account, then?" "As soon as I can." "But loan repayments take priority." "That's our procedure here." "Your wife... how's she doing?" "Hulda?" "She's fine, as far as I know." "Driver's license." "I left it in my overalls." "Sorry." "Car registration papers." "Bóbó, I'm going to be late." "I don't know where the damn papers are." "This car hasn't been inspected for two years." "I ought to remove the license plates." "What would Thordur say?" " He doesn't run the police." " Are you sure?" "Besides, you were speeding." "Okay, one." "Both." "But no touching!" "Cut it out!" "Stop!" "I said no touching, you creep!" " Hi, you old bastard." " Where did you get those tits?" "These?" "They're organically grown." " Don't you like them?" " Made in Iceland, you bet!" "She'll end up killing someone." "We need to have a word with the old man." "It's too late." "They say he's moving to the city." "Everything's going to the dogs." "If Thordur's moving to Reykjavik, small fry like us had better start packing too." "Is that bloody ram back?" "Didn't you take it up the mountain?" "Damn it, that does it!" "Hello, Kristin." "Good to see you." "You're as elegant as ever." " And you're as charming." " You're too good for Dad." "You got the sweater?" "It saved my life in France." "The cold is colder there." "All this bloody racket..." "can't people get some sleep here?" "Hello, Grandma." "Hello, you little bastard." "Where have you been?" "In France, Grandma." "Aren't the French a load of wimps?" "Didn't they let Hitler walk all over them?" " Hitler's dead." " Yes, so are the Jews." "The German have changed." "True, they'll all be Turks soon." "This is Françoise." "We live together." "She's pregnant." "By you?" "She says she hopes so." "Hello, Dad." "How are you feeling?" "There's nothing wrong with me except bloody old age." "This is my girlfriend, Françoise." "Now the toilet cisterns are exploding." "What's in the cisterns?" "Polluted gas from the ground, stupid." "Outside of fish, you know nothing." "Grandma's become an ecologist." "No, the Green lot are all assholes." "People who won't eat whale meat don't deserve to live." "I'll get rid of the channels the old bag watches all night long." "We should never have come to the wilds in the middle of winter." "I'd have rather stayed at home." "Shut up, Morten." " Why?" " You're boring us shitless." "Thanks for the money you sent for my studies, Dad." "Let's hope it'll be put to some use." "Every ship needs a captain." "The people here need a leader." " You're here." " I have one foot in the grave." " What about Haraldur?" " Too soft." "You mean, he got seasick when he went fishing?" "Leaders need to be able to swallow their own vomit." "When do you graduate?" "There's something I should have told you..." " There's work waiting here." " It's about my studies." "I'm not meddling in your studies." "And I have a girlfriend, Dad." "That's your business, not mine." "We're expecting a baby." "Children can be as happy here as anywhere else." "Dad, don't play deaf." "Françoise can't work here." "You want to let her support you?" "Or am I supposed to keep giving you money?" "No, definitely not." "Threatening a court case!" "Because we moored at his quay." "He doesn't own it any more than I do!" "Is it true you kissed my mother once?" "At a dance, in front of everyone?" "Damn it, he can't bear a grudge for years." "Do you think that's normal?" "You shouldn't have kissed her." "I have a boat full of herring." "What do I do with the load?" "Land it with me." "I'll give you a good price." "After all, you liked my mother." "So there won't be another write-up?" "I'm the one who runs this company." "We need to restructure the firm." "Haraldur will answer to you." "In the long run, it wasn't me paying for your studies, but the workers in the plant and the crews on the boats." "What do you think your mother would have wanted you to do?" "We have a debt to repay to the people here, especially you." "It's their fishing quota, not ours." "We're just here to manage it for the people and the community." " I can't run a fishing business!" " Why the hell not?" " You started work at 10." " I'm not the company's savior!" "You can't be sure of that." "Ágúst, not many young men get this kind of opportunity." "Make the most of it!" "What are they saying?" "Ágúst is probably after more money." "It's obvious." "Excuse me." "They're here." " Yum, herring." " It's not fit to eat." "It's fit for a king." "I ate bloody herring every day when I was a kid." "That's what's kept you young." "From New Year's to the end of winter." "Dried fulmar, pickled herring." " And, Christ, did we fart!" " Grandma!" "We had the shits until summer." "We won't translate that." "Please, help yourselves." " How are you studies going?" " Very well." " Are you going to do a PhD?" " Yes." " "Dr Ágúst"...impressive, huh?" " You just need to write reams about something totally insignificant." "Aren't you eating?" " Is there any money in that?" " Ask her, not me." " Shut your mouth!" " Me?" "Yes, you." "Please, have some more." "We'd like to know why you've brought us back." "It's only natural." "I'm not going to live forever." "You look pretty well, all things considered." "Kristin, show her to her room." "She's a real cutie." "She'll leave once she finds out what you're like." "Weren't you with a dancer before?" "Not a dancer, Morten, the whole company." "We come all this way to eat this shit from beyond the grave!" "Is there any Coke?" "Coke was invented by the devil." "In hell, demons pour Coke onto the parched gums of the damned." "Is this all there is?" "Take the kid down to the service station" " for a burger and fries." " Me?" "Should I do that?" "Yes, please." "Don't let your son and heir die of hunger." "Who'll pay off your loans when you go?" "What have you cooked up, Dad?" "Are we getting Mom's bequest?" "You've had it, Ragnheidur." "Not as far as I know." "You spent 10 years at film school in Poland learning to make nappy commercials." "You thought all that came free, did you?" "What's he planning, Kristin?" "What's going on?" "Have some more." "Make yourselves at home." "What do you say?" "Come on, what do you say?" "What do you say?" "Is Haraldur sorting it all out?" "All what?" "A large or small portion of fries?" " Large or small?" " Large." "They sell their quotas, then run off to the city to play with a couple of billion." "Who's doing that?" "You don't know what they do with it?" "They play the stock market in Reykjavik." "Fried onions?" "Coke?" "Are you all right?" "Yes, a Coke." "Family size, king size, big, small bottle or can?" "Are you back, you bastard?" "Fuck off out of here." "Go, or you're for the pot!" "Fucking moron!" "What do we do about your father?" "I've done what I can." "He owns the company." "I don't." "How about setting the place on fire?" "Are you well insured?" "Do you know a good doctor?" "A doctor?" "His mind's starting to go." "We could have him certified if necessary." "Drastic measures may be required." "How do your brother and sister feel?" "Could you get their backing?" "What are we talking about?" "What we're talking about?" "Well, you could call it... a good commission." "Will you help me stuff the goose?" "Chop the fruit." "Come on!" "I'll get some potatoes from the cellar." "Isn't that Bóbó?" "Bóbó, as busy as ever." "He couldn't write his name by the age of 12." "Why are you dressed as a policeman?" "He's switched from gym teacher to policeman." "It's the same whistle, right?" "And he can still go on fondling the girls' tits and the boys' willies." "And now he's getting into sheep." "You know it's a ram, right?" "Out with it, Haraldur!" "Is it a disaster?" "We're not bankrupt, no." "You and Dad have no sense of business." "You plod on like cavemen, running job creation schemes for immigrants." "How much do you pay yourself to stop quitting?" "I've been working here since I was 16!" "What have you two done?" "You weren't fit for anything else." "But you've feathered your nest." "How much have you nicked?" "Dad's not well, neither physically nor mentally." "I wouldn't be so sure of that." "He seems clear-headed now, but some days..." "He keeps on giving orders that make no sense." "People don't know what to think." "All the same, they respect him." "That's not respect, it's servility." "When we invested in the new boat, he claimed his signature was forged." " And was it?" " Of course not!" "Who could get away with that?" "He's going senile, that's all." "That opens up some possibilities." "I accept your offer." "I'll sort it out somehow." "You can count on me." "What a stink!" "You stink of fish." "Is it true you hate men?" "Women let men make fools of them, don't they?" "It's pretty common." "Know what I do at night?" "I chew my way through my quilt... and then I wake up covered with feathers!" "Feel my heart." "It's bursting." "I love that bastard." "I love him!" "Pizza." "Put it on our granddad's account." "You're eating pizza in the middle of the day?" " So what?" " We were starving." " Where's your mother?" " Sloshed in bed." "That's enough pizza, okay?" "The amount you order is half my salary!" "So what?" " Don't drown in Coke!" " Don't choke on your temper." "Why are you asleep in the day?" "Dad's asked us over for dinner." "That's going to be fun!" "Let's act like grown-ups and try to get through it without disgracing ourselves." "What's happening, Kalli?" "Where are all the fun people?" "The place is full of foreigners." "No one wants to work in fish." "Just assholes like them." "They spend all night over a cup of tea." "Too cheap to buy a beer." "I have to charge the same for a tea-bag to make a living." "Is Haraldur diddling the company?" "He's in a good position to." "So you think he's stealing?" "I said he's in a good position to." "And who doesn't do it if he's in a position to?" "People always abuse a position if they're in a position to abuse." "You're right!" "Do you have jasmine tea?" "Jasmine?" "Fucking hell!" "We're closed." "We're closed, kid." "That soup was fantastic!" "The best lobster soup I've ever tasted." "Thank you, Morten." "Cloudberry jam." "Here's to Thordur and Kristin!" "You're not saying much, Dad." "What do you want to talk about, Ragnheidur?" "The sea's in its place, so are the mountains, until the next landslide." "A high quota and immigrant workers with no choice?" "Stick to what you know." "Your ideas on women's rights date from the Stone Age." "Why did you bring us all the way out here?" "Do herrings have a soul?" "Has the last cod just raised the white flag?" "I'll say what I have to say when the time is right." "The mountain's pregnant." "It will soon go into labor." "Excellent wine." "The meat isn't too dry?" "You never know how long a goose needs." "Some geese don't need much time." "They're always ready." "You work magic in the kitchen." "The sauce is delicious." "What's Mangi up to these days?" "He was landing fish at our quay." "His wife's dead, but life goes on." "Both his sons are at sea and they're doing well." "Maybe you should have screwed them instead, Ragnheidur." "She did." "In a hut by the beach." "We watched through a crack." "We didn't come here to be insulted like this!" "Calm down!" "No one believes this clown." "Morten does." "His ears are bright red." "My ears?" "Give me my cognac, Kristin." "You don't drink cognac with goose." "What preserves a corpse best, cognac or red wine?" "Cognac, of course." "So give me cognac." " It's wrong leaving what you love." " What could I do?" "Rot away here like Haraldur?" "You can't freeze love like a gutted fish." "I swear, Maria..." "I thought you'd change your mind like people do when they grow up." " No, I never change my mind." " That's dangerous." "I love you, you bastard!" "Sorry..." "I wanted to see the cellar." "You've seen the cellar, Morten." "Now fuck off!" ""According to my accountant, you, my children, have for some time now exhausted every rightful claim to the estate I have administered since your mother's death." "I have kept a register of all the assets that you have received from me." "And I've kept all the receipts." "To ensure that the community's resources and livelihood remain in responsible hands," "I have taken measures concerning the company that will be announced in due time."" "You will get nothing from me." "Any claims in connection with the estate... will be against you." "An angel flew by." "Mother, perhaps." "The weather's turning bad, the sea's getting rougher." "I don't give a fuck about the weather." "I hate your country weather!" "And I hate the people even more!" "I was buried alive in this fucking weather for years!" "When I went to bed, there were black clouds over my bed." "We're not prisoners here." "We can go abroad when we feel like it." "We're seven hours from a London hotel room." "Wonderful!" "Pick the place where you want to get bored." "What do you think of these mountains, Áslaug?" "Does it turn you on having a landslide" " thrust up between your legs?" " Ragnheidur!" "Ragnheidur starts to get nasty when she drinks." ""Starts"?" "She's always been that way." "We just wait till she calms down, like stormy weather." "Shut up about the fucking weather!" " Eat something, you prick!" " I'm not hungry." "Eat shit then." "Or shitty dried seabird if you want." "You're getting blasted again?" "Mind your own business!" " What are you looking for?" " My cigarettes." "Smoking will kill you." "Men haven't got the brains to live or die." "Is it a matter of brains?" "Your late sister didn't need it all spelled out for her." "It's nice you have fond memories of her." "She had the brains to die." "Have I ever bothered you?" "I don't suppose so." "I'm half-dead anyway." "Then again... who knows?" "Maybe you have." "I wouldn't be surprised if you killed your sister." "She wasn't blind." "She saw what was going on around her." "May God forgive you for those words, because no one else will be able to." "God never forgives." "But He spares those who don't deserve it." "Ragnheidur..." "Got any Coke?" "It won't work, Áslaug." "Why not?" " The signature's forged." " Who says?" "I called Kristin." "That fucking bitch!" "I'll keep the file safely." "As a souvenir." "No wonder your dad didn't believe anyone would ever want to fuck you!" "Sales order" "What the hell is going on?" "Have you gone crazy, you bitch?" "You're mad, you're going to kill me!" "Ragnheidur, please!" "For pity's sake!" "Put me down!" "Put the car down!" "Dad, as your children, we all agree." "Kristin and you deserve a change." " We want to sell the company." " That's out of the question." "Ágúst will be taking it over soon." "Ágúst?" "That's unrealistic." "He's a musician, he's having a child." "You don't know what realistic is." "It's not business, it's religion to fillet fish at every godforsaken place around." "We want to help Kristin, Dad." "The house is too big for her." "There's an apartment for you in Reykjavik." "You're not sending me off to some hospice!" "You can drag my body around after I die, not before!" "Here's a written declaration." "We'll see to the details later." "It's the only way, Dad." "I want to talk to the old man." "Find him yourself." "I dream of making a film about a transparent woman." "What are you?" "A legally certified ghost?" "You can always fool yourself, but you can't fool me." "I remember the way you looked at Mom when she was ill." " Children notice such things." " Calm down." "We'd lie there and listen to the bed creaking." "I can still hear it now." "The sound of your fucking orgasms still echoes in my head." "You realize what that can do to an unformed child's mind?" "Listening to your mother's death throes mixed with the grunting of your father and your aunt?" "Ágúst and Maria have disappeared into the dark together." "And if they find a place somewhere to make love, whose fault is that?" "Isn't it time to face up to that before you destroy anymore souls?" "Sign this, and we can keep the company going in another form, as shareholders in a big trawler company." "I won't let you destroy the work of a lifetime." "Are you deaf, you stubborn old fuck?" "No one was talking about fish here." "What about you, Ágúst, do you want to sell too?" "You want to destroy my life's work too?" "Will you betray me too?" " What do you know about me?" " What do you want me to know?" "I gave up business studies ages ago." "I presume you'd learnt enough." "Why were our clothes home-made as kids?" "Why didn't he speak when fishing was bad?" "Why were we all scared when he was at home?" "Why did you unplug the main fuse when you went to bed?" "I didn't teach you to complain." "He's given his life to fishing." "He's never needed us." "No, thank God, I've never needed you for anything." "You cried crocodile tears when mother died." "After all, her substitute was close at hand." "Almost the same, but twice as malleable." "Ágúst, that's enough!" "Everyone knows Maria's your daughter." "Conceived while mother was on her deathbed." "But you weren't man enough to admit it!" "When were you going to tell us?" "Were we supposed to read about it in the memoirs of the great Thordur Ágústsson?" "Is that why you brought us here?" "To tell us that?" "A final confession to erase all your fucking sins?" "To leave us in hell while you stroll around in heaven?" "You didn't even have the guts to face up to the truth." "And so you're hiding behind the "measures"" "for this fucking antiquated freezing plant." "How did you reckon you could change anything?" "Nothing's happened inside your head since the 1950s!" "Sign the document." "Are you so stupid you think" "I'll sign some document in the middle of the night?" "You're more stupid than I thought." "I thought you'd see reason." "Hand in your keys in the morning and clear out your office." "Otherwise, that forged mortgage on this house goes straight to the police." "You can't do this to me after all these years..." "Losing your nerve again..." "I've worked for this company since I was 10." "If you don't sign, you'll be declared non compos mentis." "You won't be able to manage your own affairs." "The three of us decided to have you certified as mad." "After all, you went crazy years ago." "You should have sold that shit a long time ago!" "But you'll carry on until some minister abolishes the quota." "You'll be left with nothing to sell!" "Do you understand or do you refuse to understand?" "You'll oppose us till you die?" "Sign, you senile fool!" "You can't oppress everyone anymore." "Take this!" "Will you take this?" "!" "What do you know about me?" "You've never done a day's work in your lives!" "What do you know about being faithful?" "You swap partners the way others change their clothes!" "You don't know what it's like... to live for 10 years" "with a sick woman." "That's what you wanted." "You've never believed in us." "We were never the way you wanted us!" "But we're exactly like you." "We all look down on each other." "We couldn't care less if the people closest to us get raped!" "Maybe that's why you hate us." "We're so fucking like you!" "Ágúst, wait!" "I'm your half-brother!" "I know and I don't care!" "I care!" "I care!" "You make a sorry sight." "You're not the first person ever to have had a shock like this." "He had a stroke, have you forgotten?" "Everyone says they've had one." "They're just too idle to work." "They'd rather sit around all day eating fruit." "Carry on talking while you're still around to." "I'm not dead yet." "I may well outlive you, sonny." "In any case, I'm half-dead already." "Don't souls go to heaven?" "I just hope they're not collecting souls from this rabble here." "That would make a hideous sight." "Kristin, shouldn't you get to bed?" "Thank you for coming so quickly in the middle of the night." "There's talk of arson." "It looks like it, but you can never tell." "Won't the girl confess, then?" "She says she can't remember." "She's claiming amnesia?" "The insurance company won't like it." "You'll honor our agreement?" "We're talking about the quota?" "We're not interested in charred ruins and rusty boats." "Isn't it a bit early?" "Kristin, give me three eggs and some pepper." "You're going to stink out the car." "You have no eggs?" "You're no guests of mine." "I want my coffee now, Kristin." "Are you deaf?" "You're coming to Reykjavik with me." "And you're going to hell for what you've done." "We'll keep each other company there." "Well, they've gone, then." "Did Maria start the fire?" "What do I know?" "What about the insurance?" "It was mortgaged to the hilt." "But the quota?" "He gave the quota away." "What?" "He gave it away?" "On the condition that it stays here in the village." "Who did he give it to?" "He trusted his worst enemy more than his own children." "Cod quota: 183,243 tons." "Current level: 20,686 tons." "Haddock quota: 28,264 tons." "Current level..." "Damn it!"