Hanne
The cook at Fjordly. She has made Chris's breakfast since he was small, and she never answers what he asks.
- Who
- The cook at Fjordly
Hanne is the cook at Fjordly, the care home in Ravnsvig where Chris has lived since he was two. The other adults come and go according to the rota, but Hanne has stayed. Only she has been there as many years as Chris.
Breakfast
Hanne calls Chris in to the breakfast table when the porridge is ready. It is waiting when he comes back from the water with wet hair, and in the middle of it a knob of butter melts. When he was small she waited on the bathing jetty at Løverodde with a towel and counted aloud to ten before he was allowed to come up. He later takes that way of counting with him and uses it himself when he has to help someone else into cold water.
She also makes his packed lunches, and the rye bread is never cut quite straight. The butter lies thick, and the liver pâté reaches the edge. Chris can taste that she made them early in the morning with him in mind.
What she doesn’t say
When Chris asks who his parents are, Hanne lays a warm hand on his cheek and answers that his family wanted it that way. Then she pushes the bowl a little closer. She has a smile she uses when the questions get too hard.
The evening Chris cycles away with his bag, she stands in the kitchen window with a potato and a knife in her hands. She raises one hand but does not come out. He understands that she knew the evening would come.
Relationships
- Chris Godrand: has looked after him since he was two
Spoiler (revealed in chapter 29)
Hanne's silence about Chris's family has lasted thirteen years, and only now does Chris realise that it was about him. On Christmas Eve at Fjordly there is a tree in the common room with woven paper hearts, and after the rice pudding Hanne makes sure, every year, that the almond ends up in his bowl.