The Magic Man

Otto doesn’t hang with the others. He spends most of his time alone, collecting empty bottles and getting stuff his own way. His mother tells him not to get up to anything silly, but he doesn’t. At least not in the woods. What he gets there is protection. That is where he meets the Magic Man.

I was in the woods. In the woods, under the trees. The Magic Man was there. I was wearing shorts and a blue jumper. He was wearing a suit, a dark suit. Not his large coat, it was probably too warm. He gave me chocolate, it had been lying to long in his pockets, it had melted, it trickled down my fingers, down my arms, down on to my thighs and knees. I wiped it off with some grass, but I felt sticky. The Magic Man had balls; red, blue. He hid them in his hand and I had to guess where the red one was, I was always wrong.

How do you do it? I asked.

It’s magic, he said.

How many tricks do you know?

I know them all.

Otto has to adapt to reality and finds his own survival bubble.

Fattig-Norge mot overgriperen

Ingvaldsen (52) er leder for norske barnebokforfattere og har tidligere skrevet bl.a. fotballbøker og slapstickhumor. Nå er han ute med en sterk, velskrevet og skremmende bok.

Hjemme hos Otto er det mer tomflasker på stua enn det er mat i skapene. Otto er fanget mellom en mor som han aldri kan vente noe godt fra, og en overgriper i skogen like ved som tross alt gir både mat og oppmerksomhet. Jeg er spesielt imponert over Ottos utvikling i boken; fra naiv via kynisk til problemløsende.

AFTENPOSTEN MORGEN
I går, kl 04:00 22.01.2014

Morten Olsen Haugen