“Just promise me one thing,” she said.
“I’ve been called a dreamer so many times I’ve started to wear it as a name,” he said. “But dreams don’t fill freezers. And right now, every young person in this town is packing for Bergen or Oslo—or worse, they’re sitting on the dock drinking cheap beer because the herring left and never came back.”
That stung. Anna’s father had lost a brother in the war. HC saw her flinch and softened his voice.
“I’m not trying to erase what we are, Anna. I’m trying to give us a choice. Right now, the only choice is fish or starve. But if Phillips finds what I think they will…” He let the sentence hang, heavy as a trawler’s anchor. Lykkeland -State of Happiness- - season 1 -HC E...
“Anything.”
Anna laughed, but there was no joy in it. “The future? My father says you’re a fool. Drilling in the North Sea—he calls it ‘fighting God for a coin.’”
Stavanger, 1969 – Six months before the Ekofisk discovery “Just promise me one thing,” she said
HC finally turned. His face was younger than his forty years, but his eyes were old—scoured by meetings in Oslo, refusals from banks, and the silent mockery of men who called him Lykkeland (Fairyland) to his face.
HC didn’t turn. “It does. It owes us a future.”
“You’re staring at the sea like it owes you money,” said Anna, pulling her scarf tighter. She was a fisherman’s daughter, her hands still raw from gutting mackerel that morning. And right now, every young person in this
HC took the telegram back, folded it carefully, and tucked it next to his heart. “Tomorrow. The first rig is a rust bucket held together by hope. But hope, Anna—hope is the one resource we’ve never drilled for.”
Anna looked at the water. Then at the sky, heavy with November.
“Your father also said the Germans would never leave. He was wrong twice.”