The year is 1982 and it is a spring day in Reykjavik, Iceland. In front of my house there is a one story retail store building, that used to have a small supermarket, and a fish merchant. The closed their stores because the large retail stores have taken all of their customers. So at this time, the building is empty. However, attached to the building is another building with residential apartments on three floors. The top floor has a balcony overlooking the roof of the abandoned retail store building next to it. Now and again some kids would climb on top of the roof and hang around up there. On this day I decided to go up on the roof and walk around on top of it. There was not much else to do and I was bored that day. Soon I heard someone yelling something, but what was being said was unclear. Eventually an old man appeared on the balcony of the three story building, that overlooked the roof that I was walking on. I said to him “What?”. I finally to tell that he was saying that no was allowed on the roof and that it was dangerous. He was right of course. But I am was Icelandic and I didn´t care. Icelanders do not follow rules like Germans do, unless we choose to, and that day day I choose not to. The old man soon realized that I was not going to obey his commands, and increased his screaming for a while but then he stopped, because I was not going anywhere. He resurfaced after a while holding a shot gun and pointed it a me, saying that he was gonna shoot me if I didn´t get off the roof. Well this brave new act of his, convinced me to get off the roof and forego the option of being shot. He won and I lost. Someone had seen this old man pointing his gun at a 10 year old boy and he had to invite the police into his home, with some explaining to do.
Head Ransom
22/04/2026
