But it was probably the best one she had. An almost completely black picture with a very bright stripe slanting across the canvas. As if it had been torn in two. She couldn’t help smiling a little at the thought of Maja’s face when she entered carrying this. Then she continued searching in her bag, discovered a packet containing just one cigarette, lit it, and peered in the fridge. It was nearly empty. Butter, ketchup, and a bottle of soya oil were all that was left. She sighed, then suddenly remembered the wad of money and smiled once more. What she needed now was an ice-cold beer. So, she threw on some clothes, heaved her coat on to her shoulders, and trudged purposefully off to the small shop on the corner. Omar’s opened at eight in the morning, what a blessing he was. Nor did he look askance, even when people were buying beer before anyone else was up. His shop stood in that venerable district of detached houses like some strange bird, to the considerable consternation of many, but to Eva’s delight.
His teeth showed chalky white with enthusiasm when she entered his shop. She pulled a couple of half-liter bottles of beer from a crate, grabbed a newspaper and forty Prince Mild.
“A very good day today!” he smiled encouragingly.
“Perhaps it will be in a while,” Eva groaned, “but not just at the moment.”
“Well, I know it will be a good day. But two bottles is not a lot if the day turns out bad.”
“You know, I think you’re right,” Eva said. She fetched another bottle, and paid.
“Ah, I think I’ve got an account here, too,” she remembered, “I’ll pay that as well.”
“A very good day for me also!”
He rifled through the shoebox where he kept all his credit records. “Seven hundred and fifty-two.”
Eva was moved. He’d never mentioned it. She handed him a thousand-kroner note and glanced down at the mail-order catalog he’d been leafing through. “Anything exciting there?”
“Oh yes, this here, I’m buying for my wife. Coming in the post in two weeks.”
Eva peered down. “What is it?”
“Burl remover. Good for jumpers and sofa cushions and furniture. There are no burls in my country. You have strange materials here.”
“I like burls,” Eva said. “They make me think of old teddy bears. The teddy I had when I was young had lots of burls.”
“Yes, yes,” he sparkled. “Happy memory. But in my country there are no teddy bears also.”
The beer was tepid. She laid one bottle under running cold water, then searched the telephone book for Maja’s number. Just to mention that she must forget all the drunken talk from the previous evening, she hadn’t been in full possession of her faculties. The phone was dead. Of course, they’d disconnected it. She cursed softly, went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet with her skirt pulled up around her waist. Well, today I certainly look like a whore, she thought, perhaps that’s what I am really, perhaps it’s a good day to begin. She finished, stepped out of her skirt and got into her dressing gown again. She went out into the passage and stood in front of the hall mirror, where she could see herself from top to toe. Just for a look, she thought.
Eva was 1.83 meters tall and most of it was leg. Her face was thin and pale, her eyes golden, not dark enough to be considered brown. Her shoulders were narrow, she possessed an unusually long neck and long arms with slender wrists. Her feet were large, size forty-one, it was enough to make one weep. Her body was thin, a bit angular and not especially feminine, but her eyes were fine, at least Jostein had always said so. Large and a little slanted, they were set well apart. A judicious makeover would have worked wonders, but she’d never understood that kind of thing. Her hair just hung there, long and dark with a slight hint of red in it. She bent closer. The hair on her upper lip had begun to grow. Perhaps her estrogen level had begun to sink, she thought. The dressing gown slid open, she pulled it aside so that she could see her small breasts, her long lithe abdomen and thighs, which were as pale as her face. She gave a trial wiggle and tossed her head slightly, making her hair fan out. If Maja can become a millionaire with that round little body, I certainly can with this! she thought wickedly. And she pictured the bundle of notes once more, thought about where they’d come from, and shook her head, as if she couldn’t properly grasp what had happened, just last night. She did up her dressing gown again and retrieved the bottle from the sink. She wouldn’t think about it at all, she’d do it. Nobody needed to know anything. Just for a while, perhaps until Christmas, just to build up her finances. She drank some beer and felt her nerves subside. I haven’t really changed, she mused, merely discovered a new side to myself. She drank and smoked and daydreamed about her own small gallery, which would be down by the river, preferably on the north side. Gallery Magnus. That sounded rather good. A sudden inspiration made her consider whether she ought to introduce a color into her pictures. Deep red. Quite a thin line in the first picture, almost invisible, and gradually a bit more. She felt enormously inspired. Afterwards, she opened another bottle and thought that this was what had been missing from her life. Maja had been missing! But now she’d returned. Everything’s going to work out, she thought contentedly, this is a turning point. When all the bottles were empty, she fell asleep.
The taxi tooted outside at six o’clock.
Eva had wrapped the picture in an old blanket and the driver laid it carefully in the trunk. “Drive carefully, please,” she begged, “it’s worth ten thousand kroner.”
She gave the address in Tordenskioldsgate and all at once she had the feeling that he was staring at her in the mirror. Perhaps he knew Maja. Perhaps every other man in the street had been in her bed. She brushed a bit of fluff off her skirt and realized she was nervous, the high from the beer was almost all gone, and reality was returning. But it was strange how, when Emma was away so long, she almost seemed to pack away her whole maternal role in some drawer and just revert to being Eva. That’s who I am now, she thought, I’m Eva. I’m not taking any notice of what others think, I’ll do what I like. She smiled to herself. The driver noticed it and smiled back in the mirror. Don’t get any ideas, she thought, I don’t come gratis, you know.
19
Maja opened her arms wide and led her in. The previous day’s excesses hadn’t left a mark on the round face.
“Come in, Eva. You’ve brought the picture!”
“You’ll probably faint.”
“I never faint.”
They unwrapped the picture and leaned it up against the wall.
“Crikey!” Maja was dumbstruck. She studied the picture minutely. “Well, I’ll say this, it is a bit different. Has it got a title?”
“No, you must be joking.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d be dictating what you should see, and I don’t want to do that. You must look at it yourself, and tell me what you see. Then I’ll respond.”