He raised the glass and let the evening light run out of it. As he was about to put it to his lips, his mobile phone rang. On the display he read the number of a colleague from work, and immediately he knew what it was about, because his colleague was on duty that evening. He smiled to himself at the sudden thought of downing the cognac in one so that he would be unable to cover for whoever was sick.
Instead he put the glass down and took the call.
3
ANITA ELVESTRAND CHANGED channels. She’d seen the film several times before but looked forward to catching the ending one more time. There was still a while to go, so she muted the sound, reached out for the chocolate on the table and broke off a row. Enough is enough, she decided, and wrapped the paper around what remained of the bar. She put two pieces in her mouth and tried to chew slowly, washed them down with a swig of red wine. She lifted the box of wine; it was still quite heavy, but she mustn’t drink any more this evening. It was five past eleven. In less than nine hours she had to pick up Victoria. They were going to the dentist’s together. If they smelt the wine on her, they would use it against her.
There was a knock on the door. Must be Miriam. No one else knocked on her door. Anita got up from her easy chair and walked out into the corridor. Miriam stood outside smiling, and no other smile could make Anita feel relieved in quite the same way. Apart from Victoria’s, of course.
– I saw the light was on, Miriam said apologetically, as though that were necessary. She was wearing a denim jacket and a short skirt. A white blouse with a lace collar.
Anita opened the door wide.
– Would you like a glass of wine? she said, positioning herself on the threshold of the room, moving back just a tiny bit to let Miriam pass. Pass so close that Miriam’s shoulder brushed one of her breasts and she could inhale the lovely smells from her hair and the skin beneath the clothes. A hint of smoke, too; Miriam had been somewhere where people were smoking, because she didn’t smoke herself.
– A small one perhaps. I can’t stay long. I have to be up early tomorrow.
– So do I. I have to take Victoria to the dentist.
Miriam watched her as she sat down. When something surprised Miriam, her thin eyebrows shot up and stayed there quivering for a moment before sinking down again. Anita couldn’t take her eyes off her face. Miriam’s eyes were almond shaped and dark, her thick dark brown hair gathered in braids at the temples and fastened at the back with a hair grip.
– You’re allowed to take her to the dentist? Just a half-glass for me, please.
Anita filled it three quarters and her own to the top.
– In a fortnight’s time she might be staying the night with me.
– How wonderful, Miriam beamed. Anita felt herself on the verge of tears but controlled herself. – Are you watching Sleepless in Seattle?
– I’ve seen it enough times, rasped Anita and turned it off.
– I like that film, said Miriam. – I like films where they get each other in the end. When you already know from the beginning, no matter how hopeless it seems.
Anita was about to make some sarcastic comment about getting each other but desisted. Miriam was ten years younger than her. She studied medicine and was terribly bright. There was something about her eyes; she always seemed interested in what Anita was saying, no matter how stupid Anita thought she was being herself. At the same time there was something girlish about her that was reinforced by the slight accent she spoke with, and Anita felt a desire to sit down next to her on the sofa and put her arms around her and hold her tight…
Miriam had had trouble with a difficult relationship, Anita knew that. Someone she was trying to finish with. Someone she felt so sorry for that for a long time she couldn’t do it. That had been several years ago, at least before she moved into the upstairs apartment. Since then there had been no one, Anita was almost certain of that, though she could hardly understand why.
On the windowsill she found an Aretha Franklin CD and put ‘Chain of Fools’ on. She drank half her wine and felt it prickle in her chest. She couldn’t bring herself to ask Miriam what she did about getting someone to sleep with, but it was okay to ask if she missed having a boyfriend.
Miriam sipped at her own wine, put it down and leaned back in the sofa, knees slightly apart.
– Imagine if there’s a certain someone out there who was just meant exactly for you, she answered with a smile, – only he’s married and has a family.
– You’re not thinking of getting involved with an impossible,are you?
That was how Anita referred to anyone in the category of ‘family man’. Not too hard to get hold of, a lot more difficult to digest.
Miriam had to laugh.
– No, I haven’t…
She sat there looking out of the window.
– But what?
Anita realised she was being too intrusive; she mustn’t push Miriam, mustn’t use her up. She mustn’t forget that Miriam was more of a helper than a friend. But she couldn’t contain herself.
– You don’t have to tell me, she said in a slightly hurt tone.
Miriam seemed to change her mind.
– Tomorrow I’m starting at a clinic in Bogstadveien.
– Sounds very exciting, Anita responded, a touch disappointed.
– I’ve met the doctor who’s going to be my supervisor several times already. He gave us some lectures in the summer. I talked to him in the breaks. And after the lectures too.
– That’s what I like to hear. Anita snuffled and wiped a drop of red wine from her lower lip. – And is he the one-and-onlysomewhere out there?
Miriam looked up at the ceiling.
– And he’s the one you’ve got as your supervisor? That just has to be fate.
– I’ve helped things along as well. I swapped places with another of the students to get into the clinic. But you heard what I said. He’s married and has three children. At least.
Anita burst out laughing. It was a long time since she could remember laughing like that.
– This calls for a celebration.
It was quarter to twelve. She wanted to fetch the latest photos she’d taken of Victoria and show them to Miriam, sit close beside her on the sofa and inhale the smell of her hair as she leafed through the album. She picked up the box of wine and was going to pour more wine but Miriam held a hand over her glass and stood up.
At the front door, Anita put an arm around her and gave her a hug. Miriam’s cheek was almost as soft as Victoria’s, and she felt an almost irresistible urge to put her lips to it and beg her to stay. Miriam extricated herself gently.
Anita stood there watching her as she disappeared up the stairs to her attic apartment. Miriam was an easy person to get to know. But at the same time Anita didn’t know her. She seemed to be always happy, but there was something else there too, as though she was grieving over something. Grief was something Anita knew a lot about. So much so that she could sense it in others, even when it was hidden.
4
THE FIRST FEWhours on duty were quiet. Axel Glenne treated a few sore throats, stitched a few cuts, lanced a boil. After midnight he made a round of calls. Got an eighty-two year old with pneumonia admitted after an argument with a junior doctor, some kid whose voice had only just broken. A three year old with a rash and a temperature was also admitted. A woman who sat under her kitchen table howling and refusing to come out unless she was given Valium quietened down immediately when he told her she could have it her way.