“I take you by the hand and drag you up the stairs. At first you are skeptical at this idea but you follow along, and each time we go around we get farther and farther away from the others. The music gets weaker, we can talk without shouting. I’m in my red Thai silk skirt-or, no, wait a minute, that’s wrong-I have borrowed a cheeky little thing in a flippy bordello-colored velvet that shows a bit too much thigh but is nice and cool when I dance. Halfway up, I step out of my shoes. I’m not used to high heels. I bend over and set them aside.”
He braked hard at a pedestrian crossing. She made no comment, but continued.
“From the top of the stairs we walk across the bridge where solid-glass panels are attached to the railing. That is a good thing because it’s a long way down and I’m staying close to the wall. I can see and hear everyone down below. The music is old Gasoline and many of our colleagues are waving at us. Everyone is happy, with the exception of the little red-haired one from the secretarial pool-you’ve helped her out on a couple of occasions, she is sulky. I wave kindly to her but she doesn’t acknowledge me. Perhaps she doesn’t care for the food, even though she doesn’t look like someone who is picky.”
She stole a glance at him and saw that he was still listening.
“At the end of the bridge I stop. The large glass panels are nailed to the bridge but are not attached at the wall, and between the closest wall and the last panel there is enough room to squeeze by. I put aside my shoes and slip in and now I am standing on a little ledge intended to secure the structure. It’s not without danger because it is eighteen meters down. When for a brief moment I let go of the railing, you also press through and place a strong arm around my waist while holding firmly to the railing with the other. You are taking care of me, which I am grateful for. And here we are, just you and me, somewhere between heaven and earth.”
She had closed her eyes and leaned her head back as if she was reliving the dream.
“Under there is light, music, socializing, and colors; over us, the eternally cold night sky. You show me Orion’s Belt and explain to me that Venus is not a star, it just looks like one. You are so smart and strong. I lean my head in towards your face while I brush my hair aside and you kiss me tenderly on the ear, don’t you?”
His answer came without hesitation.
“Yes, of course.”
“Of course you do. Well, below us more and more people have noticed us standing on the ledge. Someone is pointing and others try to call up to us but we can’t hear anything so after a while they lose interest. I send a kiss down to Troulsen, who is sitting where I left him, drinking beer. Next to him is my purse, which he has promised to watch for me because it would be embarrassing if anyone opened it. My cheeks turn red just thinking about what is lying uppermost inside the bag, and you know it too since I removed my shoes on the stairs. My panties.”
He confirmed this knowledge, without her having asked him to do it.
“Then I slowly rub my buttocks over your crotch. Back and forth, side to side, and both of us notice how you gather strength. You protest, but I override you. You should know that when a man says no he always means yes and your virility proves me right. Without forcing it, I bring my hand to help. First simply a finger, then more. I loosen your belt and unzip your fly while my other hand is holding your pants up. From down below, everything looks proper. You have coaxed the new girl in the unit to a remote corner of the room, everyone has noticed that, but how far you have led her astray is hidden by my body. I drag the front of your underpants down until the elastic holds them up, then I turn my feet so that my thighs part before I pull up my dress a bit and push you up into me. You groan in my ear, warnings, but also sweet things and other words that simply don’t exist. Your arm muscles tighten and your grip on me grows stronger but it is a just a start because now comes the fun.”
She smiled brightly without opening her eyes.
“I tell you that I am going to let your pants fall and now you find yourself in a dilemma. You are holding on to the railing with one hand, the other is around me, and you don’t have another one around to hold your pants up so that they don’t end up around your ankles. In front of the eyes of all your superiors and all of your co-workers, who will talk about you for all time to come so that your reputation, your career, your modesty-all is at stake. When I let go of your pants you have already escaped me and I put my arms around your back as far as I can while I focus. I’m thinking about what I have learnt again and again in ballet class. Flexibility, power, posture, control, these are the four key words. I loosen my hold on you and slowly let my body glide around in tiny circles. You call out my name even though we are so close, though not as close as before. Our bodies parted. Almost. Now it is all or nothing. The rotation gets bigger and bigger. Flexibility, power, posture, control. I get braver and braver, centimeter by centimeter until at last I find the outermost unstable balance. Then I hold up my arms in triumph toward the stars while I alternate between stretching on my tippy-toes and falling back onto my feet.”
She was speaking more loudly.
“Flexibility, up on my toes, power, down again, posture, up, control, down.”
Suddenly she opened her eyes and her voice changed.
“Oh, we’re there.”
They had reached the parking lot in front of the Langebæk School. They had been there for quite a while.
She took her bag from the floor. Pedersen protested.
“No, wait a minute. What happened then?”
“Happened? Happened where?”
“Well, in your dream, of course.”
“Oh, that. I can’t remember exactly. I think I turned into an angel and flew away.”
“An angel?”
“Yes, an angel. When I was little, my dad often used to called me angel and when I was naughty I was an angel with dirt on my wings-isn’t that poetic? But it may also be that I woke up.”
She released the buckle on the seat belt.
“Don’t get mad, Arne darling, dreams can’t last forever.”
Without blushing she reached down between his legs.
“But I think you need your wife.”
Chapter 18
The two men across from the Countess looked like what they were, namely shamefaced lugs, whose careers were hanging by a thread. In their defense, it had to be stated that they had not tried to make themselves look better and that they had related the facts of Per Clausen’s disappearance precisely and without elaboration, just as they had not offered any stupid excuses. It was a sensible approach, as the Countess would have skewered them for the slightest attempt at such a thing. Now she’d been given no reason. She inspected them from head to toe as if she were about to grade their performance. Both hunched under her gaze but said nothing and then she let mercy go before right.
“If you hurry up, you’ll be able to get away before a very large and very angry man comes in, someone you absolutely do not want to meet.”
To her surprise, they didn’t move. She waited a couple of seconds for a question that never came. Then she held her thumb and pointer finger in front of her eye and said, “I see in my crystal ball two colleagues sorting through the lost-and-found because they did not get to safety in time.”
That helped.
Simonsen did not share the Countess’s penchant for mercy and his enthusiasm was limited when he had to settle for hearing the story secondhand. In the absence of a better alternative, however, he sat down in a chair, ready to listen.
The Countess looked down at her notes and then related the distressing news.