after shopping. These spring weekends there’s bound to be a few Stockholm women out, taking time off from their husbands. All you need are a couple of them who’d like a little fun while the going’s good.’
‘Sune, you have very outdated views on married women.’
‘Hell no! They talk a lot but there’ll always be women who want to enjoy life while their men slog up the ladder.’
When Dan arrived at the meeting place Anders had described he found Lena Sundman already there, sitting in the same old Volvo. She wore black glasses although the sky was overcast.
‘Well, well,’ she said.
They shook hands through the window.
‘You’re waiting for Anders Roos?’ Dan asked her.
‘Isn’t that why we’re here?’
‘Yes, of course.’
She asked him if he knew what restaurant they were going to. She didn’t remember any restaurant around here that overlooked the water. ‘The only thing that overlooks the water anywhere around here is the goddamn paper mill in Hallstavik,’ she said. Dan asked about the car. She said it had been fixed but it was a waste of money. ‘It’s like umpty years old. My aunt stopped driving in the sixties when her glaucoma got bad and it hasn’t been used since.’
Together they watched Anders’s car pull in. He went around and opened the door on the far side. A woman leant halfway out. Lena Sundman pulled the glasses down her nose to get a better look. By now it was clear that the woman was having some difficulty coming through the door opening. Anders took her hand while, at the same time, she pulled something behind her. When she finally emerged, she was holding a small dog in her arms. ‘Jesus Christ!’ Lena Sundman breathed. ‘What now?’
The woman stopped and turned with a proprietary air to wait for Anders to catch up. He introduced her as Ulrika, without saying anything more. With the dog in the way, shaking hands turned out to be tricky so they stopped trying. Anders smiled reassuringly and suggested they all go in Dan’s car which still had its snow tyres on.
‘Just where is it we’re going?’ Lena Sundman asked him.
‘Ah!’ Anders said. ‘That’s Dan’s and my secret.’
Lena looked at him sourly but she didn’t say anything more. Anders either decided to ignore her expression or didn’t notice it. He helped Ulrika get the dog onto her lap in the back seat and got in beside her. Lena Sundman sat in front with Dan. Anders directed him to a forest road.
Dan heard the other two talk while he drove, letting their voices float, with no attempt to structure the sound. He realized that he had nothing against driving all the way in silence, and in a sense it was silence although the two in the back talked on. After a while, though, Lena Sundman broke it by asking him what he actually did on the island.
‘This cocktail party chatter time?’ Dan asked her.
‘Hey, you don’t forget, do you?’
Dan didn’t answer.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you what I do. What I do is want to model clothes but at the moment it’s perfumes.
‘You model perfumes?’
‘I present them. At congresses. Fairs. When the occasion arises. In Gothenburg. Where businessmen can buy presents for their wives. Or whoever. You know.’
Dan hadn’t the faintest idea but he let it be. The other two talked on behind. Lena Sundman yawned. Her hands were stuck in the pockets of her fur-lined pilot jacket. As she looked out at the bronze trunks that slipped past beside them she eased one shoe off with the toe of the other and put her stockinged feet on the dashboard, then looked at Dan. He realized it was time he made an effort.
‘Apart from presenting perfumes at congresses and fairs when the occasion arises,’ he said, ‘do you do anything else?’
‘Eat. Sleep.’
‘All day?’
‘Don’t let it obsess you, it’ll sap your brain.’
‘You already used that line. To the boy at the petrol station.’
‘I told him it’d stunt his growth. Not the same
‘Sune, you have very outdated views on married women.’
‘Hell no! They talk a lot but there’ll always be women who want to enjoy life while their men slog up the ladder.’
When Dan arrived at the meeting place Anders had described he found Lena Sundman already there, sitting in the same old Volvo. She wore black glasses although the sky was overcast.
‘Well, well,’ she said.
They shook hands through the window.
‘You’re waiting for Anders Roos?’ Dan asked her.
‘Isn’t that why we’re here?’
‘Yes, of course.’
She asked him if he knew what restaurant they were going to. She didn’t remember any restaurant around here that overlooked the water. ‘The only thing that overlooks the water anywhere around here is the goddamn paper mill in Hallstavik,’ she said. Dan asked about the car. She said it had been fixed but it was a waste of money. ‘It’s like umpty years old. My aunt stopped driving in the sixties when her glaucoma got bad and it hasn’t been used since.’
Together they watched Anders’s car pull in. He went around and opened the door on the far side. A woman leant halfway out. Lena Sundman pulled the glasses down her nose to get a better look. By now it was clear that the woman was having some difficulty coming through the door opening. Anders took her hand while, at the same time, she pulled something behind her. When she finally emerged, she was holding a small dog in her arms. ‘Jesus Christ!’ Lena Sundman breathed. ‘What now?’
The woman stopped and turned with a proprietary air to wait for Anders to catch up. He introduced her as Ulrika, without saying anything more. With the dog in the way, shaking hands turned out to be tricky so they stopped trying. Anders smiled reassuringly and suggested they all go in Dan’s car which still had its snow tyres on.
‘Just where is it we’re going?’ Lena Sundman asked him.
‘Ah!’ Anders said. ‘That’s Dan’s and my secret.’
Lena looked at him sourly but she didn’t say anything more. Anders either decided to ignore her expression or didn’t notice it. He helped Ulrika get the dog onto her lap in the back seat and got in beside her. Lena Sundman sat in front with Dan. Anders directed him to a forest road.
Dan heard the other two talk while he drove, letting their voices float, with no attempt to structure the sound. He realized that he had nothing against driving all the way in silence, and in a sense it was silence although the two in the back talked on. After a while, though, Lena Sundman broke it by asking him what he actually did on the island.
‘This cocktail party chatter time?’ Dan asked her.
‘Hey, you don’t forget, do you?’
Dan didn’t answer.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you what I do. What I do is want to model clothes but at the moment it’s perfumes.
‘You model perfumes?’
‘I present them. At congresses. Fairs. When the occasion arises. In Gothenburg. Where businessmen can buy presents for their wives. Or whoever. You know.’
Dan hadn’t the faintest idea but he let it be. The other two talked on behind. Lena Sundman yawned. Her hands were stuck in the pockets of her fur-lined pilot jacket. As she looked out at the bronze trunks that slipped past beside them she eased one shoe off with the toe of the other and put her stockinged feet on the dashboard, then looked at Dan. He realized it was time he made an effort.
‘Apart from presenting perfumes at congresses and fairs when the occasion arises,’ he said, ‘do you do anything else?’
‘Eat. Sleep.’
‘All day?’
‘Don’t let it obsess you, it’ll sap your brain.’
‘You already used that line. To the boy at the petrol station.’
‘I told him it’d stunt his growth. Not the same
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