Ulf rode his
bike to the square feeling giddy with joy. It was over an hours worth
of cycling, but it was worth it if he could have a full day with
Christina to himself.
Tomorrow would
be the traditional dating day for teenagers, but Saturday morning
wasn't as packed, so he brought the bike all the way to the statue
and leaned on it while he waited.
Half an hour
early was maybe a bit excessive, but he didn't want to risk being
late and last time she had waited for him here. Besides the morning
was warm, and he enjoyed watching the street-life even when there
wasn't all that much of it to watch.
There was
something he needed to clear with himself as well. Maria. The reason
he flinched whenever Christina came too close was because he felt he
was cheating on his wife, but she was lost forever in that other
world. Did it count as cheating if they could never meet? Did it
count as breaking up, or divorcing, if you walked out the door one
day never able to return?
And he
couldn't even send her a message. He couldn't let her know he was
fine, or at least mostly fine. He couldn't tell his children that he
wasn't lying dead in a ditch.
And because of
all that he couldn't tell Christina that he loved her. But he did.
Maybe more than life itself. And there was that other thing. She
couldn't know how he lived for her, because she had become his reason
for living. Guilty thoughts of Maria be damned, and there just was no
way he could load Christina with that kind of a burden. No one should
feel responsible for someone else's life. OK, your own children, but
not a grown up person.
Ulf chewed on
his lower lip. If it made him look girlie so be it. He hadn't cared
much the last thirty years, and his attitude garnered him both
enemies and admirers during his university years. It permanently
built him a reputation as someone with integrity. He had spent half
his life deserving it.
Lost in
thoughts he didn't notice how half an hour had passed, so now the
real wait started. Last time she had been early. He could as well
kill some time while he waited, so he rolled up his arms and gave his
bike some much needed maintenance. It didn't make him too dirty and
it was kind of fun working with his hands for a change.
When he was
done there was still no sign of Christina, and now she was half an
hour late. Ulf called her but only got the message that her unit was
off service. He emailed her in case she could read but not talk.
Another half
an hour passed, and another, but she never arrived. After two hours
and five failed attempts to call her he gave up. By now he was more
than a little afraid and also a bit angry, so he rode to her
apartment and knocked on her door in a very pre mobile phone era
style. There was no response but her door was locked.
Ulf was scared
enough now to entertain the idea of entering by force, but it was
unlikely she'd be inside unable to hear him hammering on her door, so
in the end he abandoned that idea.
He did call
Kyoko, but she knew nothing. On a whim he called Ryu and Midori as
well, but neither of them had heard anything.
There was
nothing to do. He walked down the stairs, locked his bike and
returned back up. Some time he could spend looking over the railings,
but there was nothing to see but the equally dull apartment complex
across the street and in the end he sat down outside Christina's door
and prepared himself for a long wait.
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