S2E14 Beyond The North Wind Chapter 14

Anna and Emil enjoy time together. Emil leaves to set up the anniversary dinner in the ice cavern.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Beyond the North Wind Chapter fourteen There was the shock as we cried out together, and then the laughter. I fell softly down on her, cradling her head, kissing her lips. We looked up into the mirror fixed on the ceiling above the bed. The border was decorated with hearts and pitchforks just like the rocking chair. We smiled and pulled faces as if we were in a photo booth. Then we plumped up the pillows and sat for a while holding hands. You are happy today, she said, very much stronger, like when you were young. She kissed me on the cheek. Yes, I feel young. I will take a trip onto the glacier. I want to photograph those old farm buildings today. They will make a good picture. Oh I thought it might be because of something else. I cannot complain. My situation is excellent. She kissed me again, got up, and I admired her long, supple legs that I had once likened to frog's legs, even calling her froggy once as she gripped me in bed. Midway through the morning Anna brought me my phone. My brother Augustine had texted. He has a title for in Oslo. Do we want tickets? I've checked your diary and we are free on the date. Okay, Bookersin. Augustine in the ring, arms aloft, his smiling, sweating face, mouth guard protruding, an enormous golden buckle on his belt. He was the champ. I was never troubled by the tufts at school. How I came to have a brother like him was one of nature's mysteries. There's a photograph of all four of us, papa, mamma, Augustine, and me. I was too young to remember papa much, but I do remember Augustine raging in our bedroom. Papa had not come back. He really had gone this time. Augustine brought a punching bag and drew his face on it. He knocked the stuffing out of it for days. Eventually he calmed down and joined a gym. After anger comes acceptance, said Mamma. I worked for most of the afternoon in a room that made a fair workshop. Anna came in. I made you these today. I offered her the small black box in my hand. Anna's eyes were bright as she took the box and brushed her fingers over the velvet cover. Inside the box was a pair of silver earrings shaped like leaves, presented on a cushion of black felt. She held one of the earrings up to the light. I could see that she liked them. She went to the mirror and fixed them in her ears. I put my arms around her and we kissed. Let's dance, I said. I took hold of her, wrapped her in my arms, and hugged her to me. We danced together to an old tune on the radio, at first shifting around in circles, and then slowly warmed up to the beat as our body heat increased. I crooned in her ear and she responded Do you have a car? That would be great we could drive into Tromps. I shook my head. I love you. The song changed to another hit. Everything will be alright, I sang. Our dancing evolved, Anna and I spun and shimmied through the next few songs until the cold was forgotten. Then the word came on. I recited the lyrics. That's nice, she laughed, as my hands moved up and down her back. Now I'm hot, I'm sweating. The album is called Rubber Soul, Rubbery Soul. She nudged me along. It is the end to a perfect day. One of the best, I replied, when we know that everything's going to be alright. You're wonderful, Emile. You have such a wonderful optimism. She saw me glance at the pink skin under her shirt, then to her new earrings. It's because I'm with you, I said, kissing her again. The candlelight played on her air, inviting my touch and taste. She placed her hot hands on my head and brushed the hair out of my eyes. I lost myself in her green eyes, piercing emeralds. She was between me and a lamp on a wall, and the light framed her head in a bright glow. Our bodies relaxed into one another, mouths searching for lips. I felt goosebumps bristle on my arms. My ardour was raised, and she pressed into it. Now would be good, she said. We waltzed from the living room to the bedroom, bumping off the furniture and onto the bed. She sat up while I pulled off her top and she took off my tunic. We stripped further and then we sat before each other. We looked up at our reflections in the mirror. We looked like statues. I need a sun tan. Then I grasped her bottom and made her shout and dug my nails into her flesh. My erection pushed up between our bellies, her nipples were like dark moles in her chest. We slipped underneath the bedclothes and howled at the touch of the cold sheet, rubbing our bodies together until we were warm again. Anna stretched out her butterscotch body, glowing in the candlelight. I attended to her, stroking her skin like a sculptor over a bronze nude. Then we moulded and joined and melded our bare skin into a new animal that rocked up and down until it eventually roared and separated into two figures again. Lovely, she breathed. Wonderful. You are wonderful. Later I dressed and got ready for my day trip. Three days to our anniversary. I wanted everything to be perfect. While Anna milked the goats I retrieved the items hidden in the wood pile and checked her gift was still in the camera case. I'll we'll be back for dinner and more of the Hertgruton journey. It's quite gripping in an extremely slow way. The boat will reach Ulsen today. She smiled. I will prepare some lessons and keep you company. We kissed, and it was like one of the kisses when we first met, looking into each other's eyes. You are young again. She pushed back my hair. I like it. I hoisted up my rucksack and thought gleefully about my plan. What a day this would be. I swear the kiss we shared in the kitchen doorway before I set off tasted of orange sherbet. I set off looking back at Anna to wave at every opportunity, walking into the trees like a clown. Finally I was out of sight of the farm and heading up the hill, and eventually to the glacier. The going was easy. I recognised the waypoints I needed and made good progress. After several hours walking, I noticed something new in the distance, a standing stone, four meters high, its surface all the shades of grey and white. The stone had a flat front and back and thin sides. It was almost a rectangle, but there had been a deliberate working to suggest a head, torso and legs. It was sunk in the ground so that the earth reached up around its base to support it. The stone was a watcher on the way. I knew no one in the area capable of such a construction. There was another artist about. Being out on the ice helped me to think about the stone as a mirror, a rosetta stone to learn from. The ominous and sinister, one man's standing stone is another man's way making guardian. I projected myself onto that watching figure, and it became my protector, not a highwayman. I continued taking the tough route to the glacier, passing several places I knew well from travelling with Anna. Eventually I found the track near the ice cavern. The tree was still there, sticking out of the stones, pointing hikers and skiers down the highway. I detoured off the compressed snow and over to the moraines in the distance. The ice tunnel shone blue and led me to the cavern beyond, like ultraviolet lines on a flower leading a bee to nectar. The sight of the enormous ice eagle was a forgotten shock. The massive creature rose and spread its wings over me. I surveyed the interior. In the furthest darkest corners there was the sound of water dripping onto the floor like the high notes on a piano. Drips of water also fell on my head, at points from holes in the cave roof, as I walked across the floor to the magnificent structure of the giant eagle, blue wings tinged with the colours of the rainbow. The table was built using a selection of rocks brought in from outside. Manhandling the rocks was hot, difficult work. When I looked at my watch, two hours had passed. In the end I fashioned a rocky cube, slightly taller than my knee, and wider than my shoulders. The table had a tolerably flat surface on which to put plates, cutlery and goblets. I noticed that the cabin floor was wet from ice melting from the walls. This would mean that the hassocks would also be wet unless they were placed on dry stones, another puzzle that took longer than anticipated to solve. The wind had got up and was singing by the time I had finished and stepped back to survey the work. The table looked like a short chimney stack with two hassocks at each side. Anna's hassock was maroon with blue diamonds, while mine was checkered in yellow and brown. I unpacked the candle arbor and placed it on the rocky table. This was going to be good. I lit the two candles and stood back. The golden sun appeared in the cavern under the eagle's claws. It was just as I had imagined it. A lump of ice fell from the cave roof and landed behind me. I waited but there were no more surprises. The wind gusted and I noticed its warmth. Men do crazy things to impress a woman. I unpacked two white plates and two knives. At the darkest reach the cabin out of the way of the warming sun, I scooped out a hole in the ground big enough to hold the package of Fois, flatbreads, goblets, and a bottle of monbazilac, all wrapped up in the new white tablecloth. The table was set, the food would be served on white plates, and we would each have a knife to spread the faux Fagua on flatbreads. The new goblets, the best of modern pottery, had been easiest to pack with the monbazilac. The lit candelabra was magnificent. My stomach rumbled from excitement with the thought of the meal and the look on Anna's face. Then the stone under my brown and yellow hassock shifted a little and sunk a little lower into the melting ice floor. Water streamed around it. The rocky table tilted a little from the horizontal and put the question to all my good work.