“Is this seat taken?”
I startle at the sound
of the female voice. For a second I am not even sure where I am but the low
rumble of the engine and the lulling sway of my seat cue me in quickly.
“Uh…” At first I do
not know if the question is directed at me but when no one else answers I
figure it must be.
Is the seat next to me
taken? I guess not. Not by me anyway. Probably also not by any other person or
the woman would not ask if it were obviously already occupied.
“I don’t think so?”
“Oh thank god,” The
woman laughs, the bright sound making me tilt my head in interest.
I debate if I should
vacate my seat to let her pass but she easily squeezes through; something
brushes against my knees and part of her long jacket swishes over my thighs before
she settles into the seat next to me.
“The bus is getting full,
huh?” I have not really paid attention during the past thirty minutes or so but
listening to the busy talking around us the bus must really have filled since
the last few stops.
“Uh huh. Quite so. And
here I was fearing I wouldn’t meet another human being in the next few months.”
There is a small smile in her voice.
I chuckle quietly. She
is not from here. “If they wear hiking boots they probably did not come for a
chat but will disappear into the wild as fast as it goes.”
“Oh…”
From her reaction I
think I must have hit home. “I guess you are not a hiker then?” I ask.
She clicks her tongue.
“No…” She laughs. “Not really.”
“Where are you from?”
“The UK.”
“And what brings you
here?”
The woman next to me
moves, fabric sliding over fabric. “Um, my aunt. She lives in Kiruna.”
“Visiting then…” I say
carefully, not daring to ask directly because I picked up on her guarded tone.
“Hmm, yeah…”
I nod and tilt my head
down a little while directing it forward into the direction of driving. In the
corners of my eyes I can make out her darker silhouette outlined somewhat
against the bright window, but no details.
“Oh holy shit!” she
cries out suddenly.
With a wince I turn my
head to face her again, my heart beating fast. “What?”
“How was this seat not
taken? It’s amazing out there!”
I relax and manage a
shaky smile. Yes, I remember the view. “The lakes, huh?”
“Yes…” she whispers.
“The colors, the sun… It has just come up over the horizon, I think. The water
is completely still and everything is just… wow, beautiful. Just look at it! I
mean… There’s snow up high in the mountains, do you see that?”
Her enthusiasm makes
me smile, but I fidget a bit in my seat. “Um…” She is definitely missing
something here and I guess I should tell her.
“You probably see this
every day, huh?”
“Um, actually--” I
brace myself but she interrupts me.
“Were you born here?”
I blink, a bit
surprised about the inquisitive question. “Me? Oh uh, yes, I grew up in Kiruna,
in fact.”
“Really?”
I rub one hand over
the rough fabric around my knees. Guess I will not tell her then. It will
probably not make a difference anyway. “Um… yes. Now I teach in Gällivare, but
I live farther south.”
“You‘re a teacher?
What do you teach?”
“Music,” I say and
grin at that. “And Physics.”
“Cool. What a
combination!” She sounds genuinely interested. “How old are your students?”
I weigh my head.
“Everything from five to twenty.”
“Do you like it?”
I nod. I like my job,
even if I have to get up at 5 am to catch the bus.
There is a second of
silence. “I bet your students like you.”
I blush. Where is this
coming from? “Um…”
She giggles. “I’m
sorry. I was just thinking you come across like such a calm guy somehow… Your
students learn a lot from you, I’m sure.”
I duck my head, one
finger trailing along the pattern of the seat until I force myself to stop it.
“What do you do?” I ask to deflect from me.
“Um… That’s a long
story.”
I nod slowly. “One
that explains a months-long visit at your aunt’s?”
Silence from her. She
has stopped moving entirely.
“Sorry,” I say softly,
regretting it instantly. What have I been thinking? “I’m sorry.”
“You’re a good
listener,” she says quietly. Then she sighs and leans back, her voice different
now. I think she is speaking to the window. “I had a bit of a rough year.
Relationship down the drain, quit my job, that sort of thing. I kind of thought
it were good if I went away from it all for a while… But now I don’t know.
Maybe it was just a silly idea…”
“I don’t think it is
silly,” I say carefully. “This is a good place to recharge.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. Time’s a bit
slower here. Everything is.”
“Hmm…” She chuckles.
“I noticed that. Even the bus is super slow.”
I grin and try to
catch another glimpse of her but the background of the window has changed: it
is darker, probably forest gliding past outside and I cannot make out much from
the shadows.
We remain silent for a
while.
“There’s a bakery…”
she murmurs at one point, her face turned away from me and probably looking out
the window again.
I snort softly.
“People here do need to eat as well.”
I listen to the sounds
from the bus, the feeling when we roll around a bend in the street and the
voice announcing the next stop. “There’s a car mechanic we should be passing
about right… now. And a chiropractor next to it.”
“I know it sounds
stupid but I just always thought that this was a practically deserted land.”
I nod, not surprised.
“It’s not very densely populated but we still have pretty normal jobs. And
distance doesn’t mean you don’t know your neighbor, even if it takes you twenty
minutes by car to reach him.”
The bus stops somewhere
on the road and I hear the doors opening.
“Do you see the
driver?” I ask my seat neighbor.
“Uh huh?”
“He’s picking up the
mail.”
She laughs, amused.
“Indeed… So the letters are delivered by the buses?”
I cock an eyebrow,
grinning. “This bus runs once a day, even in winter. No mail service could be
this frequent!”
The smile is evident
in her voice. “Indeed, crazy.” She moves next to me, yawning a bit and probably
stretching. “So, living here… Do you see a lot of northern lights then?”
Well, not me, that’s
for sure. But I have seen countless. Before. “Uh… yes, I guess there’re many.
In the winters especially.”
“Oh god, I hope to see
some. That’d be awesome.”
“Hmm, you will,” I
assure her. If she stays for the upcoming winter months, chances are indeed rather
high. “Winter is very long here. And dark.”
“Ugh… Sounds not very
appealing.”
We sit in silence for
a while, the bus rumbling around a few corners before taking up speed on a
straighter route again. I wonder if my seat neighbor has fallen asleep, in
which case it would not be advised to pick up the conversation again, when the
bus suddenly breaks more abruptly than it normally does. The woman next to me
gasps and I thrust one arm out, bracing myself against the back of the seat in
front of me. There is no sound of a crash but the bus keeps standing where it
stopped, motor running. Around us, people have stood up and started talking
louder.
I tilt my ear toward
the noise, frowning. “What’s happening?” I ask the woman next to me. There is
no stop anywhere near here.
She says nothing for a
moment, probably observing what is going on outside. “Are these reindeers?”
I lift my eyebrows.
“Um, are they blocking the street?”
“Yeah, I think?” She
seems unsure if she should trust her eyes.
“Could be. This is the
time when they’re herded back to the winter quarters.”
“Really? Oh my god,
that’s amazing. I saw reindeers on my first day in Lapland, can you believe
that? And so many even…”
I try to suppress a
chuckle at her obvious awe. It is kind of cute. She will see tons of reindeers
more if she stays for a while longer. They are a bit of the equivalent of sheep
up here. Only slightly wilder.
That reminds me of the
sandwiches that I packed for breakfast and I fumble for my leather bag between
my feet and take out the paper bag.
“Oh…” I hear a longing
sigh next to me.
The smell of fresh
bread and meat spreads as I unwrap the first sandwich. “You want some?” I
offer, hoping I interpreted her reaction correctly.
“Oh that’d be… really
nice. I did not have anything to eat this morning.”
I smile at her, trying
to turn my head so that I am facing her. People appreciate me doing this as I
know, even if it does nothing for me. “Have this one. I got two.”
Holding out the bag to
her, I wait until I can hear her grab the crinkling material, her cool fingers
brushing mine as she takes it from me.
“Thank you so, so
much. I’m starving.” From the sound of it, she is digging right in. “I didn't
think the journey would take this long. I’ve been stuck first on a plane, then
trains and busses for uh… more than ten hours now.”
“And you’ve probably
got four or five more ahead of you.”
There is a resigned
sigh. “Yeah…” She changes position, folding her legs from the sound of it and gestures
with something. “But wow, this is really good. Did your uh… girlfriend prepare
them?”
I shake my head,
unwrapping the second sandwich. “No girlfriend,” I say matter-of-factly.
“Believe it or not but I did those myself.”
She giggles. “Sorry. I
don’t really think that men are hopeless in the kitchen, believe me.”
I grin. “Oh you
don’t?” I tease.
“Hmmm, no…”
I cannot really tell
what she is doing because she goes silent on me. Blushing, I turn my face away
slightly. I do not wear sunglasses and many people have assured me that my eyes
look normal, only not very focused, but I am still a bit self-conscious about
being stared at. Maybe because I cannot tell if someone indeed stares at me.
“Aren’t you afraid of
winter?” She asks suddenly.
“What do you mean?”
“Six months darkness…”
I can feel her shudder next to me. “It must be terrible.”
I scrunch up my empty
wrapping paper in my fist. “It’s not that bad,” I say, not facing her anymore,
my jaw set. “You get used to it.”
You do.
She sighs quietly. “I
don’t think I would ever get used to it…” she whispers.
I do not answer to
that because neither had I, rolling the paper ball around in my hand.
“Anyway…” She moves
next to me, paper rustling. “Maybe we can meet up in Kiruna from time to time?
So that I can get in touch with people that are not… hikers?”
I whip my head around.
“Yeah, sure, of course.” The idea had not occurred to me because usually I only
meet people on the bus that are here for a short holiday. It makes no sense to
ask them to meet again. But with her it is different, I realize and I grow
excited at the thought. I enjoyed our conversation a lot and I guess I like to
do this again.
I flinch a bit as
something nudges my hand and realize she is giving me her empty sandwich paper
back. I stuff it in my leather bag together with mine.
“Uh…”
“What?”
“Nothing,” she says,
but something has changed in her voice.
I try to figure out if
I did something stupid but I cannot come up with anything. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, really. Do
you, uh… do you get to Kiruna often?”
Still frowning, I
weigh my head. “From time to time. Once a month, maybe…?”
“That’s not often,”
she exclaims and giggles.
I
exhale, relieved
because whatever I have done or said wrong seems to be forgotten, and
shrug. “I could make it more often…. If there’s a reason to go up
there…”
“I hope you will,” she
whispers and I can smell her as she leans in a bit, sweet and flowery.
The bus breaks and the
moment between us is gone. “Well…” I say and shrug my jacket on. “I guess this
is my stop then.”
“Skolan, huh?” My seat
neighbor sounds disappointed.
I blink
apologetically. “Exactly.”
“Okay, so see you in
Kiruna maybe?” I can hear the hope in her voice and it makes me all warm.
“See you,” I smile as
I pull the cane out of the seat's pocket in front of me and unfold it.
There is only silence
from her side, so I nod one last time in her direction and move to get out of
the bus, holding the cane in front of me without a second thought. I am already
halfway down the corridor and approaching the steps leading to the door when I
hear my former seat neighbor‘s voice, although it is quiet and muffled as if
she is trying to hide it.
“Oh fuck…”
Ah yes.
That.
I never got around to
telling her.
“Shit, shit, shit…”
I stop walking and
turn to her, frowning slightly. “What?”
First there is stunned
silence, then she blurts out: “I’m… I’m so stupid… I’m so, so sorry!”
“About what?”
“The paper… from your sandwich…?”
I blink, thrown off
track. “What about it?”
“I uh-”
“Are you not getting
out here, Kjell? No school today?”
I straighten and turn
back to the bus driver who cackles at his joke. He does not sound impatient, but
I do not want to witness him sound anything else than friendly, so I hurry to
get to the front. “No, no, I’m getting off here, sorry for that, Rødh.”
Helplessly, I strain
my ears to listen back to the woman but she says nothing anymore. It is only
when I am already standing at the curb and listening to the bus driving away,
confusion still clouding my senses, that I realize I do not even know her name.
Damn it!
How stupid can one be?
Kiruna is not a huge city by world standard, but it is pretty big and the
chances of randomly bumping into anyone are vanishingly small. And I could walk
directly past her without even knowing.
Very well done, Kjell.
Definitely your best move so far. This could have been your day, but of course
you had to fuck it up. Of course. But no problem, there will be just another
awesome woman who is willing to talk to you on the next bus tomorrow, for sure.
Just lining up behind the others.
I am still berating
myself when I arrive at school and it does not go unnoticed.
“Heater broken down?”
Jonatan, one of my colleagues, asks, only half joking. On a scale of
catastrophic events, a broken heater is pretty high up this close to winter.
I groan and move my
hand over the top of my personal table in the teacher’s lounge, searching for a
stack of printouts I have prepared already yesterday.
“Uh huh, no,” I murmur
darkly. “Worse.”
While sorting my
things, I tell him about everything that happened on the bus this morning,
stuffing the printouts into my leather bag after throwing the empty sandwich
wrappers in the trash.
“The sandwich paper?”
“Yeah, what the hell,
huh? What’s that supposed to mean, is it some kind of secret code? If so, I
don’t understand it. Am I too old for this?”
“The sandwich paper!”
I huff, impatient.
“Yeah, I told you I-“
“No, Kjell!” There are
footsteps, a rustling sound and then Jonatan waves something through the air in
front of my face. “You got it all wrong. It’s not a code! She meant the actual
paper.”
Loud crinkling.
I frown and step
closer to Jonatan. “Huh?”
Jonatan clears his
throat. “Okay, I’m reading this now… Are you paying attention?” He pauses,
presumably to check on me, then continues, “It says: Anna...” A series of
numbers follows but I do not listen anymore.
Anna? Of course! Anna!
The woman from the bus, her name is Anna!
Oh, we have both been
so stupid…
“Wait, wait!” I
interrupt Jonatan, pulling out my phone. “From the beginning again, please!”
Jonatan does me the
favor, reading the phone number that Anna must have noted down on the sandwich
paper before handing it back to me, and I add the contact to my list, grinning
madly.
The paper rustles
under my palm as I smoothen it out in front of me, feeling along the edges of
the crumpled material. I have never had a girl give me her number in this way
before and I must admit it feels amazing. Of course though, we will have to
talk about what obviously went unnoticed in the bus and I am certainly a bit
afraid of it. She had not sounded like someone for whom it would be a big deal
and I hope there is just plenty of time for the both of us to sort things out.
But she would not be the first person to bolt upon finding out about my
disability.
Because there is no
point in waiting, I send a text to Anna immediately.
- Hej. -
Then I gather my
things and leave the teachers' lounge. It is already on my way to the classroom
when my phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out, at the same time trying
to juggle my cane, the leather bag with books and lunch and the printouts that
did not fit inside jammed under one arm, while the last trickle of students streams
through the corridor as well.
“Good morning Mr.
Lindblom!”
“You’re late, Max!” I
absentmindedly scold the boy who storms past me and try to unknot the cords of
the headphones, stuffing one bud into my ear with impatient fingers.
The text from Anna is
read from the screen.
- Hej hej. -
I grin and type an
answer.
- I’m Kjell. I’m the
fool from the bus. -
Although classes are
about to start, I wait for Anna to return a text with my phone clutched in my
hand, standing in the middle of the now deserted corridor. Seconds stretch
forever and I start to feel a bit sick in my stomach when there is no answering
text immediately. But then the phone vibrates a second time.
- I’m Anna. That makes
us two fools. -
And then:
- When’s the next time
you’ll be in Kiruna? -
My heart soars and I
smile so wide it hurts. She still wants to see me! Joy and relief are pumping
through my veins as I continue walking down the corridor, the unmistakable
noise from behind one particular door guiding me swiftly to my unsupervised
class. In this moment I must be the luckiest guy in entire Swedish Lapland. It
feels a little like the floor suddenly changed its nature with the bounce in my
step as I enter the classroom, the children’s deafening screams falling silent
as they scramble to their seats the moment they notice my presence.
“Good morning class,”
I greet them joyfully, throwing my leather bag on the table and collapsing the
cane. “Today we’ll talk about how we know that the earth orbits around the sun.
And what all of that has to do with winter.” I wave with the stack of papers in
my hand. “Who wants to distribute this?”
I am still a bit in my
own headspace as I listen to the children group together, some joining at
tables and others on the sofas distributed along the walls or simply sitting between
pillows on the fluffy carpet in one corner. My phone is turned off but I feel
the heat of it like it is burning in my pocket, sending little jolts of
excitement through my spine as I slowly walk over to one group of children that
has requested my help. I smile to myself, crouching down in front of one of my
students who starts explaining his sketch of the planetary system to me while a
bunch of others are hovering around, sometimes more or less helpfully throwing
in comments.
I know I need to try
not to get my hopes up too high. But right now I can hardly believe my luck and
I cannot help but feel immensely glad for this morning’s bus ride. My fingers
itch to call that number on my phone and to hear Anna’s voice again. This could
be great months to come, I think. I am almost sure about it and for the first
time in my life I am excited about winter.
There is usually not
much to look forward to during winter. For me, winter is as dark as summer.
Only this time… this
time it may make all the difference.
THE END
Hi Lovis, sorry it's taken me months to see this but it's a very sweet little story! Thanks for posting. It's nice to have more blindness stories posted here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Devo Girl, that’s very sweet. It‘s not your fault for not seeing the story earlier because I haven’t officially posted it yet. I always date my stories back a few months (the short stories too), so that they appear in the right order. This one will be announced on Friday and since I wasn’t sure if I’ll have internet I put it already up almost a week before :)
DeleteOh right, haha! ^-^; I knew that! No worries, I have been posting my chapters a few days early too. Anyway great story. I hope there can be a sequel someday.
DeleteSuch a lovely story. Beautiful interaction, beautiful setting (finally Europe!) and great characters. Will spend the rest of the day daydreaming about their first date in town.
ReplyDeleteAlso love the Frost quote in the end!
Thank you! Haha, I did not quote on purpose and hmm... although I like the poem (or better: its misinterpretations, because I think what someone feels experiencing art is as important if not more as how it was intended to make you feel) I should maybe make it clear that I have very different intentions than Frost.
DeleteOh my... *sighs* - this story is dripping with sweetness... Where do you get all these wonderful story ideas?? :)
ReplyDeleteGreat setting, delightful dialogue, a nice small plot twist with the sandwich paper, small details (reindeer, etc.!) adding so much to the overall atmosphere - all in all, simply wonderful writing which does good to one's soul...
Also, when you post something new, then there is usually an additional thrill - reading the first lines and trying to guess what the disability is as you include different types in your stories! :)
Thank you for expanding your great ideas into amazing stories and sharing them with us!
Thanks for your lovely comment! It was really simple this time, I just had to look out of the window :)
DeleteThank you so much for posting your awesome short story today and for keeping the blog alive. You know that I am a big fan of your writing.
ReplyDeleteWhile there haven't been a lot of new stories here lately, I have really enjoyed re reading your older stories.
Aww, that's really, really sweet, Chandelier!
DeleteAwwwww <3
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteThis is fantastic! I love how you slowly reveal your characters. The setting is wonderful and I could feel the joy Kjell felt at the end. I could exist on such sweet weekly shorts, as this one!! Who needs food, anyway . . . LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pepper! Haha, right, I could live on reading stories as well. I think...
DeleteThank you for this wonderful short story!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment!
DeleteI need more, please
ReplyDeleteI'm a terribly slow writer... :)
DeleteAs already said above, this was such a wonderful and sweet promising story, Thank you so much!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, ano! Makes me happy when you are.
DeleteGreat little story. So enjoyed it. All the Lapland descriptions. So happy for a story with a blind character. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you, blueskye!
DeleteWhat a lovely story! Very well done and I wish there were more, I'm already smitten with these two!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Well, who knows...
DeleteThis is really nice and romantic. I would like to know what happens when he goes to Kiruna
ReplyDeleteThanks ano!
DeleteWhy a short story? Make it a large story pleaaaase hahaha
ReplyDeleteI really love me some blind guys and it has been a while since I read a good story with one of them! So you know, if you ever want to continue this story, you already have one faithfull follower ��
Awww, that's sweet! Thanks! Well, you all definitely make me want to extent the story, so I'll see what I can do.
DeleteYes!!!! Please!!! Hahahahaha I'm going through withdrawal of a good blind story!
DeleteLoved this!!! And yay for Europe too... :D
ReplyDeleteAwww, thanks so much! <3
DeleteHello Lovis,
ReplyDeleteI don't visit this wounderfull and ALWAYs surprising site often. But if I do, I always find something to love right away. Today it was you story, which is great!!!! As a user without daily or weekly visits, it is very difficult to follow a story by the menue or the timetable. Sometimes it works, mostly not. So I gave myself a great gift by trying to follow you this week in all different ways which are possible - see what it gave me!!!! :) Thank you so much for all you stories - you are a very good writer, you have so much insight in peopels souls and you do great with the charakters, the story line and your ideas, trists ...
Sorry english is not my first language and I' m not very good exspressing my feelings. I hope you look between the words and find my real meaning! Please continue writing!
Hi Anon,
Deleteyour comment made me so happy :) Thanks for the sweet, encouraging words, they really mean a lot to me. I'm glad you love the story as much as I do and I hope you continue to follow me on the blog. I know I found the blog confusing the first time I visited, so I understand where you're coming from. It will get better with time, I promise. I always try to label my story parts in a way that makes it easy to find them for readers who don't pop in every week. I hope I do a good enough job at that. Also soooo many kudos for taking courage and posting a comment although English is not your first language! It's amazing! I know how hard it is, English isn't my first language either and every time I post something I feel like I've completely fucked it up. So don't worry, I understood you perfectly and I hope you will hang around and in time leave another lovely comment somewhere on the blog!
Kisses
Lovis
That had me frowning in the beginning. I knew quite a lot of blind people once (I did study special education for the blind and visually impaired, and there were blind fellow students, academics, and many possibilities to meet blind people of all ages and backgrounds), and I do not think there would really be someone to sleep or drift off into thoughts so deeply in a public transport that he or she could not say if the window seat next to them had been taken after they entered. :-)
ReplyDeleteAfter that (what made me laugh after the first surprise) the story developed very sweetly. Interaction with kids - lovely!
I wonder - if he had guessed what it was about that paper on his own, would there have been any tool that could still have read that information out to him? Those were very sensitive and not very reliable "back in my time". Crinkled paper, maybe dark paper, so low contrast - forget it! :-D
There can't be enough stories with blind main characters, really! Keep up the great work, please!
Thanks so much! Haha, yes, maybe it's not very common, I don't know? I have one blind friend who may be a bit more daring than the average, he goes hiking, plays semi-professional soccer, runs marathon and studied two semesters abroad and I'm pretty sure he fell asleep a few times on public trains or buses, coming back from a party or going to work. The latter probably isn't a very big deal if there's but one main street and the bus driver knows where everyone is supposed to get off.
DeleteI suppose there are pretty decent mobile apps nowaday. I tried one app that translates more or less in real time whatever written text is in front of the lense of the camera. It worked well with print and is rather convenient if you're in a country where you don't even know the letters, though I don't know if it works well with handwritten notes.
I would love to see more of this.
ReplyDeleteI would love to write more! If ever inspiration strucks and I should find myself with a bit of free time I will try and extend this. Be patient :)
DeleteI can be patient. I just re-read Limits today, altough my favourite story of yours is Different Shores.
DeleteAmazing. Well written, the story graduates slowly and steadily. Oh my, I enjoyed reading it so much!
ReplyDelete