LESSON 4: So It Began

Aina left the Sköt coffee shop an hour early today, leaving her friends Gina, Eva and Birgitta to their usual after school ritual of boys and gossip.  Her head was swirlling with erratic thoughts and questions.  She needed … something else today. But what?

Taking the Ferry from Stockholm to Ancka Strand, she sat by a window on the very last row, switched on her Ipod to ABBA – yes it was cheesy but oddly soothing  in these times of uncertainty. She absentmindely watched the water break on the side of the boat as Stocklholm disappeared behind her.  Looking up, she saw him again and her breath caught in her chest.

He kept turning up wherever she went: first outside of her school, then by her dance class. She had caught glimpses of him several times at the Sköt Coffee shop after school.  She had smiled at him, but he had not smiled back. He had simply kept staring at her. Not with lust. Not with disdain. Not with curisosity. Not seemingly with any malice.  That’s precisely why she was so uneasy. She could not decipher the look in his eyes.

Was he following her? Was he interested in her? If so, he had had ample opportunity to come talk to her. She had even smiled at him in invitation.  If not, what did he want from her? She turned away from him but felt his unrelenting gaze upon her.

As the ferry docked and people began disembarking at Ancka Strand, Aina stayed behind.  Should she run to her family’s restaurant or try to loose the stranger in the bustle of the docks? Fear and excitement burst in her chest.

Not wanting to be the last passenger on the Ferry, she stumbled to the exit, seeing him out of the corner of her eye sitting in the same chair, his eyes still upon her.  He got up behind her and made his way down the line, 3 ou 4 people behind her.

As she stepped on the docks, she suddenly made a split decision.  Enough! She abrubtly stopped and turned around right as he was nearing her.  She pushed him almost violently and yelled out “ What do you want from me?” He caught her hand in his over his chest and kept them there as their eyes locked.

Immediately, the few people nearby gathered  around them, ready to intervene in case she needed help. This was Sweden after all. But  she was transfixed.  The world faded around her.  His eyes held a message she could not read, but the heat emanating from his hand into hers was rapidely spreading throughout her body like a wave.  It was like nothing she had ever felt before, yet it felt strangely familiar.

And suddenly she heard him say the same  cryptic phrase that had been keeping her awake for weeks. The one from the dream she had been wracking her brain trying to recall:  “Aina, You are pure potentiality”.  Then she realised, he hadn’t actually spoken.  His voice had come directly through her mind!

She went limp as he caught her.  The crowd dispersed, leaving them to what had apparently been only a mild lovers’ quarrel.  He wrapped his arms around her, walked her to the nearest bench overlooking the water, and sat down with her still in his arms.  Finally they faced eachother.   It had begun.