Peter Stjernström - The Best Book in the World

Astra is not quite as drunk as Eddie, but is just as exhilarated. When she comes up on deck and sees Eddie already in the water, she too undresses quick as a flash. She holds her nose and her bosom when she jumps into the water.

‘Lovely, isn’t it?’ Eddie shouts, and with a toss of his head clears his long fringe from his eyes. He swims a few metres in the bay and waves to Astra to follow. She swims after him. They stop and tread water a while without talking, just looking at each other.

‘This is heavenly! How can it still be so warm in the water?’

‘I love August! Look over there towards Lidingö, Astra. Can you see?’

‘What?’

‘Look at the water! Look how it’s shining all shiny! I love it when it shines all shiny!’

‘Yes, it is beautiful when it shines all shiny. I like it.’

‘Hello, you have reached Astra Larsson at Winchester Publishing. Leave your name and your telephone number, and I shall phone you as soon as I can. Thanks for the call.’

Damn, damn, damn! Titus shakes his mobile phone in the air as if it were to blame for Astra not answering. What the hell should I do now? Phone her again and leave a message? Text her?

And in that case, what would he say? In the long run it is usually best to tell the truth. At the same time, he knows that Astra has fallen for Eddie. It would be hard to convince her over the phone that Eddie is a maniac. It would only rebound on Titus himself. He would look like a jealous nutter with a conspiracy theory. So what should he do? He must act, otherwise Astra might be tricked into something unpleasant. And, most important of all, Eddie might ferret out lots of secrets about The Best Book in the World.

Titus comes to the conclusion that a white lie is the only proper solution at this stage. Whitish, at least. Off-white, he thinks, and sends off a text message.

Then he simply turns off his phone.

Time will tell, he thinks.

The night bathers are back in the cabin. The swim and the charged atmosphere have already done for a large part of the alcohol. Astra and Eddie sit wrapped up in each other’s towels and eiderdowns, kissing for all they are worth. They caress each other’s hair. Their emotions are on fire. The oil lamps flicker sensually in time with their wide-open mouths. The dampness has started to leave their bodies and now settle as a mist on the small windows. They aaaah and ummmm as they kiss each other, sometimes with closed eyes that allow their hands to discover new wonders, sometimes with wide-open eyes that ladle in even larger portions of pleasure. Their legs are entwined. The towels and covers fall off. There is a great deal that is shining all shiny on the boat just now.

Suddenly, the text alert on Astra’s telephone cuts like a machete right through the cabin. Robot-like, she stretches out for the telephone and opens the message before she has time to think – a message from the outer world can destroy a sexy moment easy as pie. But Astra isn’t thinking clearly, it is her muscles and nerves that decide. Her eyes and hands leave Eddie’s body and concentrate on the telephone display. Answering the phone is evidently a reflex that has a higher position in Astra’s needs-pyramid than the impulse to mate with the best man in the flock.

RELAPSE. HELP ME. NOW. TITUS.

‘Oh no, what the hell…’ whispers Astra.

Not many seconds pass before the erotic atmosphere leaves the cabin. Astra’s pupils whirl around in her eyes, as if trying to help her brain find something to cling on to.

Eddie sits up a little and pulls the covers over his navel.

‘What’s happening?’

‘I don’t know. Something has happened to Titus. He seems to have gone on a binge again. He wants help.’

‘Oh dear. Has he tried to become sober? I thought he personified the everlasting party,’ says Eddie quietly, caressing Astra’s arm.

Astra mutters some curses to herself and tries to phone Titus. But he has turned his phone off, and he hasn’t got an answerphone function turned on either. All she can hear is the telephone company’s automatic message which speaks in staccato.

‘I must go home,’ says Astra and looks desperate.

‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘I must. Anything at all could have happened. Can we do that, can we go home now?’

‘Yes, of course. I’ll start the engine and we’ll be back in the harbour in fifteen, twenty minutes.’

‘Great,’ says Astra with a slightly sad smile. ‘Eddie, this is just crazy. I really don’t want to break off this evening. You have been absolutely fantastic. You are absolutely fantastic. You make me horny as hell, and I think that I am actually a little in love with you. Really, really magical, all of it. I’m terribly sorry.’

‘It’s all right, Astra. Nobody can destroy what we two have here. Now let’s be on our way. We must save Titus Jensen for posterity.’

Eddie gets dressed quickly and starts doing things with the boat so that they can sail home. He connects the petrol hose to the outboard motor, squeezes the petrol pump a few times, pulls out the choke and starts the engine at the first pull. It chugs quietly while he loosens the mooring ropes and pulls the boat out with the anchor rope. Astra untangles the mess of sheets and towels, and tidies the bunk which fills half the cabin. She curses Titus for being so hopelessly immature. Who knows when she’ll get to see this lovely bunk again?

Eddie hangs up an oil lamp in the mast as a lantern. The old Neptun cruiser chugs slowly back to its home harbour through the calm waters. A few other boats can be seen here and there. The evening is not over yet. The summer is not over yet. The sky above Stockholm is lit up by street lights, flats and lots of lively pubs and restaurants.

Eddie holds the tiller with his right hand, putting his other arm around Astra’s shoulders when she comes and sits beside him.

‘Has he tried to be sober for a long time?’ he wonders.

‘Yes, indeed. He has been totally dry since the beginning of summer. He has even stopped smoking.’

‘Oh, goodness…’

‘The thing is, he is working on a new book. Or rather, it is almost finished. I think it is going to be really, really good, but not if he starts boozing again. That would be the end of it. Evita’s going to be absolutely livid.’

‘Wow, have you been able to read any of it then? What’s it about?’ Eddie wonders.

Astra looks at Eddie, somewhat surprised. What does the plot of the book matter at this point? Eddie looks away.

‘I mean, I wonder how he’s feeling? I wonder what’s happened.’

‘I just don’t get it. I thought he was in good balance. He looked young and fit didn’t he? You saw him at my place earlier today.’

Eddie’s eyebrows rise a centimetre or two. Now he looks genuinely curious.

‘Young and fit? Well, actually I don’t think he did. I thought he looked a bit tipsy. I think he had probably already had a shot or two.’

‘I don’t know about that. No, something must have happened this evening.’

As they approach the harbour, Astra phones and orders a taxi. Eddie asks if she wants him to accompany her. She doesn’t. Or rather, she does, but she knows that Eddie makes Titus nervous. He has nagged her so much not to talk about what he is busy with, and especially not to Eddie X. No, regrettably she must track down Titus on her own.

Something is happening to Eddie. His mouth looks like a line. His eyes are smarting. He grips the tiller so hard that his knuckles turn white.

Titus looks at his watch. It’s well after midnight. He realises that the sailors could be back in the city any time but that he has no idea if his text has actually been received or if Astra has even seen it. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, and now he really has no idea which strategy he should follow.