Helle Helle - This Should Be Written in the Present Tense

‘Hey, excuse me.’

She had wet hair and a shrill voice.

‘It’s not on, you know, sending people over to ours to use the phone.’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ I said.

‘We can’t have people knocking on the door thinking they can just come in and make a call whenever it suits them, they can go to the petrol station instead.’

‘I really am sorry.’

‘Or the one by the church. It’s only a little walk, if they really need to call someone.’

‘Of course.’

‘Besides, I was in the middle of something,’ she said, gathering her oversized jumper around her.

‘I’m really sorry.’

‘Well, then.’

She nodded, then turned and went back towards the station. On the step under the lamp the young couple with the picnic basket stood looking across at me. The girl waved. I lifted my takeaway to wave back, the girl said something to her boyfriend, then they came towards me. I sent them a bewildered look I thought could be seen from a distance, but before I knew it they were standing there in front of me, and the girl was all smiles.

‘It’s so nice of you, really,’ she said.

So there I sat in the front room with my chips and this young couple, surrounded by all my washing. I’d left the hamburger on the worktop in the kitchen. They both sat on the edge of their chairs, the girl jiggled her foot up and down, the table kept trembling. Perhaps I hadn’t tightened the screws properly, it felt a bit rickety.

‘Help yourselves,’ I said.

‘Thanks,’ said her boyfriend without taking any.

‘Our train’s at twenty past ten,’ said the girl.

He looked at his watch.

‘Exactly one hour and fifty minutes.’

‘Did you get hold of your brother?’ I said.

‘Yes. He was supposed to pick us up in Lundby,’ said the girl.

‘Yes, you said,’ I said, and she nodded.

‘He’s only just moved there. We’re from Sundbyvester actually. All of us, I mean,’ she said, jiggling away. The whole table was shaking.

‘All three of you?’ I said.

‘Four, actually. He’s got a boy aged two,’ said her boyfriend.

‘What a lot of you,’ I said.

‘We were going to see his new house on the way back. But now we’re just going to go home,’ she said.

‘Your foot, love,’ he said, and she smiled. She had such a nice smile, then after that we were quiet for a bit.

The Hamburg express came thundering through. I’d eaten less than a quarter of the chips, the boyfriend had eaten one.

‘You forgot your hamburger,’ the girl said to me.

‘Oh, yes. Do you want it?’

‘No, you have it. We’ve eaten loads today, we’re not at all hungry.’

‘Me neither.’

‘You can take it with you for your lunch tomorrow,’ said the guy.

‘What sort of job do you do?’ said the girl.

‘I’m a student. In Copenhagen.’

‘Really? Handy living here, then.’

‘Yes, it is,’ I said, and they both nodded. They were leaning slightly over the table with their hands in their laps.

They told me about their trip to Knuthenborg and all the animals they’d seen. They went there once a year, his aunt lived near Nakskov and they always went in her car. It was an Opel registered for commercial use, she had a domestic cleaning business. Normally they went in the summer, but his aunt had broken her wrist falling down a slope at Nakskov Fjord, she thought she’d seen a man she knew. It was a complicated fracture, they didn’t even discover it for a few days. She’d got poorly and had to stay in bed with her arm full of fluid. People kept ringing to ask when she was coming to do their cleaning. Eventually she managed to drive to Stokkemarke and do the floors in two bungalows. Her arm was in plaster for six weeks, she couldn’t do a thing with it afterwards. She’d only just started driving again, which was why their trip to Knuthenborg had been put off.

‘She lost a lot of customers while she was off sick,’ he said.

‘She’s eight per cent invalid now, but she can’t do without her hand,’ said the girl.

‘Who can?’ he said and they both nodded. After that we were quiet again for a bit.

‘What do you do, anyway?’ I asked.

‘We’ve got summer jobs in the Tivoli Gardens,’ he said. ‘I sell snacks and she’s on Hook-a-Duck.’

‘That’s how we met, two years and three months ago. I can hardly believe it,’ she said, and he ruffled her hair.

‘You got hooked yourself.’

‘Ha, ha,’ she said and ruffled back. Then she cleared her throat. ‘No, really. Tivoli’s the best job in the world. There’s no two days alike.’

‘Shame about the rest of the year, though,’ he said, and she gave him a shove.

‘Ha, ha, ha.’

We decided to watch TV. I had three channels, but there was nothing on. Even so, we ended up watching a programme about silent movies. She snuggled up to him and put her head on his shoulder, I could tell she was struggling to stay awake. When the programme finished I got up.

‘We’d best get to the train in good time,’ I said.

‘Are you going to walk us over? Thanks ever so much,’ said the girl. They jumped to their feet and got into their muddy trainers. There was still plenty of time as we said goodbye on the platform. I waved again when I crossed over the tracks. They waved back, then he found something in his raincoat pocket that distracted them. I sneaked a look at the timetable on the board. It was Sunday and there were no more trains. They realised the same thing a moment later and caught me up on my front path looking sheepish. I put the key in the door and the girl put a hand on my shoulder and thanked me for being so kind. I answered without turning round.

‘It’s nothing, really.’

‘Oh, but it is,’ she said.

‘We can lie on our raincoats in the front room,’ he said.

‘There’s carpet in there,’ said the girl. ‘The coats will do for covers.’

‘I’ve got some old blankets somewhere.’

‘We can all go in together in the morning,’ said the girl. ‘What time’s your train? We’ll sit quiet, I promise.’

‘If there’s something you need to read or something, she means.’

‘Just after nine,’ I said.

I slept soundly that night. I didn’t hear a peep from the couple in the front room, or from the trains, or the boiler in the utility room next door. It must have kicked in during the night, the place was sweltering when I woke up. My cheeks felt like they were on fire. It was light outside and the sky was blue. I stared emptily at the bark of the old pear tree for a minute, then came another gentle knock on the door and after a second it opened.

‘Morning,’ whispered the girl. ‘Just to say it’s half past eight.’

She was already in her raincoat and her boyfriend was standing behind her with his round, smiling face.

‘I hope you don’t mind, but we made some coffee. Here you go,’ he said, handing me a mug. I jumped out of bed in my nightshirt.

‘Thanks.’

‘We weren’t sure whether to wake you earlier. We thought you might be the kind of person who got ready in no time.’

‘That’s all right,’ I said, and took a slurp. It was really strong. They stood watching me.

‘Sorry, I’m still half asleep,’ I said.

‘We’ll just wait outside in the garden,’ said the girl.

‘It’s a lovely sunny day, it’s not often we get the chance to drink coffee outside in the mornings. Anyway, like she said, it’s only half eight,’ he said.

I could hear them talking in the front garden while I got dressed and tried to do my hair in the hall mirror. I felt hot and drowsy. They spoke in turn, but I couldn’t pick out the words. Once, I lay on a beach all day with the muffled voices of strangers all around me. Later I thought it had been so blissful lying there unnoticed in a hum of conversation. My hair wouldn’t do what I wanted, it stuck out on the side I’d slept on. I patted it down with some water and gathered it in a loose ponytail, then I got my leather jacket and went into the front room for my bag and a book. All the washing had been folded up in a neat pile on the table. The radiator was still on full blast, I turned it down and picked up my key from the chest of drawers, then went outside.