Friday, December 20, 2021
Friday began in the best possible way when Einstein, our Catalan Sheepdog named after Doc Brown’s dog, woke me up by licking my face. Sara and I could mark the Trains, Planes, and Automobiles night down as another great success. Not everybody wore a costume – it’s a hard to find a distinctively stevemartinesque costume that’s not a gray suit – but they all shouted the lines at the screen in unison with the characters, and that’s always lovely to see and hear. And happy people spend a little more money on food and drinks – and they don’t call it show business for nothing.

We spent the Friday afternoon decorating the tree and it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgot to tell Sara that I was going to the play – and that she was going to be on her own tonight. She wasn’t pleased, not even after I told her that Rexi would fill in for me. She just sighed and told me to have fun with Sofie and Jennifer but she didn’t sound 100 percent sincere. I’d make it up to her, I decided.

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Thursday, December 19, 2021
With the candy shelves stacked and the popcorn machine ready to go, I had a few hours to kill before I had to be in that gray suit that would turn me into Neal Page from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 

Sara had been quiet for a few days. She was down because her parents had told her they were going to spend Christmas at the winter house they had bought in Spain.  Her brother had divorced and was also going to spend the holidays out of the country, “probably Thailand,” Sara told me. 

She put on a brave face, as always, and told me how much fun it’d be to have a scalde down Christmas with just me and Einstein. 

“Except, that of course, your parents are here. And now Tina’s coming, too,” she said. 

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Thursday, December 19, 2021
The little girl who had skipped to the train station on her first trip up to Kumpunotko to meet me now looked like a young adult in her ripped jeans and a fur coat. I could tell she had seen me standing outside the station building, but when she just adjusted her earphones I kept my hands in my pockets and waited for her to be right in front of me. I didn’t want to embarrass her.

Sofie lifted her earphones and placed them on top of her head so that they reminded me of Mickey Mouse’s ears. 

“Hi, Uncle Peter. Well, here I am,” she said. 

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Thursday, December 19, 2021
I was in a lousy mood. It was December 19 and there was no snow. When I was a kid, the Kumpunotko winters were cold and white which, in hindsight, was nice, even if I didn’t always appreciate it when I rode my Crescent against the wind by the river, teeth chattering, afraid to blink because my eyes might freeze shut. 

Now I wanted to close my eyes to get a break from the grayness that embraced our little town. Then again, my meetings with Jennifer did bring some sunshine into my life and today’s date wasn’t an exception. I never called them dates, Sara did, always jokingly but … you know. She didn’t need to worry about me, though. Jennifer and I were friends, dear friends, and that’s the way we both wanted it to be. 

I waited outside the fancy coffeeshop for a while, and checked the time on the big clock at the end of the market square. When it was 12:02, I went inside to get us a table. Jennifer was always late, but every time we met, I always waited outside until the agreed time. 

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