Sjá nánar

25.5.2009

ACT 11

http://www.netsaga.is/media/files/Purple%20people%20going%20into%20white.mp3

Then there was Paul. Shortly after he was confirmed, he came down with a nasty flu. This forced him to stay in bed for days on end with a high fever and spells of delirium. But since it was impossible for Violet to care for the lad, John had got an au paire, a girl from the western part of Iceland, the Dala District, to take care of the boy.

Her name was Laura. She was only 17, but she was large and sturdy and also a bit of a bumpkin. Her gait walking along the street caused others to stop to look at her. If asked to describe this gait, one perhaps would say that she bobbed. With each step, it was if her knees buckled. Her arms hung straight down at her sides, with her forearms flapping up at a sharp angle with the elbows. She looked directly ahead, her chin slightly raised and her mouth closed. Thus she walked outside.

However it came about, she had got a nickname, which was not spoken very loud: people called her Great Britain. There you are. And Laura, who was called Great Britain behind her back, really knew how to work. She could scrub floors, and she could wax, and she could prepare all sorts of food for Paul.

The first few days Paul was so sick that he did not know what was going on. She more or less had to spoon-feed him because the boy was periodically delirious. She gave him warm milk, milk-soaked bread with cinnamon, apple sauce with cold, thick cream (not whipped); he wanted it that way. Then she gave him lamb, boiled till it fell apart, and boiled rutabagas. When he began to perk up, she fed him food with more oomph; boiled singed head of lamb with mashed rutabagas, smoked lamb with mashed potatoes and liver sausage. Then, he had also started to notice his surroundings generally, ask what time it was and what day it was. Then he started to sit up in bed, and she no longer had to feed him. "You must look after Paul well," Violet had said to Laura when she was explaining the girl's domestic duties the first day. "Paul is so thin and lanky, poor boy. The child is just skin and bones. It's not surprising he's sick."

After Laura came, Violet had not worried much about the patient, seeing quickly that Laura would take good care of the boy. Little by little he began to feel better. He started to look forward to Laura appearing in the doorway with the food tray. And one day she stood there holding the food tray. He looked her over. She wore a thin light-colored dress with large covered buttons on the front, from the collar down, a sort of domestic helper's dress suitable for house work. She was big and he fixated upon her strong knees and thighs because her dress was short. "Well," he said, "what sort of good food have you got today?" Then she smiled at him and set the tray on a chair near the headboard.

She sat down on the foot of the bed and began to thumb through the newspaper that she had brought. "Anything in the news?" he asked. "No, nothing really," she said and leaned back, holding the paper. "Would you read me something?" he said. She plumped a pillow under her head, lifted the edge of the down coverlet over her feet and began to read. She read well, very clearly, but not loud.

He had finished eating and laid the tray on the chair. Then, the soles of his feet touched the girl's hot thighs. He lay down on the pillow and listened. He felt the heat from the girl where he touched her. She glanced up. Then she continued reading. He listened. Then he began to move his feet, stroking his soles along her thighs. He had got an erection. The girl leaned a little to the side and allowed the boy to touch her as much as he wanted. A special sense of well-being flowed through his body. He listened to the girl's voice, but paid little attention to what she read. She lay there at his feet, holding the open paper over her face and read. He moved his feet. She continued reading. After a while the boy had his head under the coverlet. Little by little, he moved closer to the girl. She continued reading.

The thin, au paires's dress had gone up over her waist when he mounted her. He had discovered quickly that she was naked beneath the dress. She adjusted her position a bit and continued reading. He thrust against her. A little later he came. Then he noticed that they were wet from stomach to thighs. She had stopped reading and the paper lay over her face. He lay on top of her, and she laid her arm over him and squeezed him with her stocky thighs. After a while he shifted in the bed onto his own pillow and fell asleep.

When Laura came in to Paul a few hours later, he was awake, although he pretended to be sleeping. The girl walked over to the bed and put the tray on the chair next to him. Then she went to the window. She knew he was awake. When he pretended to wake up and lifted his head off the pillow, she glanced at him. He stretched and sat up in bed. "I brought you hot chocolate and some half-moon cookies," said the girl, still standing by the window. "Won't you open the curtains," he said. The girl did so, and daylight streamed into the room. "Should I open the window?" she asked. He answered yes. "Is there any news?" he asked, sipping the hot chocolate. "No, I don't think so." "I think I'm getting better," said the lad and ate a cookie with the chocolate. He flexed his shoulders and arms. "I ache all over." She sat next to him on the bed. "Should I massage your toes?" she said. "Yes, but not too hard," he said. "You really need a bath," she said. "It's many days since you took one." He agreed with her.

She stopped rubbing his toes, and he was stretched out on the bed. She got up and stood again by the window. "How do you like your room?" he asked. "It's really nice," she said. "I've never had such a fine room before." She hesitated a moment, then said, "I mean, I've never been in such a nice room before." "How do you like Steina?" he asked. "She's OK. Although she isn't home much. She's usually out playing with the kids."

He looked up, smiled and said teasingly: "Laura! What will you give me tonight for dinner?" She smiled back as she picked up the tray.

"What do want?" He listed various dishes, and she listened. "You're really getting better. We'll see." She smiled at him. Then she left the room, closing the door.

That evening she brought him hot singed head of lamb and mashed rutabagas. He sat up in bed and ate. "Would you read for me," he said. She settled at the foot of the bed and started to read from the newspaper. He ate the lamb and rutabagas. "Has Steina come home?" he asked. She glanced over the newspaper. "No, she went out with Violet," said the girl. "She went to visit your grandfather and grandmother on Bergstadastraeti." Then she added: "John went to a meeting."

Paul moved the tray away and got out of bed. He walked over to the door and turned out the light. The girl stopped reading. He came back and lay down next to her. She said nothing. He touched her hand and signalled that she should shift to the other end of the bed. She dropped the paper on the floor, and they shifted to lie together on his pillow. When he loosened the large buttons on the front of her au paire's dress, he felt the girl's breasts first. He felt the heat from her body, and touching her gave him a special sense of well-being. She moved while he was undressing her, and when her au paire's dress fell to the floor by the bed, they were both naked. He stroked her body, her breasts and thighs. He was so hard that he ached, and after a short time, he mounted her. They said nothing. Just before he came, she hooked her legs over him and wrapped him in her arms. She kissed him on the neck and face and then pressed his hands to her breasts. A little later she got out of the bed, picked up her au paire's dress which lay crumpled on the floor and put it on. Then she picked the tray up off the chair. As she was leaving, she said softly: "Should I turn on the light?"

"Yes," he answered and added, "Would you maybe open the window a little for me?" She turned on the light, cracked the window and left the room carrying the tray.