An Uncommon Family (21 page)

“Okay, we can tone it down a little. Just get an invitation.”

“Wait, though,” Karla said. “That wouldn’t work, because he may send Anna an invitation himself and then she’d get two. She’ll get suspicious.”

“Hmm.” Maja brushed her hand through her short blond hair and squinted her eyes. “I got it,” she said after a while. “You go there, you see the invitations, and you ask Jonas if you could take one home with you and give it to Anna. Then he wouldn’t send her one. And she’ll only get ours.” Maja’s blue eyes lit up.

Karla saw that it could work, but she felt uneasy about it. “I don’t know, Maja. This doesn’t feel right.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s dishonest.”

“No, it’s not. He would send her an invitation anyway. The only difference is that we make it a little more personal. What’s wrong with that?”

Karla shrugged.

“Do you want them to get together or not?” Maja stared at her.

“Yes, but . . . I guess we could try. But . . . the handwriting. Anna would know it wasn’t from him.”

“Well, has he ever written to her? Does she know his handwriting?”

“I can’t remember, but she may have seen notes he has written. And he has sent her tickets for concerts. She must know his signature.”

“Okay, so you have to get ahold of something with his handwriting when you have your lesson. I know how to imitate handwriting.”

“Yeah right, like last time with your cousin. You want another beating from your uncle?”

Maja scrunched her face in disgust. “No, but . . . that won’t happen. He won’t find out, since it doesn’t have to do with my family.”

They sat down on a bench along the pond. The small lake was covered with water lilies. A small water snake slid across the surface. Insects hovered over the flowers. It smelled of clay and sagebrush. Across the pond, a train rushed by, whistling as it passed.

Karla looked down at her hands, trying to make up her mind. She hated subterfuge probably as much as Anna, but she wanted so much for Anna and Jonas to be together. Besides, the idea with the invitation sounded kind of innocent. She just had to rein in Maja’s wild imagination and make the note look friendly but not too gushing. “I guess we could try,” she finally said.

Chapter 40

“Hey lady, nice ass. How about it? Want to come home with me?”

Anna turned around, shocked. An older, shabby-looking man, with torn pants and wild, dirty, unkempt hair leered at her. He held a paper bag in his hand with the top of a beer bottle sticking out. He was obviously drunk. His eyes were bloodshot and the white around the pupils had a yellowish tint.

“How dare you?” Anna’s voice shook a little. This hadn’t ever happened to her in Zurich.
What’s this city coming to?
she wondered. She walked on fast, hearing the man utter an insane laugh. After Anna turned the corner, she noticed she was holding her breath. She exhaled and looked behind her. There was no sign of him anymore.

It’s not a big deal, just some poor sucker having a bad day; no reason to take it personally
, she told herself.

She hiked up the road in the old part of town, where her hairdresser had her salon. It was a street with many secondhand bookstores. In the middle of the steep hill, she stopped to catch her breath and browsed through the boxes of books that stood in front of the stores. She came across one with the title
Forty and Still Single
and the subtitle
The Problems Middle-Aged Women Face Trying to Find a Suitable Mate
. She gave a weak smile. A few months ago, the book wouldn’t even have interested her. Now, she picked it up and paged through it, then put it down with a sigh.

Well, I guess there isn’t much choice— aside from an old drunk this morning . . . and a man with possibly doubtful moral principles.
Anna sighed and walked on. Was she being unfair to Jonas? She had to admit she missed him, their get-togethers, and their talks. She had almost taken the road he lived on—it was a parallel street to the one she was on now—but then had decided against it. Part of her wanted to see him and part was afraid to meet him.

The beauty shop was in a little courtyard among old stone buildings, some of them with carvings above the doors. Linden trees and pots with the first fall flowers—purple asters; white, yellow, and orange sneezeweed; and mums—gave the courtyard a cheerful look. When Anna entered the store, a wave of different kinds of aromas wafted her way: hairsprays, shampoos, and conditioners. It was a pleasant and subtle-enough mixture.

“Hi there. Sit down, I’ll be right with you,” the cheerful beautician, a middle-aged woman with a modern short hairstyle and purple lipstick, greeted her. She was alone in the store, cleaning up after a customer who had just left. “How are you?”

“Okay,” Anna said. “And you?”

“Great,” Petra replied. She motioned Anna to sit in the chair, lowered the backrest, and shampooed Anna’s hair.

“So what’s been happening since I saw you last?” Petra asked, as she massaged Anna’s head.

“Not much that I can think of. Same old story: managing the bookstore, working at the library, taking care of my niece. Sounds kind of boring, doesn’t it?” Anna gave a quick chuckle.

“Oh, I don’t know, it sounds busy,” Petra said. She put Anna’s chair in an upright position again and toweled her hair. “What about that man of yours?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Ever since she had modernized Anna’s hairstyle and added highlights, she had been teasing her about trying to seduce a man. Jonas had once passed the beauty shop by accident when she had just finished doing Anna’s hair. He had seen them through the window and had come in, complimenting Anna on her looks. The fact that Anna had blushed had given Petra even more ammunition for teasing her.

Anna sighed. “Nothing new,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Nothing?” Petra peered at her in the mirror in front of Anna, then continued styling her hair.

“Well . . . we kind of took a break from each other.”
Perhaps for good.

“Uh-oh. Sounds a little ominous. Want to talk about it?”

Anna debated if she wanted to give Petra more details but she needed someone to talk to. The break with Jonas had troubled her more than she wanted to admit to herself sometimes.

“Well, he told me some things that upset me,” Anna began and told Petra of the talk she had had with Jonas about his withholding an important truth from his former wife.

Petra listened and at one point stopped working on Anna’s hair. She put her fists on her sides and peered at her friend. “And because of that, you don’t want to see him anymore?”

“I have a very hard time with people who aren’t honest,” Anna said.

“But that whole thing is long past. And obviously the man regretted it, or else he wouldn’t have told you. And did he really do something so horrible? What do you want? Perfection?”

“No, just someone I can trust.”

“I don’t know, Anna. Everybody has flaws. At least he was honest with
you
. People can change, you know.”

“I guess so.” Anna sighed. “Perhaps, I’m a little too hard on him.”

“I’ll say.” Petra gave a snort. “That guy looked like a million bucks to me. Do you know how hard it is to find someone at our age who is unmarried, not gay, and a halfway-decent person and doesn’t have a potbelly hanging down to his knees? If I wasn’t happily married to Erich, I would take a shot at him.”

Anna grinned. “You’re funny. I don’t know, Petra, I think I’m just hopeless when it comes to relationships. Perhaps I’m just meant to be on my own. Taking care of Karla is more than fulfilling . . . most of the time.”

“Well, I’ll have to leave it up to you. Anyway, we’re done and you look gorgeous once again. I just think it’s a pity you want to keep your looks all to yourself.” Petra lifted the mirror and turned Anna’s chair, so she could take a look at the back of her head.

“Thanks, Petra, I love it.” Anna got up, looked in the mirror again, and shook her head a little. She liked what she saw. “All right, thanks, and I’ll think about your love advice.” She paid and gave Petra a hug.

Petra shook her head and smiled. “Picky, picky.”

Chapter 41

There was a knock at the door. “It’s open,” Jonas called, then regretted it. He was expecting Karla, but it could also be his next-door neighbor. She had been coming by with treats for him, but he suspected there was another motive for her kindness. She wanted to snoop around to see if his “lady friend” was here. Jonas was tired of coming up with excuses as for why Anna wasn’t a frequent visitor anymore. He was relieved when he saw Karla. He motioned to her to quickly close the door. There was a squeaking sound of someone turning the doorknob in the apartment across from his. He suspected Mrs. Schatz was waiting behind the door, peeking through the peephole.

Jonas put his finger on his lips, signaling Karla to be quiet. Karla grinned and they both stood in the hallway, waiting. Sure enough, they heard the door next door open and then close again.

“Frau Schnüffler?” Karla asked. She knew that Mrs. Schatz was a busybody and called her “Mrs. Snoop” once in a while.

Jonas nodded and they both laughed, then went into Jonas’s studio. Karla put her portfolio down, walked over to the coffee table, and picked up an invitation for Jonas’s next opening.

“Can I have one of these to give to Anna?” she asked.

“Sure, go ahead,” Jonas said.

“That way you don’t have to send her one.”

Jonas peered at her. Her voice sounded a little awkward and her face was flushed. She must feel the slight estrangement between him and Anna. “I’m not sure she’ll come, but go ahead and give it to her.”

He watched as Karla took the invitation, then dropped it a couple of times before she managed to shove it into her portfolio.

“Anything wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, why?”

“Just wondering. Anyway, I thought we should do something different today. What about going to the zoo? It’s a nice day and we can do some drawings of the animals and the landscape there. It’s good practice.”

“Yeah, that sounds cool.” Karla’s face lit up.

“Good, let’s go.”

Karla gathered her portfolio. “Jonas?”

“Yes?”

“Do you like . . . love Anna?”

So that’s what’s bothering her.
Jonas took a deep breath. “I like Anna very much, yes. Why do you ask?”

“But . . . do you
love
her?” Karla’s facial color deepened. She stared down at her hands, then looked up again.

“Karla, what brought that on?” Jonas asked, instead of answering her question. To be honest, Jonas didn’t know how to answer her. Yes, he loved Anna; at least he thought he did. Lately, however, Anna’s distance didn’t exactly engender loving feelings in him.

“Just . . . I feel . . .” Karla struggled with words. “You don’t see each other much anymore. Ever since you just up and left on my birthday.”

Jonas sighed. Obviously, Karla couldn’t be brushed off with a quick, noncommittal answer. “Well, let’s just say we had a slight disagreement. I told her something about my past she didn’t like. Anna has very high moral standards and it is sometimes difficult to live up to her expectations. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah . . . but what did you tell her?”

“It’s a long story, Karla, and I don’t want to go into any detail. There was something going on in my family that I should’ve told my wife. It doesn’t matter anymore what it was. What matters is that I didn’t tell her. And Anna felt that was cowardly and insincere, and she was right. But people make mistakes in life and sometimes that’s difficult for Anna to accept.”

“Do you think you’ll get back together again?” Karla asked.

“We’re not apart, really. I’m sure we’ll remain friends. And, Karla, don’t worry about what happens between Anna and myself. It has nothing to do with my feelings for you or Anna’s feelings for you. We both love you very much. Okay?”

“Yeah, but it was so much better when we did things together . . . and I think you guys should get married,” Karla blurted out.

“Whoa. You’re moving fast.”

“Fast?” Karla peered at him. “You’ve known each other for years.”

Jonas chuckled. “You have a point there. But you know, people can be friends without getting married.”

“Yeah . . . but . . .” Karla fiddled with her portfolio. “I think Anna loves you.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know? Did she say anything to you?”

“Yes . . . kind of.”

“Aha.”
She’s such a bad liar.
“What exactly? And if you keep pulling on that string, you’ll rip it off.” Karla dropped the string of her portfolio.

“It’s just, I can tell . . . when you say something nice, she blushes.” Karla gave him an embarrassed look.

Jonas suppressed a smile. “So, she didn’t say anything directly about loving me?”

“Well . . . not directly, but . . .”

“Karla, you can’t force these kinds of feelings. You’ll understand when you’re a little older. Things develop at their own pace. Don’t worry about us, okay? And let’s go and do something fun.”

Karla nodded and picked up her art portfolio. They took the streetcar to the zoo. The white-and-blue tram made its way up the hill above the center of Zurich through the more expensive neighborhoods, the so-called Zürichberg or Zurich Mountain area. It wasn’t a real mountain but rather a wide slope from which one had a beautiful view of the city, the lake, the woods behind it, and the mountains in the background. Although the Zürichberg was no longer the exclusive residence of the rich, the old villas still dominated the landscape and gave the area a feeling of subdued elegance. At the last streetcar station, everybody got off and walked the short stretch to the entrance of the zoo.

The Zurich Zoo, one of the best known in Europe, had been extended and modernized over the past years. It had been reconstructed with the health and well-being of the animals in mind. All areas had hiding places so the creatures could have some privacy from the peering eyes of the visitors. It wasn’t uncommon to walk through part of the park without seeing many animals.