The House by the Fjord (6 page)

‘I'd love it!'

‘We won't be able to have any military transport, but fortunately there's a local milk delivery truck that leaves for Oslo at seven o'clock in the morning with four seats behind the driver and we can book two of them for us. Now tell me about your first lesson with Fru Eriksen and try out what you have learnt already on me.'

Anna did her best and Molly applauded her.

‘Well done,' she said encouragingly. ‘You should do well.'

The next day was Sunday when the wives and children of the officers were invited every week to lunch in the officers' mess. Molly and Anna set off together through the airfield's gates to pass by innumerable huts and offices. Anna was busy talking to Molly and did not notice the two cages at her right hand until suddenly there was a great snarling and barking as two large Alsatian dogs threw themselves against the wiring, wanting to get at these intruders. Anna gave an involuntary cry of fright, seeing their fangs in a shower of saliva only a foot away, and Molly pulled her on quickly.

‘I should have warned you about those monsters, even though they can't get at you. The Germans left them behind. They were used to hunt down resistance fighters after cases of sabotage and other acts of defiance. Now at night they are put into the hangers to prevent thieving, because there are always outsiders that will still help themselves to anything that is not nailed down if they get the chance.'

Anna gave the dogs a wary backward glance over her shoulder. They were still snarling and barking and leaping up as if they wished to tear her limb from limb. She shuddered at the thought of what must have happened to those brave people who were caught by them.

There was a family atmosphere in the officers' mess, which Anna thought must most surely contrast with the rest of the week when it was a male domain. There were children and toys everywhere and she enjoyed it. She was introduced by Molly to several of the Norwegian wives, all of whom bade her welcome to Norway and told Molly to bring her to have coffee with them.

To Anna's surprise, one of the chefs, a dark-haired, good-looking Frenchman named Jacques, came from the kitchen to welcome her by kissing her hand before a curt nod from an officer sent him back where he belonged. She learned that during the occupation he had been brought to Norway against his will by a high-ranking German officer, who had enjoyed his cooking in Paris and wanted that enjoyment to continue. It was said that Jacques had raged and stormed at his compulsory exile, but was too much of an artist to spoil with extra salt or anything else the food he presented. Yet since the
Boche
– as he called the Germans – had been defeated, he had settled down and showed no wish to return to France for the time being. As a civilian, he did not sleep in air force quarters, but had comfortable lodgings with a family in the village.

‘Sally hates him,' Molly said to Anna as they walked home, ‘and makes no secret of it. He tries to flirt with her at every opportunity and will serve her personally whenever he gets the chance. He seems to find her irresistible and that's not surprising, because she is beautiful, but – knowing how Sally likes to be admired – I'm not entirely sure that she is as adverse to his compliments as she makes out.'

Next morning, Anna did not find it difficult to get up early, for the weather was still glorious and the sunshine streamed into her room. After breakfast she and Molly went to the roadside where the milk truck would pick them up. It was on time and they clambered up into it. There were gaudy cushions on the seats, which had long since ceased to be comfortable, and the other two passengers were local farmers, who talked between themselves, once sharing a mild joke with the driver.

The dropping-off place in Oslo was near the town hall, which was convenient for catching a bus as Molly wanted Anna to visit the Viking Ship Museum before they did anything else.

‘You might as well start with the beginnings of Norway's history,' she said. ‘Then we'll search the shops and find out if anything new has come in.'

In the museum, it was as Molly had anticipated. Anna stood gazing almost in awe at the long dark sweep of the dramatic-headed, bow-keeled Viking ship in the pale, cavernous arched hall that housed it.

‘It's such a beautiful shape,' Anna said softly, ‘and such a great length! Like a vast work of art.'

Unbidden, Alexander Ringstad had come into her mind. She had thought to herself at the time of their meeting that he had the looks of a Viking and now, staring up the proud prow of the ship, she thought that it was easy to imagine him standing there with his dangerous gaze fixed ahead on a distant horizon.

Molly broke into her thoughts. ‘That's how the Vikings went to rape and pillage in other lands a thousand years ago! Come along now. There's another ship and much more to see, because it was a burial ship and when it was dug up it was found to be full of artefacts.'

After half an hour they caught a ferry back to the city. On the quayside Molly bought a bag of freshly cooked prawns from one of the fishing-boats tied up there. As breakfast was already a distant memory, they sat on the steps of the town hall and ate them with relish, other people doing the same.

‘Those were the best prawns I've ever eaten,' Anna declared happily when they had disposed of the rubbish in a bin. ‘Now for the shops.'

They went first to Stein og Strom, Oslo's biggest department store, but the shelves were empty except for some grey embroidery silks on one and on another some small oval wooden plaques, each of which had been decorated with a painting of a girl in national costume, all different from one another according to the district where they were worn.

‘Which one would be the costume of Johan's county of Romsdal?' she wondered aloud. Molly inquired for her and the assistant picked out one where the figure was wearing a deep-blue costume encrusted with embroidery on the skirt hem and the bodice, and also on the little cap worn on the back of the head. Even as Anna opened her purse to pay for it, the assistant took another plaque from the shelf behind her and placed it on the counter for her to see. It was a male figure in the scarlet jacket, dark knee-breeches and knee-high white woollen socks that was the Romsdal costume for men.

‘Now you can have the pair,' Molly said.

With a pang, Anna thought how fine Johan would have looked in such attire. Maybe they would both have had these costumes to wear on special festive occasions. She paid for the plaques and held them to her as they explored the rest of the shop. There was a long queue at one counter for some imported crockery that was patterned with a flowery design. Neither of them wished to purchase, but they looked at it with interest, for it was a change from plain white crockery, which was all that had been produced throughout the war.

They did go to other shops afterwards, and one shop selling glass had some stock to offer. Molly bought a jug and some wine glasses, which made a bulky parcel to carry. As they came out into the street again, Molly pointed to a neighbouring shop.

‘Aunt Christina told me that on the day of liberation, when the Nazis were finally defeated, the whole country went wild with happiness and there was a notice in that window that said “Closed because of Joy”.'

‘What a wonderful reason to shut shop,' Anna said, smiling. ‘I can't think of a better one.' They had come to one of the open street cafes where they sat down to eat a couple of
smorrebrod
and have a coffee each before they rounded off the day's outing by going to the cinema. The movie was
Caesar and Cleopatra
, starring Vivian Leigh, which they both enjoyed.

‘We get films once a week in the officers' mess on the airfield,' Molly said as they made their way to the railway station, the milk lorry having departed the city long since. ‘Occasionally we get a fairly new film, but mostly they are old. That doesn't really matter as it makes an evening out.'

When they arrived back at Gardermoen, there was a letter waiting for Anna from Johan's father. It was as brief and cool as his first letter. He wrote that he fully understood that she wanted time to consider taking on the ownership of the old house, but he was sure that by Christmas she would agree to it. As before, the whole tone of the letter was that of someone well used to getting his own way.

Molly seized the chance to use her powers of persuasion again when Anna had read the letter to her. ‘You'll just have to spend Christmas with your husband's family now. You can't possibly not go, whether you accept the responsibility of the old house or not.'

Anna nodded. ‘Yes, you're right. My original intention was to stay a couple of months this time and visit again next year. It was something of a shock to have Christmas defined as the earliest I could meet my autocratic father-in-law. Naturally, I want so much to see Johan's home in Molde where he grew up and the mountains that meant so much to him.'

‘The west coast in itself is something that should never be missed. It's unbelievably beautiful with its peaks and its fjords. I landed in Bergen when I arrived in Norway, and as Olav had two weeks' leave, we had a wonderful time touring in his old car before we came south to get to Gardermoen. At that time hotels were still having to use paper sheets and pillowcases, because early on in the occupation the Germans had commandeered all their linen.' She laughed. ‘In the morning it was like waking up in a waste paper basket!'

The days began to slip by. Then there came the news that Vanessa's husband was leaving the air force to return to civilian life. It meant that their apartment in one of the old houses along the lane would become vacant. It was allotted to Anna with the agreement of the elderly couple that owned the house and lived downstairs. She already knew the layout of the apartment with its tiny kitchenette and a single cold tap from visiting at coffee gatherings and card parties. Before moving in, Anna met Vanessa there to have the eccentricities of the pre-war electric cooker explained to her, and from the window she was shown the best place to get through the hedge to the shower unit.

Finally, blushing scarlet, Vanessa gave Anna some personal advice.

‘I know this probably will not apply to you in any way,' she said with embarrassment, ‘but these old wooden houses creak like mad and the bed most of all, which means any activity in it can be heard downstairs, even though the old couple are a bit deaf.'

Anna was amused. ‘Thanks for the warning. I'll wear slippers by day and I can assure you that I will not be disturbing anyone at night.'

Vanessa gave a nod. Yet she wondered if a beautiful girl like Anna could remain immune to the attractiveness of some of the determined young officers at the airfield.

Three

There was the crispness of autumn in the air when Anna settled in her new quarters. Her landlady, Fru Dahl, was a picture-postcard old lady, with white hair and a round apple-cheeked face, and always wore black with a little crocheted lace at the neck. She was delighted to find that Anna, who had been studying hard in her lessons to master Norsk with Fru Eriksen, was able to converse with her, albeit hesitantly at times and not without mistakes that made it difficult to hide a smile. Her husband was an ugly old man with a grey moustache, who was known to regret the end of the Nazi regime in Norway since he had done well working as a tailor for the Germans, but had been obliged to retire, the Royal Norwegian Air Force having its own tailors in the ranks to care for the uniforms.

The old couple had a dog, named Odin, a beautiful, fierce-looking elkhound that was as mild and kindly in his nature as the old lady, and Anna made friends with him on the first day. He was kept tethered on a long chain, but she was allowed to release him to accompany her on walks and she was glad of his company.

The first thing that Anna did in her new home, after the furniture had been arranged to her liking, was to hang the national costume plaques side by side on the white wooden wall, where they made a bright highlight of colour. Molly had given her a potted white Bethlehem Star in a container that was also hung on the wall to display its cascade of flowers. A second house-warming gift had come jointly from the other wives and was a flowered chamber pot. Everybody laughed and applauded as it was presented to Anna.

‘It's for those winter nights,' Sally said, ‘when otherwise you would have to dig your way through the snow to the outhouse!'

The apartment was heated by a black floor-to-ceiling stove that gave out a wonderful heat and presently had a small stack of logs for refuelling beside it. The windows were double-glazed as was customary, and the ancient furniture included high-backed, leather-upholstered chairs and bench seat. There was also a coffee table, which Vanessa's husband had made and which they had left behind for her. It was stained with rings from beer mugs, but Anna soon washed it clean and gave it a much-needed polish afterwards. The wall-bed was in an alcove, which could be closed off by two ancient doors. Fru Dahl supplied the snow-white bed linen and her daughter dealt with the laundry.

Best of all, in the apartment was a beautiful old cupboard that was decoratively painted in soft, aged colours. Anna knew what this particular form of painting was called, because she had seen similar decoration several times during a visit that she and Molly had made one day to the large open-air museum in Oslo. The design was very Nordic, with links to the country's Viking past in its interpretation of roses and symbols in what was known as rosemaling, a skill that dated far back in the country's history, and this cupboard, standing in a rented room, was an antique treasure in itself.

She remarked on it to Fru Dahl. ‘It is so beautiful!'

The old woman nodded agreement. ‘That was my grandmother's cupboard and her mother's before her, but I have no idea how many more women in the past owned it. I expect it was made as a gift for a bride. That used to happen.'