Every Seventh Wave by Daniel Glattauer Read Free Book Online Page B

I’ll go first. But before that you have to answer my outstanding questions. That’s only fair, my love.
    Four hours later
    Subject: Questionnaire number two
    O.K., let’s get this over with:
    1) Why did I get in contact with you again after Boston?
    Why indeed?—Because the nine months that were “Boston”were the worst nine months ever since years have been divided into months. Because the man of many words slipped wordlessly out of my life. Spinelessly through a back door in the out-box, which was bolted shut with one of the very worst messages in the history of modern communication.
    That sentence is still the stuff of my nightmares (and if technology is feeling malicious, it’s sometimes the stuff of my in-box too—Delivery Status Communication (Returned), blah blah blah.
    Our “story” was never concluded, Leo. Flight is never an ending in itself, it merely postpones the end. You know that very well. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have written back to me, nine and a half months later.
    2) What do I now think about the circumstances that led to the break in our correspondence?—What kind of question is that? The whole thing had got too much for you, too much or too little. Too little for all your emotional investment, your outlay on illusions. Too much for practical gains, for tangible revenue. Emmi plc was no longer profitable. You lost patience with me. Those, Leo dear, were the circumstances that led to the break in our correspondence.
    3) This is where it gets exciting. How could I forgive Bernhard? I’ve read this question at least twenty times, but I don’t understand it, I really don’t. WHAT could I possibly have had to forgive Bernhard for? The fact that he’s my husband? That he stood in the way of our email love affair? The fact that, in the end, his very existence was responsible for your flight? What are you trying to get at, Leo? You’ll have to explain it to me.
    4) In conclusion: how could I forgive you? Oh, Leo. I’m easily corruptible. A few nice emails from you and I can forgive you everything, even a dramatic pause that went on for nine and a half months. That’s it!!!
    Ten minutes later
    Subject: (no subject)
    So, my love, now you’re going to tell me whether anything has changed as a result of our meeting. (And if so, what, of course.)
    A kiss on the cheek and a stroke of the palm on the special point,
    Emmi

CHAPTER SEVEN

    The following evening
    Subject: Leo?
    Leo?
    The next morning
    Subject: Wake-up call
    Leo?
    Leeeooo?
    Leo eoeoeoeoeoeeeeeoooooooo??
    Le e eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooo??
    Eleven hours later
    Subject: Meeting
    Dear Emmi,
    Could we have another meeting? There’s something I’ve got to tell you. I think it’s important.
    Ten minutes later
    Re:
    â€œPam”’s pregnant!
    Three minutes later
    Re:
    No, Pamela is not pregnant. It’s got nothing to do with Pamela. Can you spare a few minutes tomorrow or the day after?
    One minute later
    Re:
    Sounds very dramatic! If it’s good news that is so urgent all of a sudden and has to be relayed in person, then yes, I can “spare a few minutes”!
    Two minutes later
    Re:
    It’s not good news.
    Forty seconds later
    Re:
    Then give it to me in writing. Today, please! Tomorrow will be a tough day. I need at least a few hours’ sleep.
    Ten minutes later
    Re:
    Please, Emmi, let’s discuss this in peace sometime over the next few days! Now go to bed, and don’t lose sleep over it.
    O.K.?
    Forty seconds later
    Re:
    I’m always happy to be comforted, Leo, but I won’t be fobbed off. Not by you. Not like this. Not with the words “go to bed and don’t lose sleep over it.” So come on, tell me.
    Thirty seconds later
    Re:
    Believe me, Emmi, this subject has no place in your good night in-box. We need to talk about it face-to-face. A few days won’t make any difference.
    Fifty seconds