The Indian Bride (3 page)

"Very, very far," said Gunder lightly. He tore the wrapper off the ice cream and left. Ate it as he drove the last mile home. That would have given Einar something to think about. That was quite all right with Gunder.

***

Marie was really excited. She wanted to jump into her car right away and come over. Her husband, Karsten, was away on business, and she was bored and wanted to hear everything. Gunder was reluctant because Marie was sharp and he did not like the thought of being found out. But she was unstoppable. An hour later she was on his doorstep. Gunder was busy tidying up. If he were to bring someone back with him the house had to be spotless.

Marie made coffee for them and heated waffles in the oven. She had brought crème fraîche and jam in a Tupperware box. Gunder was touched. They were close, but they never let on. He did not know if she was happy with Karsten. She never mentioned him: It was as though he did not exist. They had never had children. All the same, she was attractive. Dark and neat, as their mother had been. Small and round, but gentle and bright. Gunder believed she could have had anyone at all, but she had settled for Karsten. She found the book
People of All Nations
on the table and put it on her lap. It opened automatically to the picture of the Indian beauty. She looked up at her brother and laughed.

"Well ... now I know why you want to go to India, Gunder. But this is an old book. I imagine she'll be around fifty now,
probably wrinkled and ugly. Did you know that Indian women look fifteen till they're thirty? Then suddenly they grow old. It's the sun. Perhaps you ought to find yourself one who has been through the process already. Then you know what you're letting yourself in for."

She laughed so merrily that Gunder had to join in. He was not scared of wrinkles, even if Marie was. She had not a single one although she was forty-eight. He put crème fraîche on a waffle.

"I am mostly interested in the food and the culture," he said. "Culture. Music. That sort of thing."

"Yes, I believe it," Marie laughed. "When I next come to dinner I shall expect a casserole to make my eyes water. And there will be dragons all over the walls."

"I can't promise you that there won't be," he smiled. Then they were silent for a long time, eating their waffles and drinking their coffee.

"Don't go around when you get there with your wallet sticking out of your back pocket," she said after a long pause. "Buy one of those little money belts. No, don't buy one, you can borrow one from me. It's quite plain, not in the least feminine."

"I can't walk around with a bag," Gunder said.

"Yes, you'll have to. A big city like that is teeming with pickpockets. Imagine a peasant like you alone in a city with twelve million people."

"I am not a peasant," said Gunder, hurt.

"Of course you're a peasant," Marie said. "You're a peasant if ever anyone was. And what's more, it shows. When you're out walking you can't just stroll around."

"Not stroll around?" He was baffled.

"You have to stride, as though you were going to an important meeting, and look preoccupied. You're a businessman on an important trip and, most importantly, you know Bombay like the back of your hand."

"Mumbai," he corrected her. "Mumbai like the back of my hand."

"You look people straight in the eye when they come toward you on the pavement. You walk straight, taking determined steps, and button your jacket so the money belt doesn't show."

"Can't wear a jacket there," he said. "It's one hundred degrees at this time of year."

"You have to," Marie said. "You have to keep out of the sun." She licked a blob of crème fraîche from the corner of her mouth. "Otherwise you'll have to get yourself a tunic."

"A tunic?" Gunder chuckled.

"Where are you staying?" his sister went on.

"At a hotel, of course."

"Yes, but what type?"

"A nice one."

"But what's it called?"

"No idea," Gunder said. "I'll work it out when I get there."

Her eyes widened. "You haven't booked your hotel?"

"I know what to say," he said, a little offended now. He looked quickly at her, at her white forehead and the narrow brows, which she darkened with a brush.

"Tell me," she said, lapping up her coffee. "Tell me exactly what you're going to say. You come out of this vast, complex, sweltering, chaotic airport teeming with people and you look around for a taxi stand. Then some stranger comes up to you, grabs your shirt, babbles something incomprehensible while taking hold of your suitcase, and heads off in the direction of a dodgy vehicle. And you are so worn out and sweaty and confused that you can hardly remember your own name, plus your watch is several hours behind the time. You are desperate for a cool shower. Tell me what you're going to say, Gunder. To this small, dark stranger."

He put his waffle down, speechless. Was she joking? Then he
pulled himself together and, looking straight at his sister, said: "Would you please take me to a decent hotel?"

Marie nodded. "Very well! But before that. What do you do before that?"

"I've no idea," Gunder said.

"You find out how much it costs! Don't get into a taxi without negotiating the price beforehand. Ask inside the airport. Perhaps Lufthansa has an information desk there, they'll be on your side."

He shook his head and reasoned that in all likelihood she was just jealous. She had never been to India. Only Lanzarote and Crete, places like that. That was where all Norwegians and Swedes went and the waiters called out "Hey, Swedish girl" after her and she didn't like it. No, India was something else.

"What about a malaria vaccine?" she said. "Do you need one of those?"

"Don't know," he said.

"You have to call the doctor. You're not coming back here with malaria or TB or hepatitis or anything like that, I can tell you. And don't drink the tap water. Don't drink juice or eat fruit. Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked. Stay away from ice cream, too, you who are so fond of ice cream, and that's fine, but just don't eat the ice cream in India."

"Am I allowed alcohol?" he said snappily.

"I suppose you are. But for God's sake don't get too drunk. Then you'd be in real trouble."

"I never get drunk," Gunder said. "I haven't been drunk for fifteen years."

"I know. And you will call home, won't you? I need to know that you've arrived safely. I can collect your mail. And water your flowers. I suppose the lawn will need mowing once or twice during those two weeks. You can drive the safe over to our place, can't you? Then it won't be here to tempt people. Are you parking at the airport? I expect it costs an arm and a leg."

"Not sure," he said.

"You're not sure? You have to book long-term parking in advance," she told him. "You'll have to phone tomorrow. You can't drive to Gardermoen and park just anywhere."

"No, I don't suppose I can," he said. It was a good thing that she had come over. He was quite dizzy under all this withering criticism and went resolutely to fetch a bottle of cognac. Yes, by God, he deserved a drink.

Marie was wiping her mouth and smiling. "This is so exciting, Gunder. Imagine everything you will have to tell us when you come back. Have you got film for your camera? Have you got cancellation insurance? Have you made a list of everything you need to remember?"

"No," he said, sipping his cognac. "Would you do it for me, please, Marie?"

Then she relented and hurried off in search of pen and paper. While Gunder savored the cognac in his mouth, Marie wrote a "To Do" list. He watched her secretly. She sucked on the pen, tapped it lightly against her teeth to focus her thoughts. Her shoulders were so round and neat. He was lucky to have Marie. There was nothing unresolved between them.

Whatever happened, he would always have Marie.

This is how Gunder looked as he sat in the plane: His back straight like a schoolboy. He wore a short-sleeved shirt from Dressmann, a dark blue blazer, and khaki pants. He had not flown many times in his life and was very impressed by everything around him. In the overhead compartment he had a black bag and in the inside pocket, zipped up, was the filigree brooch in its small box. In his wallet he had Indian rupees, German marks, and British sterling. He closed his eyes now. Did not like the violent feeling of suction as the plane took off.

"My name is Gunder," he said to himself in English. "How do you do?"

The man next to him looked at him.

"Your soul remains at Gardermoen. That's good to know, don't you think?"

Gunder didn't understand.

"When you travel as fast as we do today the soul stays behind. Somewhere in the airport. It's probably in a pub somewhere, at the bottom of a glass. I had a whiskey before we left."

Gunder tried to imagine whiskey in the morning. He couldn't. He had bought himself a cup of coffee and had stood by the long counter watching people rush by. Then he had wandered slowly around, browsing, noiseless in his new sandals. His soul was in its place under his blazer, he was quite sure of that.

"You should swap that whiskey for a coffee," he said simply.

The man looked at Gunder and laughed. Then he said, "What are you selling?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"I sell agricultural machinery."

"And now you're going to a trade fair in Frankfurt?"

"No, no. This time I'm a tourist."

"Who goes on holiday in Frankfurt?" the man wondered. "I'm going farther than that," said Gunder happily. "All the way to Mumbai."

"And where is that?"

"India. Formerly Bombay, if that means anything to you." Gunder smiled importantly. "The city has been renamed Mumbai since 1995."

The man signaled to a passing flight attendant and ordered whiskey on the rocks. Gunder asked for orange juice and reclined his seat and closed his eyes. He did not want to talk. He had so many thoughts to think. What should he say about Norway? About Elvestad? What the Norwegians were like? What
were
they like? And the food, what was there to say about that? Rissoles. Fish pie and brown cheese. Ice-skating. Very cold. Down to minus fifty degrees sometimes. Norwegian oil. His juice arrived and he drank it slowly. Sat sucking an ice cube. Squeezed the plastic cup into the little net at the back of the seat in front of him. Outside he saw the clouds drift by like cotton candy. Perhaps he would fail to find a wife on his trip to India. If he could not find one at home why would he be able to find one in a foreign country? But
something
was happening. He was on his way toward something new. No one in Elvestad had been to India, as far as he knew. Gunder Jomann. A well-traveled man. He remembered that he had forgotten to check the batteries in his camera. But they would surely sell them at the airport. After all he wasn't going to another planet. What were Indian women
called? If he met one with a totally impossible name perhaps he could make up an affectionate diminutive. Indira, he remembered. Gandhi. It wasn't hard at all. Sounded like Elvira. Human beings everywhere have so much in common, he persuaded himself. At last he fell asleep. Immediately she appeared in his dreams. Black eyes sparkling.

***

Marie went to Gunder's house every day. She checked the doors and the windows. Picked up his mail and put it on the kitchen table. Stuck a finger in all the potted plants, one after the other. Always stayed a few minutes to worry about him. He was so trusting, like a child, and now he was milling around over there in the heat among twelve million people. They spoke languages he did not understand. Mind you, he was dependable. Never impulsive and certainly not liable to overindulge. She looked at the photographs on the wall of their mother and of herself as a five-year-old with round cheeks and chubby knees. One photograph of Gunder in his national service uniform. One of their parents standing together in front of the house. He also had a wretched painting of a winter landscape, bought at an auction in the community hall. She looked at the furniture. Sturdy and reliable. Clean windows. If he ever found himself a wife, she thought, he would treat her like a princess. But he was going downhill a bit. He was still a fine man, but everything was beginning to sag. His stomach. His jowls. His hairline was receding slowly but surely. His hands were big and rough, as their father's had been. What a father he would have made. She felt sad. Perhaps he would grow old alone. What was he doing in India? Was he trying to find himself a wife? The idea had crossed her mind. What would people say? For herself she would say nothing at all except to be friendly. But the others, anyone who wasn't as fond of him as she was? Did he really know what he was doing? Presumably. His voice on the phone, all the long way from India, crackling and hissing. Excited. I'm here now, Marie. The heat is like a wall. My back was wet before I was down the steps out of the plane. I've found a hotel. They speak English everywhere. There was no problem with the waitress. I said "chicken" and she brought me a chicken such as I've never seen the like of. You haven't tasted chicken until you've been to India, he said eagerly. And it's cheap, too. When I returned the next day, she came to the table and asked if I wanted chicken again. So now I eat there every day. Every time there is a different sauce: red, green, or yellow. No reason to look any further now that I have found this place. It is called Tandel's Tandoori. The service is very good.

The waitress, Marie supposed, and smiled resignedly. Probably she was the first person he had met and on top of it she was nice to him. That was probably enough for Gunder. Now he would sit in this Tandel's Tandoori for two weeks and not contrive to see anything else. She told him that everything at home was fine. But was he aware that one of the hibiscus plants had greenfly? For a moment Gunder's voice took on a hint of anxiety. Then he composed himself. "I have an insecticide in the basement. It'll just have to stay alive until I get home. Or it'll die. It's as simple as that."

Marie sighed. It was unlike her brother to speak about his plants so casually. When they died he took it as a personal insult.

The book she had once given him was there on the shelf. She noticed it because it stood out a little from the other spines. She took it down and once more it opened automatically to the same page. She studied the Indian woman for a while. Imagined her brother studying the beautiful picture. What would Indian women think of Gunder? In a way there was something impressive about him. He was tall and immensely broad-shouldered, for a start. And his teeth were nice; he took good care of them. His clothes were clean, if old-fashioned. And he had this trustworthy
character. The fact that he was slow, perhaps they wouldn't notice that if they were busy working out what he was saying. Maybe for that reason they might be able to see him for what he really was: decent and good as gold. Not so quick off the mark, but honest. Unhurried, but industrious. Concerned, but focused. His eyes were nice. The beauty in the photograph had nice eyes, too; they were almost black. Looking into Gunder's large blue eyes was probably exotic and different for an Indian woman. Then he had this big, heavy body. Indians were delicate, slender people, she believed, though she didn't know very much about them. She was just about to put the book back on the shelf when a scrap of paper fell out. A receipt from a jeweler's. Astonished, she stood and stared. A filigree brooch. Fourteen hundred kroner. What did that mean? It was not for her; she had no national costume. Clearly there was more going on here than she had suspected. She put the receipt back in the book and left the house. Turned one last time and stared at the windows. Then she drove to the village. Marie was, according to Gunder and her husband, a terrible driver. Her entire concentration was directed at the road in front of the car. She never looked in the mirror, but held tight to the steering wheel and focused on forty miles an hour in all areas. She had never used the fifth gear in her car. It was not that she was better at everything, though of the two of them she was the one who took charge whenever anything needed doing. However, she knew her brother. Now she was sure. He
had
gone to India to find a wife. And given his tenacity and patience it would not surprise her if he turned up in two weeks with a dark woman on his arm, a filigree brooch on her dress. God help us, she thought, and went straight through a crosswalk, giving a woman with a baby carriage the fright of her life. What would people say?