A Girlfriend or Two

It was a pleassant room: leather-clad chairs, mahogany table, bookshelves along one wall, a large window with a great view over the Hudson river, and pictures on the other two walls.

But wait... that picture in the middle, wasn't it...?

I tapped a finger on Karens shoulder and pointed when she turned away from the window towards me. Her eyes followed my finger and we walked closer.

"Isn't it Felicity, or have I lost my mind?" I asked her.

"Looks like it, and it is the same style as your pictures, but I don't see your signature."

"That is because it has been fitted with the same frame as the other pictures, the signature is beneath the frame." a woman said.

We jumped since we hadn't heard her enter, but when we turned around there she was.

"Sorry to make you jump like that, I was sure you had heard me. I'm Dr Carstairs, but call me Amanda."

She was fifty or so, quite tall and thin, and had a deep tan and hair bleached by too much sun. Her smile was kind and tolerant but reserved in a way.

I offered her my hand and said:

"I'm Anders as you no doubt understand and this is Karen Mills."

"Yes, I do realize who you are, but I wasn't aware that you would have company or that you were an artist. I had the impression you were an engineer, or studying to become one to be precise?"

"That is right, I have one term left, but watercolours and coal-sketches are my hobbies you might say."

"Hobbies? Then I guess I was cheated since I paid a lot of money for that 'sleeping baby' picture.

"You probably were," I laughed "but my reputation has kind of taken off since I came to America. To be honest I could repay the money to the foundation with interest without problem, but I look forward to this so I won't. Anyway, now that we have met you don't have to buy my art, ask and I will present you something."

"And how about Karen, are the two of you you married?"

"Not yet, but we have a daughter, she is actually the baby in your picture, that was what caught my eye, and both of them will go with me if that is possible. Karen will graduate as a doctor this spring, the question is if her internship will be a problem."

"A doctor? Interesting. And that is your daughter over there on my wall? Hm, small world it is indeed. Well, let's sit down and talk this over, this can get interesting."

She explained that she was director of a project in Nigeria, building and staffing a hospital in the northern region. It was up and running already, but I would be taking care of any technical or practical issues as well as train a local staff to take over after me. In case there was need of expansion that was also my responsibility in colaboration with her.

Regarding Karen that was a pleassant surprise, she said: medical staff was always needed. Although she believed that the internship could be handled very well by them, she wanted to make sure that would be accepted by the US government so Karen didn't have to do it all over again after returning home. Felicity would not be a problem: there were plenty of children among the staff and the area was pretty stable.

She asked about our living preferences, language skills, specialization and many other things, and at the end my, or now her, picture came up as a topic. She explained that the picture, for her, was a reminder of home, normalcy, her now grown kids and their children, and she wanted to know how I saw it. That was the hardest question to answer during the whole meeting:

"I can't really say, it is part of a concept that has developed during the last four years: nude bodies. A body is soft, warm, strong but yet vulnerable, and naked it can't hide any faults. I made sketches of Karen in different styles of clothing, a lot of them, and noticed that her posture changed with the clothes. Then I did a nude study of her torso when she was pregnant, and first of all it was beautiful but also had that vulnerability: 'this is the real me and my defences are down', kind of. Does that explain anything at all?"

"It does, and I think we will have a lot to talk about in Nigeria."

We got a letter a month later saying that the internship was accepted and would count. Our departure would probably be june 23^rd, but would be confirmed later, but it mattered less exactly when we were going. The important thing was that we were.

We had a lot of things to take care of before that. Immunization shots for one, making sure that Daniel and Mel would be okay another. They would stay in the house and had one more year left in school and the twins to care for, so the economic side was an issue and also the fact that the Sam's (that was what the twins were called) were really my kids too and I would miss them.

One thing that I probably should have taken care of earlier came to mind and I acted on it february 14^th. Daniel and I invited Karen and Mel out to dinner with the kids and Maddy, and had asked for privacy in the restaurant. We got a table away from the other guests but in full view anyway, and we had a pleassant evening. When the desserts were on the table I counted down with my fingers so that only Daniel could see it and we spoke in unison:

"Will you marry me?"

Three women looked up from their desserts and I hurried to add:

"Sorry, Maddy, not you." and they began to giggle all three.

Karen and Melanie looked at each other and replied in kind with a single:

"Yes!" in unison, and that was that.

This has turned out to be a much longer tale than expected when I started, so what happened in Nigeria will have to wait for another time. Or perhaps it won't be told by me at all. Maybe Felicity will tell you about it instead one day, but that remains to be seen. The african sun is bright and hurts my eyes, and the heat, although nice compared to the cold winters in my nordic birthplace, wears me out in my old age.

Now it is time to go to bed, to sleep and dream about Karen and the others like every night for so many years. Karen, Melanie, Daniel, Felicity, Samuel and Samantha are my loved ones that you now know about, and there are others to get to know as well, but like I said, that is for another time. For now I say goodnight, sleep well and dream about the ones you love.