Page 42 of A Winter in Wonderland
Chapter 20
Ahhhh. I lay back in the sauna for the first time completely in the buff, my towel resting at my side. I needed this, I thought, as the heat circled my body like cigarette smoke in a romantic bar from the nineteen twenties. I let my limbs and flesh and boobs melt onto the warm, wooden bench and breathed in the scent of birch wood, switching all my thoughts off so all that I heard were the sizzles of the water baking the rocks.
I wondered if I could find a new flat back home that had a sauna inside it. If not, how likely was it that I would cause a massive mould problem if I blocked off ventilation to the bathroom and let it steam up every day? Hmm, no, that wasn’t a good idea at all. There’s a reason that saunas don’t have loos in.
In here it was quiet. There was no Christmas music. No elves. No images of the man in red. Not even any snow. In fact, with my eyes closed, I could almost,almost, pretend Iwas lying on that sunshine-soaked beach somewhere, that I thought for a hot minute I could spend the Christmas season in.
Bang.‘Hello!’
My eyes flung themselves open at the same time my hands went to cover my bits.
Esteri plonked her fully naked self on the bench below me. ‘Don’t cover up, you silly thing, let it all relax, won’t you?’
Tentatively, I removed my hands, but even though Esteri couldn’t see me from where she was lying I still found it hard to relax quite in the way I had been. Especially when she then sat up, eye to eye with my left boob, and said, ‘Good news, I found them!’
I shuffled myself upright and wrapped the towel around me like the big prude I was. ‘Found who?’
‘My family, my Lapland family.’
‘Oh you did! That’s amazing!’ I was pleased for her. ‘Are you going to go and see them?’
‘Yes, we’re going tomorrow.’
‘Who are you going with?’
‘You!’
‘Me? But I’m working tomorrow.’ I wondered if Josh would be joining me again.
Esteri was shaking her head. ‘Nope, you’re coming with me. I have two days off, and I have spoken to Daan and now your two days off this week are also tomorrow and the day after. We will stay overnight.’
‘Oh. Thanks,’ I said. Wait a minute, a chance to get deep into non-Christmassy Lapland for two days? That wouldtake me two days closer to the big day, and two days closer to no disasters happening. ‘Are there any disasters that could befall us?’ I asked, super-casually.
Esteri laughed. ‘You’re so weird. This will be a lot of fun. You’ll come with me, right?’
I could tell she was nervous, even with a dash of excitement. This was a big deal, meeting her only remaining relatives. And in a place, Lapland, that she loved enough to keep returning to year on year.
‘Of course,’ I said, and gave her sweaty shoulder a pat.
‘Urgh, you are all clammy.’ She shook me off, but also gave me a small smile and nod.
‘How do we get there?’
‘I’ll drive. I’m hiring a car. So be ready to go tomorrow morning quite early, OK?’
‘OK,’ I agreed. Esteri lay back down so I did too.
