Page 110 of Hidden in Memories
“What do you mean?”
“I heard about an assault that allegedly took place over Christmas 1973. A young waitress was raped.”
Henry looks surprised. “How did you find out about that?”
“So you remember the incident?” she counters.
“No ... yes. I wasn’t aware of it at the time.”
Hanna doesn’t understand why he is speaking in riddles. Fifty years have passed—it surely can’t be a sensitive issue now.
“So you heard about it later—how come?”
She sounds more challenging than she had intended, but Henry doesn’t take offense. He thinks for a moment, gazing at the candles on the table.
“That summer—so six months after Christmas ’73—I overheard my parents arguing about it when we were staying in the country. It seemed”—he pauses—“as if Charlotte’s father was involved.”
Hanna can’t hide her surprise. Charlotte’s father was mixed up in the tragic story? She vaguely remembers that he died a few years ago.
“In what way was Curt Wretlind involved?”
“Unfortunately I believe he was the one who was hanging out with the poor girl.”
“Hanging out?” Hanna raises her eyebrows at the choice of words. “As I understand it, she was the victim of a serious assault. She was forced to have sex against her will. That’s not what I would call ‘hanging out.’”
Henry holds up his hands. “You’re right, of course. But the expression I heard back then, and you must remember that I was just a child, was exactly that—they were ‘hanging out.’”
Once again he reaches for his glass and takes a sip before continuing.
“My mom was very upset. She and my dad were in their bedroom at our place in the country. They probably thought I was asleep, but their voices were so loud that I couldn’t help hearing through the wall. Mom was saying that she would never celebrate Christmas with Charlotte’s family again.”
“She took the girl’s side?”
Something flickers across Henry’s face, but Hanna finds it difficult to interpret.
“I guess she was seeing it more from Charlotte’s mother’s point of view. She didn’t like the fact that Curt had cheated on his wife during a family vacation. It didn’t look good.”
Hanna is taken aback. Such a cynical response! And yet she recognizes it—she grew up with the same attitude. The importance of constantly keeping up appearances, whatever happens.
Her own mother would presumably have reacted the same way.
“My perception was that my father was trying to persuade my mother not to make a big thing of what had gone on. He wanted to plan our next trip to Storlien, but Mom refused to have anything to do with Curt. Dad had to meet up with Curt on his own, and after that we never holidayed together again. It wasn’t until years later that Charlotte and I renewed our friendship, because we went to the same high school.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
Henry twirls his glass between his fingers, and his expression grows sad.
“From what my mom said, it sounded as if the poor girl got pregnant.”
“She had a baby?”
“I think so, but I don’t know for sure.”
Hanna gazes out of the huge window, but the darkness is too dense to see anything. Even Åreskutan is not visible against the sky. There is no full moon shining tonight.
It’s hardly surprising that Leffe said the girl’s life was ruined. As if the rape wasn’t bad enough, she ended up pregnant as well.
At least Hanna didn’t have to go through that.
