Minna’s got to judge people one at a time.
Minna wants to learn not to trust.
That’s all going to be over now.
The last narcissist’s gotten her to clap.
The last Jutlander’s taken up residence in her in-box.
The last nymphomaniac.
The last reporter.
Indian demons.
Billy goats.
Kamikaze pilots.
Thieves in the night:
It’s over!
Minna feels her backbone grow.
Minna’s backbone sends out roots and shoots.
Minna’s backbone blossoms.
Minna looks out upon the southern Swedish landscape.
The landscape drifts past like a fog.
Grown-ups are kids who become like animals, Minna thinks.
Minna tries dozing.
The train’s got a school camp on board.
The school camp’s blocked all exits.
The teacher screams that the school camp has to settle down a bit.
The teacher screams, SO SIT DOWN, FREDERIK!
The teacher screams, THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN!
That might be so, Minna thinks, but
Bergman’s the only human on the train.
Bergman lies on her lap.
Dread makes the dreaded real.
That’s true — or …
Minna listens to the school camp.
Minna dreaded not having a kid.
The school camp relieves the fear.
Kids are sweet, but
Kids reflect their parents’ seamy side.
Bergman knows that.
Bergman had nine kids.
Bergman had to make films to get away from his kids.
Minna shouldn’t be down in the mouth.
Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen is also along on the trip.
Anne Marie’s along in Minna’s mind.
Anne Marie preferred animals.
Anne Marie was into mermaids and horses.
Minna’s more into cats, but
Minna will make do alone.
Minna’s a composer!
Minna settles into her seat, thrilled about the ferry.
The Baltic is capricious.
The Baltic’s deep and smooth.
The Baltic’s a bowl, a submarine valley.
The Baltic’s as balmy as a bathtub.
Minna’s brought her bathing suit along.
It’s late in August.
Minna’s stoked.
Minna’s heading away from what hurts.
No one’s going to inflict any more damage, Minna thinks.
Everything’s going to get sorted, Minna thinks, because
Minna wants to grow an asshole filter.
Minna thinks she can grow it quickly.
Minna’s broken heart dwells in the breast of an optimist.
Minna’s boarded the Leonora Christine.
The school camp’s shepherded onto the upper deck.
The school camp’s met another school camp.
The school camps exchange sexual fluids.
Minna drinks coffee in the stern canteen.
The canteen’s full of retirees.
The retirees swarm up from the vehicle deck.
The retirees want to sit with one other.
Minna moves gladly.
Minna moves for two pairs of friends in their midseventies.
The gentlemen immediately order beer.
The missuses have newly permed hair.
The missuses make do with orange soda.
The gentlemen squeeze their permed missuses.
The missuses giggle.
The retirees have sex.
Minna can see they have sex.
Minna thinks of Mom.
Minna dismisses the thought.
The thought lands on Lars.
Lars without clothes on.
Lars with a hard-on.
Minna on horseback.
Cat on a hot tin roof.
Minna and Lars, genital to genital, no respect.
Minna blushes on the plastic ferry seat.
Minna’s been the fuck buddy of a disrespectful man.
That’s the way it is, thinks Minna.
Minna’s backbone withers.
Lars prefers sex with a machete.
It’s unbearable, but there you have it.
The retirees raise their glasses.
Minna takes up Bergman from her pack.
The Leonora Christine pulls away from the quay.
The Leonora Christine heads out.
Minna glances down at Bergman.
Bergman says, I pretend to be an adult.
Bergman says, Time and again it amazes me that people take me seriously.
Minna loves Bergman.
Bergman lunges for Minna with the truth.
Bergman holds her tight, and now she glances at the door to the vehicle deck.
The door opens.
A small group of retirees trickles in.
Minna feels initially serene at the sight.
It doesn’t last.
Minna raises Bergman to her face.
Minna slouches in her seat.
Minna wants to get off the Leonora Christine.
The Leonora Christine has set course for Rønne, but
Minna wants to leave.
Minna was once a music teacher at a folk high school.
Minna taught weeklong classes for happy amateurs.
The happy amateurs signed up in torrents.
The folk high school provided housing.
The folk high school was always going bust.
The amateurs had dough.
People stood there with guitars and piccolos.
People wanted to be virtuous.
Minna tried to teach them a bit of notation.
Minna clapped in time.
Minna played Bach for them.
Minna was trampled by dwarfs.
Minna ran out of options.
Minna let them sing from the tired Danish songbook.
The amateurs sang, Is the light only for the learnéd?
Minna had her take on it.
The amateurs felt disgruntled about their rooms.
Minna found them new ones.
The amateurs lost their things:
Dentures, rollators, and spectacles vanishing every instant.
Prosthetic legs and large-print books: gone.
Grundtvig hovered above the waters.
Grundtvig illuminated the scene.
Grundtvig was high on sugar water and the life of the mind.
Minna had to see to all the practicalities herself.
The amateurs loved Minna.
The amateurs pinched her on the cheek.
The amateurs wanted to sing at the farewell party.
The party was full of music that Minna had inflicted on their world.
Minna wept.
Minna felt ashamed.
Minna needed rent money.
Minna was keeping the wolf from the door, but
The wolf was preferable in the end.
Minna quit and is now en route to Bornholm.
Minna sits behind Bergman on the Leonora Christine.
Minna has recognized the hindmost retiree.
The retiree’s named Gunvor Kramer.
Gunvor Kramer’s a happy amateur.
Gunvor Kramer’s a sincere person, but even worse:
Gunvor’s on Facebook, and even worse:
Gunvor’s convinced that she and Minna are colleagues.
Gunvor recorded a Christmas tape.
Gunvor recorded it on a reel-to-reel.
The reel-to-reel stands in Gunvor’s living room.
Gunvor is thus a composer.
Gunvor writes Minna often.
Gunvor writes about her breakthroughs in the art of music, but even worse:
Gunvor Kramer’s aboard the Leonora Christine.
Gunvor Kramer’s set a course for Minna.
Minna knows that her holiday hangs by a thread.
Gunvor’s in a car, you see.
Gunvor would like to chauffeur Minna around the island.