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Nine: September 2009
Nine: September 2009
Larry,
By the time you get this, I've already left for Europe. You said what you said, but I don't care. I have to do this, and I have to do this right now. It's about who I am – who I want to be.
I don't expect you to understand.
- Nora
As the airplane descended to below the grey clouds, the young woman could see the city below. A number of modern gleaming high-rises jutting out from among older, uniformly low buildings. The city centre stood on a head of land reaching out to the dark Baltic Sea, its yellows and neons shining now to the right of the plane to add spots of light to the darkening autumn evening.
The plane taxied towards the passenger terminal of the international airport and the passengers started preparing to embark, turning on their mobile phones, those most afraid of flying starting to slowly feel a relief washing over them, having made it through another journey up in the air. Next to the modern American passenger jet, the old terminal building looked like a 1970s vision of future in the eyes of the young woman – blocky grey concrete structures painted with cubistic bright orange decorations and numbers in a retrofuturistic lettering style. When it was built, it must have looked like the space age come real. Now it just looked anachronistic, with the crumbling concrete and the peeling paint.
HELSINKI-SEUTULA, the big orange text on the wall of the terminal proclaimed to the woman clutching her mauve carry-on bag and walking across the wet tarmac while drops of cold water landed on her dark hair. Behind the old terminal, she could see a new, bigger one being built.
The woman waited to reclaim her meagre luggage at the Arrivals hall, still shivering due to the cold outside. She wasn't used to it, and now it had kind of stuck on her.
Is this how it feels like to be Finnish?, the woman thought to herself.
HELSINKI - THE NEW HUB IN THE NORTH, said a poster on the wall showing a Boeing 450 passenger jet in the jagged blue-white Finn-Aero livery soaring up to a sky colored by the northern lights while a group of three reindeer looked at it go. YOUR CONNECTION TO THE FAR EAST.
Navigating through a throng of Japanese businessmen and past an American tourist family arguing over a spread-out map of the Finnish capital area, the woman made her way to the exit.
”Hotel Barrière please”, she said to the taxi driver, a balding man with a bushy mustache, who only grunted in the affirmative and steered his mud-splattered early 90s model Peugeot Marechal towards the southbound traffic artery taking it to the city centre.
The driver snapped on the car radio, and then hummed along the slow, melancholy piece of music playing on it, while the young dark-haired woman looked out to the darkening autumn evening, the lights hanging over the streets swinging in the wind, the headlights of the buses, taxis and trucks piercing the cold rain.
The woman raised her head, stared out to the rain and looked at the driver through the mirror.
”What's this song about?”, she asked.
”Sorry?”
”The song”, the woman asked, nodding towards the radio, ”what is it.. about?”
The driver thought about it for a while. Then he looked at her through the rear view mirror and smiled.
”Life.”
"...Right."
The woman dug a number of crumbled papers from her pocket, straightened them out on her lap.
SUOMEN KANSALLINEN ARKISTOJÄRJESTELMÄ [1], the one on top said.
”The wartime documents are stored predominately in the Archival System's Leppävaara Unit. This includes the materials recorded by both the civilian and military authorities beginning from September 1939 and ending at...”
The woman used a pencil to underline relevant parts.
”...To reserve a research station at the Leppävaara Unit, complete a VL101 reservation form at the Archival System Main Office...Documents must be ordered by noon at the latest for them to be delivered to the pre-reserved research station during the same day...The documents are organized into several categories determining availability and required..."
”You in Finland... on business?”
What's it to you, cabbie?, the woman thought, irritated to be distracted from her work, but then answered him all the same.
”No, I am here to... To find my roots.”
The man looked at her without understanding for a while. But then he smiled again.
”Your family... Finnish? Finnish people... Vahvoja.”
The woman shook her head, not understanding the word.
The man raised his right hand and made a fist.
”What is word … Strong.”
Right then, the car was suddenly filled with flashing lights and the sound of sirens. Two large emergency vehicles in black and blue arrived from nowhere, overtaking the taxi and passing at speed. They came very close to hitting it.
”Saatanan kytät![2]”, the driver yelled, and the taxi suddenly swerved to the right.
The woman tried to hold on to her seat as the car careened off the road, then came to a violent stop.
Everything went quiet.
After a short while, the woman opened her eyes and fumbled to open her seat belt. With some effort, she got the door open and clambered out of the car.
It was silent by the side of the road. The traffic had died down, and even the rain had ended.
The dark-haired woman knocked on the driver's window, to see the cabbie nodding at her. Together, the two opened the door, and the woman helped the driver out of the car.
The heavy-set man looked shaken and there was a bloody bruise on his forehead. He looked at the woman and winced. Then a sheepish smile spread onto this face and he gently patted her arm.
”What did I say? Strong.”
The 'TAKSI' light on the roof of the cab flickered to life for a moment, and then went dark. The man sighed.
”What now?”, the woman asked.
The man looked at the damaged car and shrugged.
”We find phone, I call... tow truck. This is Finland – nothing works but everything can be arranged.”
The man lit up a cigarette and offered one to the woman as well.
The first drag she took felt, somehow, better than it had in ages.
Together, the young woman and the middle-aged man started walking towards the south.
...
I'll travel so far that I'll forget your smile
When the uninvited guests arrived again
And when that was only true
Which is not said aloud
...
Notes:
[1] THE FINNISH NATIONAL ARCHIVAL SYSTEM
[2] Fucking cops!
To Be Continued
Nine: September 2009
Larry,
By the time you get this, I've already left for Europe. You said what you said, but I don't care. I have to do this, and I have to do this right now. It's about who I am – who I want to be.
I don't expect you to understand.
- Nora
As the airplane descended to below the grey clouds, the young woman could see the city below. A number of modern gleaming high-rises jutting out from among older, uniformly low buildings. The city centre stood on a head of land reaching out to the dark Baltic Sea, its yellows and neons shining now to the right of the plane to add spots of light to the darkening autumn evening.
The plane taxied towards the passenger terminal of the international airport and the passengers started preparing to embark, turning on their mobile phones, those most afraid of flying starting to slowly feel a relief washing over them, having made it through another journey up in the air. Next to the modern American passenger jet, the old terminal building looked like a 1970s vision of future in the eyes of the young woman – blocky grey concrete structures painted with cubistic bright orange decorations and numbers in a retrofuturistic lettering style. When it was built, it must have looked like the space age come real. Now it just looked anachronistic, with the crumbling concrete and the peeling paint.
HELSINKI-SEUTULA, the big orange text on the wall of the terminal proclaimed to the woman clutching her mauve carry-on bag and walking across the wet tarmac while drops of cold water landed on her dark hair. Behind the old terminal, she could see a new, bigger one being built.
The woman waited to reclaim her meagre luggage at the Arrivals hall, still shivering due to the cold outside. She wasn't used to it, and now it had kind of stuck on her.
Is this how it feels like to be Finnish?, the woman thought to herself.
HELSINKI - THE NEW HUB IN THE NORTH, said a poster on the wall showing a Boeing 450 passenger jet in the jagged blue-white Finn-Aero livery soaring up to a sky colored by the northern lights while a group of three reindeer looked at it go. YOUR CONNECTION TO THE FAR EAST.
Navigating through a throng of Japanese businessmen and past an American tourist family arguing over a spread-out map of the Finnish capital area, the woman made her way to the exit.
”Hotel Barrière please”, she said to the taxi driver, a balding man with a bushy mustache, who only grunted in the affirmative and steered his mud-splattered early 90s model Peugeot Marechal towards the southbound traffic artery taking it to the city centre.
The driver snapped on the car radio, and then hummed along the slow, melancholy piece of music playing on it, while the young dark-haired woman looked out to the darkening autumn evening, the lights hanging over the streets swinging in the wind, the headlights of the buses, taxis and trucks piercing the cold rain.
The woman raised her head, stared out to the rain and looked at the driver through the mirror.
”What's this song about?”, she asked.
”Sorry?”
”The song”, the woman asked, nodding towards the radio, ”what is it.. about?”
The driver thought about it for a while. Then he looked at her through the rear view mirror and smiled.
”Life.”
"...Right."
The woman dug a number of crumbled papers from her pocket, straightened them out on her lap.
SUOMEN KANSALLINEN ARKISTOJÄRJESTELMÄ [1], the one on top said.
”The wartime documents are stored predominately in the Archival System's Leppävaara Unit. This includes the materials recorded by both the civilian and military authorities beginning from September 1939 and ending at...”
The woman used a pencil to underline relevant parts.
”...To reserve a research station at the Leppävaara Unit, complete a VL101 reservation form at the Archival System Main Office...Documents must be ordered by noon at the latest for them to be delivered to the pre-reserved research station during the same day...The documents are organized into several categories determining availability and required..."
”You in Finland... on business?”
What's it to you, cabbie?, the woman thought, irritated to be distracted from her work, but then answered him all the same.
”No, I am here to... To find my roots.”
The man looked at her without understanding for a while. But then he smiled again.
”Your family... Finnish? Finnish people... Vahvoja.”
The woman shook her head, not understanding the word.
The man raised his right hand and made a fist.
”What is word … Strong.”
Right then, the car was suddenly filled with flashing lights and the sound of sirens. Two large emergency vehicles in black and blue arrived from nowhere, overtaking the taxi and passing at speed. They came very close to hitting it.
”Saatanan kytät![2]”, the driver yelled, and the taxi suddenly swerved to the right.
The woman tried to hold on to her seat as the car careened off the road, then came to a violent stop.
Everything went quiet.
After a short while, the woman opened her eyes and fumbled to open her seat belt. With some effort, she got the door open and clambered out of the car.
It was silent by the side of the road. The traffic had died down, and even the rain had ended.
The dark-haired woman knocked on the driver's window, to see the cabbie nodding at her. Together, the two opened the door, and the woman helped the driver out of the car.
The heavy-set man looked shaken and there was a bloody bruise on his forehead. He looked at the woman and winced. Then a sheepish smile spread onto this face and he gently patted her arm.
”What did I say? Strong.”
The 'TAKSI' light on the roof of the cab flickered to life for a moment, and then went dark. The man sighed.
”What now?”, the woman asked.
The man looked at the damaged car and shrugged.
”We find phone, I call... tow truck. This is Finland – nothing works but everything can be arranged.”
The man lit up a cigarette and offered one to the woman as well.
The first drag she took felt, somehow, better than it had in ages.
Together, the young woman and the middle-aged man started walking towards the south.
...
I'll travel so far that I'll forget your smile
When the uninvited guests arrived again
And when that was only true
Which is not said aloud
...
Notes:
[1] THE FINNISH NATIONAL ARCHIVAL SYSTEM
[2] Fucking cops!
To Be Continued
- DrakonFin
- Word Count: 1.1k