When Crystal came home, Norman was back, and he had brought the injured turtle along, thinking he could provide better care that way. The poor animal had been wounded by a speed boat and now needed a special bandage around his rear leg. It was a fairly young and tiny one. Norman had placed it in a box with grass and sand and a little water basin.
Crystal prepared something for dinner in the microwave; they ate in all haste, and then they took both positions next to their house guest, like parents caring for a sick child. Watching Norman acting that attentive and gentle with the tiny animal, the idea of having a real child flitted through her thoughts. Maybe this was what their relationship needed! She stretched her hand and caressed the turtle's shell. A sweet little baby of their own…
She mused how to bring the subject up.
"It's that nice, just the two of us together," she finally said. "Wouldn't it be great, if we had some more time for us… only for us, I mean? Without politics and activities?"
"We will, Darling. When this campaign is over, we'll have plenty of time again."
Crystal's mood sank involuntarily. She had waited for this or that being over the first six years of their marriage. And now, she was – waiting again, she realized. To what end?
"Norman?"
"Yes." He was watching the turtle crawling around, and helped her when she got stuck in between some of the dry weed.
"Maybe," Crystal started again, "if we choose one day to be just for us."
"You make it sound as if I had to decide between you and the things that have to be done. This is childish. We know, environmental protection is essential and it costs a lot of work to drill this into the stubborn heads of the responsible. – There you go!"
He put the turtle down again near the water basin.
The young woman felt again the frustration well up which in the end had led to their divorce in the first place. It was of no use! Simply of no use to try talking to him about this subject! For some time, silence prevailed. Then Norman asked, burying the previous conversation finally: "How was your day? Did you have a good time with the kids at school?"
"Oh… fine. Claude and Percy were fighting again the whole time. They had to be put apart," Crystal answered leaving out the visit in Mikael's studio. For Norman, artists in general and modern artists, in particular, were people who were one beer short of a sixpack, anyway. For sure they drank and filled themselves up with drugs supposed to 'widen their mind'. In any case, they had lost all sane contact with the nature and world!
She remembered watching the sunset with Mikael and wondered if he had lost that contact indeed. Or had he discerned much more than she, who always thought to walk through the world with open eyes?! Norman's voice disturbed her in the re-picturing of the last evening.
"You look very tired. You should go to sleep, Darling. I'll stay here on the couch, in case there are any problems with our little guest. I don't think so, but…"
"…you can never be sure."
Crystal stood up, hugged him shortly, and went upstairs.
However, she couldn't find any sleep. She didn't know what it was. Maybe a weather change was coming up. She felt fidgety and, despite Norman being only down in the living room, suddenly quite lonely. Of course, he was right with the things he had said. This gave her a guilty conscience even more. Was it childish and selfish to wish to have someone belonging only to her? At least for some hours… At least for some hours no talk about work and necessary activities, but someone embracing her and watch the sunset in silence. Was that too much to ask?
She turned around to face the wall. The moonlight shone through the half open window and wove intriguing bands of light and shadow with the pattern of the thin curtain. When a breeze moved the curtain, the light did as well. Somehow, it made her think of Mikael's video art.
…
Mikael was thrown into an emotional thunderstorm, which got worse, the more he fought against it. He tried to work with utter commitment and succeeded in finishing two of the planned metal parts of his sculpture. But he could not even look at the stony shape of the Diane-replica he had carried out with such diligence, without thinking of Crystal. He felt like an addict who saw his favorite drug within reach after months of forced abstinence, and no memory of how its previous consummation might have damaged him, was strong enough to cool the longing, lusting for it. He found a million excuses why this woman would be different from Hannah; why she wouldn't do such a thing as exploit his feelings, lie, betray…
…
The next morning, Crystal found her sheets in quite disarray, and immediately after getting up, she stuffed them into the washing machine. What was that, she asked herself full of annoyance, having wet dreams about a man you have barely met?! Moreover, a man like Mikael Gant, rich, intelligent, famous, and handsome, certainly had more women than he could count at his ten fingers! And if not, he was probably gay! Angrily, she pushed the activating button of the machine, turned around, and only now discovered the note on the table.
Norman informed her, that he had got a call from a Veterinarian ambulance in Hilo searching for a replacement for one of their pensioned doctors. This might be a job opportunity! Even if it meant, he would be at home yet rarer – they needed the money badly. This old house was slowly falling apart, the car too, not to speak of the damned insurances… Oh God, she hoped it would be a fruitful meeting, and he would not screw it up again with his temper!
As she could expect Norman back only in the evening, this meant another day alone. Crystal decided to bring some order in the backyard, clear the shed… and yes, the gate to the beach could use some new paint, too. She shot a glance at the turtle in the living room. The little guy was fine and Norman had already fed him. Later, when she had finished repainting the gate and the smell had dissolved a bit, she would bring the box outside.
…
Crystal straightened and rubbed her aching back. Finally, the old paint was gone and the wooden planks of the gate smoothened again. It had taken much longer than expected. She wanted at least to apply the first layer of paint so it could dry until tomorrow!
With a sigh, she reached for the bucket with the blue paint and one of the broad brushes. Actually, this was fun, despite the nasty stench of dissolver! The old planks had creases and washed out knotholes, which now, with the blue paint covering them, looked like water. This thought crossing her mind, Crystal stopped humming her favorite song and smiled. A little idea had flashed up! She put the brush down and searched for the small can of white paint, she had seen earlier while cleaning the shed. Maybe it had dried out already, but it was worth a try!
A moment later, she stood bent down in front of the gate again, applying a huge white round into the blue space. Then, some feathery stripes of lighter blue horizontally across it… She leaned back to take a probing look and suddenly had to laugh. What was she thinking?! This had the air of a third-grader's work! She dipped the big brush in the basket with the blue paint again, resolved to let the pitiable 'artwork' vanish when a voice behind her startled her:
"Moonlight over the ocean?"
Mikael stood only some steps below, smiling.
"Heavens! You've made me jump all right!"
"I'm sorry. This wasn't my intention."
She didn't know what embarrassed her more; that he saw her attempt to paint or that she saw him and heard his voice! Her gaze was caught by his eyes again. The most fascinating eyes she had ever seen. At the moment, she couldn't even discern the color; they seemed rather dark now, in the shadow of the nearby palm tree. Dark and gentle and… Her cheeks started to burn and it felt like a bracket around her throat.
"You like the sea!" Mikael walked past her to the gate.
"Oh yes!" Crystal tried to pull herself together. His voice sent chills down her spine. "I always wanted to live by the sea! I grew up in Nevada and…"
She couldn't find a reasonable thing to say and thus stopped mid-sentence. Her mind was empty all of a sudden.
"It's not so bad." He said, turning to her again while gesturing towards her 'painting'.
Only now she discerned that he looked rather pale. Perhaps he wasn't feeling well?
"Have you worked all night again?"
The concern palpable in her voice touched him deeper than he would've liked to admit.
"Ah, do I give that a tired impression? Yes, I tried at least, but … could not get into the right mood somehow."
"Do you want to come in for a coffee? I could need one, too."
"Sure!"
Crystal wiped her hands on the trousers and stepped to the house door. "Be careful, we have a little guest, a turtle."
Mikael followed her with almost anxious excitement. He wanted to be close to her, watch her, observe her…
They sat down at the kitchen table. She felt bad about the worn-out shabbiness of so many things around here, now. Norman tended to pile up all his newspapers and articles everywhere. This all must give a miserable impression, she thought. I must give a miserable impression in this stained old shirt…
"It's good that I haven't any appointment at school this afternoon," Crystal said, filling the brewed coffee in two cups and handing Mikael the larger one.
"Thank you! - You're a teacher?"
"No," she replied with a short laugh and sat down the same. "I only give some voluntary lessons about environment protection, garbage sorting at home… such stuff."
She lowered her gaze to the coffee pot, not daring to look too long into his intense eyes. "I don't think I would make a good teacher! As long as the kids are nice and attentive, it's okay… but… they aren't always, you know for sure!"
Mikael took a sip, then put the cup back and searched her face again with his glance. "I was mainly instructed by private teachers. My father was in the diplomatic service, and we traveled a lot."
"Oh, that sounds interesting! Before I moved here, I barely got my feet outta Nevada!"
"It was an amazing opportunity to observe people and cultures and ... hollow behavior and lies," he replied, "but we never spent enough time anywhere for me to make friends. My books and my art, they were always my best companions."
She didn't know if he had said this with exactly that purpose - however, Crystal felt sorry for him. Growing up in lonely Highway-50-land, she knew well, what loneliness for a kid or worse, teenager meant! "But now you have quite some admirers of your art following you!"
Mikael smiled shortly. "Ah, you've read the articles... Yes, adoring proselytes! I have quite a few... They can be a very pestering sort of people, especially when you know they don't catch anything on art, but just visit an exhibition or auction because they consider it a cool thing to do. Or because they want to buy the most expensive piece so they could boast among their friends with the sum they'd paid."
"I looked up some of your works on tape in the library."
Hearing that, he seemed surprised and, she judged by the slight rise of his eyebrows and the sparkle in his eyes, he liked the statement! It made her feel comfortably warm and she smiled.
"And? What did you think? I'm curious!"
"It was totally strange to me, but I thought about the things you said the evening before; exposing the truth, revealing contradictions in our world, and… I found those premises again. Well… maybe because I'm that ignorant in art, my empty mind could be filled easily."
"Maybe… because you have kept an open mind. One not already blocked with preconceptions."
For a few moments, there was silence. Crystal thought desperately what she could say in order not to come across like a dumb village girl, and Mikael thought desperately about what he could say to just keep her talking…
"Tell me about you," he finally said. "You seem to know a great deal about me already, and I do not know much about you."
"Oh…" She felt blushing again. "There's really… not much to tell… I'm afraid. I… moved here a couple of months ago with Norman, so we could try... if we …" I can't get a reasonable thing out!
"I think whatever you want – you know it by now, Crystal. If you look inside you, you know it."
