08 Jul 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.

07/08 Northern Sweden

As I reached the Arctic Circle, I got off the train in what seemed to be a ghost town.  I would assume it was at least three in the morning and everything in sight was closed.  Although early in the morning the sun was still up creating an odd feeling, like being on a set of a twilight zone episode.  You could tell something was off.  I was carrying an address of a good place to stay that was given to me somewhere along the road.  At that point I really didn’t care how nice it was as long as it had a working shower.  After a couple of wrong turns, I managed to find the place but since it was so early I was a little reluctant to knock on the door.  I’m not one who enjoys imposing especially waking a stranger from sleep.  I always get the feeling that they don’t like me for the rest of my stay.  An old woman came to the door and bluntly asked me to wait.  She walked me over to another building and showed me a room that was available.  Once I put my bag down, it was time for a needed shower.  I wrapped myself in a towel and attempted to make it down the hall unnoticed.  It was after three in the morning and the chance of getting caught had to be slim.  As I began to reach the end of the hall, I could hear some commotion, which was strange based on the hour.  As I approached the shower door, a door to my left suddenly opened.  There stood three elderly ladies and a young beauty who had the face of an angel.  Once I noticed her it was like time stopped.  I was probably staring.  The angel stepped out into the hallway, separating me from my destination, the shower.  The three elderly ladies might have been in their seventies but still acted like a bunch of schoolgirls.  I didn’t understand the language but I knew I was central to the joke.  Then she put her hand on my shoulder, “He’s mine girls” she said in English.  I gave a smile to the group and headed into the shower, one long hot shower.  When I opened up the door to my surprise she was standing there.  I wasn’t sure if she had waited or had just returned.  She looked to be about nineteen or maybe twenty.  “Would you enjoy a cup of coffee?” she questioned.  “Yes, please” I responded with a curious smile and the willingness of a puppy.  Then she gestured that we head to my room.

She offered me a cigarette and while the coffee percolated, we sat on the edge of the bed and talked.  As we talked, her lips got closer and closer, where almost no choice but one remained.  I leaned forward passed up her lips and kissed her neck instead.  Then slowly I placed my hand on her lower back.  She stood up and backed away from me, as my mind began to fill with questions.  Did I misread her?  Then slowly she took off one article of clothing after another until she was standing there in her birthday suit, waiting for me to touch her again.  Well that’s a green light.  I could get out of my close fast enough.  She must have enjoyed the expression on my face, knowing what power she had over me.  It was like she had cast a spell and wrapped her net around me without the slightest to struggle.  I drank in every curve, how her breasts lead into her nipples, the length of her legs, her lips.  What a beautiful creation.  I lost myself in the moment.  Only the smell of burnt coffee pulled me back into reality.  I woke up with her along side of me.  I sat up in the bed while she was still sleeping, a tug a war going on in my head.  I kissed her and said goodbye.  It didn’t occur to me until I was on a train heading out of town, that I didn’t even know her name.

Circular trails around the North Star, soaking in the darkness
to the edge of the night, never far, from where my soul confessed
here the world end and extends, unspoiled by the hands of another

I’m already torn and cannot pretend, they have failed to waken my lover
the red beneath the rose, the cheek and the sweetness within, the stars look down and knows
where the finger prints begins