10 Jul 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.
07/10 Kuopio, Finland
I darted around from one small town to another and eventually followed a young lady into Kuopio. She explained that she had been traveling in Germany for the past few weeks and was reuniting with her boyfriend that evening. We kinda hit it off and she went out of her way to call a few of her friends to see if they could accommodate me with a room. She found me a beautiful cottage alongside one of the many lakes. I understood the cottage was her parents or an Aunt but they, like most the folks this time of year, were away on holiday. After getting settled in, I took advantage of a rowboat tied to the dock in front of my room and meandered around the lake. I actually fell asleep for some time and had to paddle my way back. I spent the next day lounging around enjoying things at a slower pace. I must have looked out of place, because on two separate occasions a gentleman approached me and offered a cup of coffee for a conversation. They both were interested in what I thought about their country and the policies of my own. I know my media bears false witness with the tongue of a snake, opinion based news. Reagan, the anti-Christ? Give me a break. Anybody who pushed the envelope in the right direction gets criticized for trying to change things. They think why not? The truth won’t be known for years and they have no real accountability. Those were quite enlightening conversations and I loved the opportunity of being presented with different points of view outside my own circle of experience.
It was late in the afternoon, I ran out of things to do, so I wandered over to the train station to wait for a train departing for Helsinki. I was a couple of hours early, so I wandered down one of the platforms. I laid out my damp pants and we both took advantage of the sun. In the distance I heard an accordion play. It was apparent that the musician played the accordion to solicit spare change but this time he was off at the end of the platform playing just for himself. I laid back and baked in the sun, daydreaming to the music and the sound of a slight breeze. Then the most extraordinary thing happened and it all started with a smile. Across on the other platform, a group of girls began to gather. Every so often, when I looked up I saw that they had multiplied. It wasn’t long before there were about a dozen young ladies. I began to feel self conscious about lounging around like this and decided to relocate myself onto a bench. The accordion music still lingered in the back ground. As I glanced up and checked out the young ladies and from across the tracks my eyes met with those of an absolute angel, a beautiful young lady, by far the most beautiful of the group. Everything on the edges blurred, only her face was in focus. Like a couple of school kids, trying to remain unnoticed, yet, compulsively seeking each other’s attention, we continued to trade glances and an occasional smile was caught by the other, until our train arrived. I briefly watched their departure, with hugs and kisses goodbye. I wasn’t sure if it was a field trip or who was actually going to board the train, so I grabbed my gear and quickly made my way over to the same platform.
As I approached the train, I noticed that this beautiful angle was the only one from the group boarding the train. My timing was perfect. It was as if scripted. We both boarded opposite ends of the same train. We came down the corridor facing one another. Smiling, eyes not wavering from one another and we met halfway. I don’t recall either of us glancing through the window at the waving crowd. I removed the bags from her hands and placed them in the overhead bins. She waited for me to sit first and then she sat right up next to me. There was something unexplainable. Something I couldn’t put my finger on drew us together. I had a feeling that this was not where this had begun. I attempted to start a conversation but the combination of the language and her shyness forced us to seek other avenues of communication. I began running my fingers through her hair while I memorized her smile. She leaned toward me and we kissed. From that point on we both found it impossible to stop. It was as if she replaced something that was lost, something I was unaware I ever had. Without words or music, it was if we had been dancing like this for years. Across from the two of us was an elderly lady trying her best to ignore us, concentrating on her crocheting. She probably thought we were young lovers and would have never imaged that we had just met at this compartment’s door. We continued in each other’s arms petting and kissing the entire trip. It was undeniable that I wanted her but she could have been sixteen for all I knew. Like the many rivers that slowly flowed between those lakes, unfolding her beauty like an early spring painted in quite tender tints. She lay in my arms. I loved her. I knew inside that I loved her. In these thoughts I knew that she would be that piece of sand that will start a pearl in my heart, a soul mate. She watched my eyes while I sketched a poem for her. I asked her not to read it until after the train left the station.
So beautiful,
to see your eyes smiling, enchanting, such a view, yet closeness brings out shyness and I know that isn’t you,
or maybe it’s the language, not knowing what to say but it really, makes no difference, I know you anyway.
To speak is not important, to see, to know what’s real, to touch, to feel each other, to learn, that love is real
When we arrived at her destination I held her in my arms till the last possible moment. First a solitary tear and then she began to cry. It was a very special moment. So many thoughts ran through my mind, options, choices, past events, regrets, it was as if a dam had broken, “Who am I ……” As the train pulled out I sat there wondering what I had done. I felt emptiness, as if a piece that was lost and then found had been torn away. Left will a type of guilt that I had done this to myself.
Wrapped in silence, deep and still, an ear waiting on that somber voice
within the shadows arose a chill, came a vision to rejoice
Across the moonlight like angles sing, danced the sweetest harmony
what beauty, what passion brings, she touched my heart and set it free
From her hand the subtlest strokes, painted an ardent mood
and in that moment the silence broke and pierced thy inner solitude.
I arrived in Helsinki alone and empty. I made a reservation for a bed in the Olympic stadium, dropped off my bags and wandered about the city. It was a beautiful warm day and the parks were filled with sunbathers. I made it back by curfew but getting sleep was more difficult than I expected. They had issued numbers for beds and apparently they issued two numbers for my bed, just my bed. And I couldn’t get rid of the second guy. “Let’s see. Yes I have the correct number, my bags were here all day long and I’m sleeping in the bed. So logically it is you who were issued a wrong number, bye-bye”, bye-bye”, bye-bye!!” Get the hell out of here.
The weather was pretty much a carbon copy of the day before. I fell asleep in a park across from a graveyard and was woken up by a squirrel scampering across my chest, probably searching for food. I spend the last part of the day feeding birds adjacent to the station, waiting for a train to Turko. I planned on catching a ferry from there back into Sweden. When I arrived in Turko I hit up some food, a few beers, claimed a bench outside the hostel and caught up on some writing. Before it got too late I headed into town seeking some night life. I stopped a gentleman on the street and questioned if he knew a good place to have a beer. He explained he was on his way towards a cold beer and suggested I follow. He introduced me to his friends and I even won a few beers over darts. “You have to come and met my wife, she’s very beautiful” he requested, more than once. I forgot to leave a window cracked open at the hostel and needed to pay attention to the time so I reluctantly followed him to his apartment to meet his wife. She was unexpectedly large, very large. But it was evident that he was in love with her and he catered to her every move. Although it was very sweet, I kept looking for the opportunity to say goodbye. I had to be quick and run to make curfew.
