The Reunion

‘Yes, exactly.’ I take a banana and gesture towards her with it. ‘That is exactly what it is like.’

‘What’s it got to do with then?’ Jeanine asks. ‘Or have you forgotten that too?’

I snap off the top of the banana and slowly peel it. There it is again, that spark, the memory that surfaces. I sit frozen, stare at a framed print on the wall and then it has gone again. I eat the banana, frustrated.

Jeanine hasn’t noticed a thing. ‘I’ve forgotten so much of the past,’ she says.

‘I have told you about Isabel haven’t I?’ I say.

‘Yes.’

‘I get the impression that I might know what happened to her.’

Jeanine stares at me. ‘But they never found her, did they? How can you know what happened to her?’

‘That’s just it,’ I sigh. ‘That is what I am trying to remember.’

That night I sleep badly again. I wake up with a mind full of confusing dreams, dreams about the past, about school. When I’m fully awake, I can’t remember any of the details. The only thing that remains is Bart’s smiling face, close to mine, and the deep sound of his voice in my ears. Bart, my first real love, the first and the only boy I’ve slept with. I haven’t seen him since school. I can’t remember ever having dreamt about him before. Why is the past pursuing me so relentlessly?

‘I’ve got a suggestion.’ RenÉe comes in to the office, takes off her coat and places a large pink piggy bank on her desk. ‘I’ve discussed it with Walter and he agrees with me. Too much paper is wasted on typos. Often the mistakes would have been found if you’d read over your work again. We all make mistakes occasionally, but recently the paper bin has been getting really full.’

She so deliberately avoids looking in my direction that I know who is being held responsible.

‘If we were to put ten cents in the piggy bank for each wasted sheet of paper, we could use the money to pay for our Friday afternoon drinks. What do you all think?’ She looks around expectantly.

I can’t believe it. I’ve got a headache and have been keeping an eye out for Olaf. It would be handy if something small could go wrong with my computer, but the PC starts up just fine.

‘Hmm, yeah,’ Zinzy says.

I met her for the first time this morning and she seemed quite nice. She’s small, dark, very delicate, but in one way or another able to stand up to RenÉe.

‘I think it’s a good idea,’ says Margot, who types the fewest letters. ‘A lot of paper is thrown away.’

‘Why don’t you all have a think about it,’ RenÉe says.

I don’t agree, but I don’t feel like sticking my neck out. Zinzy doesn’t say anything else.

To escape RenÉe’s gaze, I swivel back to the screen and an email from Olaf pops up. Good morning, Sabine. It seems that your computer is working alright. Pity!

A smile spreads across my face. I immediately send him a message back: It is a bit slower than normal.

It isn’t long before I get a reply. I’ll come and have a look. ASAP!

On my way to get a coffee, I bump into Olaf.

‘That was quick,’ I say, laughing.

We’re standing in the hall, looking at each other.

‘So, there is something wrong with your computer,’ begins Olaf, at the moment that I say, ‘What a bit of luck that you…’ I break off my sentence but Olaf gestures for me to continue.

‘What’s a bit of luck?’ he asks.

‘That you emailed when I was in the middle of thinking how slow my computer was.’ I walk over to the coffee machine. Olaf comes with me and leans against the kitchen unit.

‘That’s why I’m in IT. I can sense that kind of thing.’

‘Coffee?’ I ask.

‘Black.’

I place an empty cup in the machine. We make no move to go to the admin department.

‘Did you do anything good yesterday afternoon?’ Olaf asks as he takes his cup from the machine and puts one in for me.

I press ‘white coffee’.

‘I tried to clean the windows but stopped myself in time. After that I went to buy fake plants in the Bijenkorf, went up to the cash desk with them and took them back again. I was home just in time for The Bold and the Beautiful.’

Olaf laughs so hard that he spills coffee onto his shoes. RenÉe, who is just walking by, turns around. I step to the side so that Olaf blocks out her sour expression.

‘And what are your plans for this afternoon?’ he asks.

‘I’m going to Den Helder.’ I pick up the scorching plastic cup and blow into it.

‘Den Helder.’ He looks at me with interest. ‘What do you want to go there for?’

I shrug my shoulders and smile, but don’t answer.

‘Do your parents still live there?’ Olaf asks.

‘No, they emigrated to Spain five years ago.’

‘Oh yeah, you told me that yesterday. Not a bad move.’

‘It depends how you look at it. Robin is in London, my parents are in Spain…’

‘Ah, poor thing, so you’re left behind all on your own?’

Olaf puts his arm around my shoulders and leaves it there for a while. His arm feels like lead. It would be terrible to shake him off but that is my first impulse. The way he strokes my arm suggests a bond that isn’t there at all. Not yet. It could also be the first step towards something unthinkable. Is Olaf interested in me? Is that possible?

‘I must get back to work.’

‘But wasn’t your computer a bit slow?’ he says.

‘No slower than me, so it will be alright.’

Olaf stays in my thoughts for the rest of the morning. Every time someone comes in, I look up, and I keep thinking I can hear his voice. Every ten minutes I check for new mail. But, no, that was it for today, and now my uncertainty drives away the hopeful butterflies in my stomach.