News
of a Death
A
friend of mine had died. He was from the Arabic countries but had
lived in Finland for quite some time. According to the news he had
become depressed, then locked himself in his apartment, and eventually
killed himself.
I
hadn't been in contact with my friend. Maybe he'd been lonely in Helsinki.
Possibly he'd still be alive if I had visited or called him some time.
Thinking
about my Arab friend I got an impression that his spirit was in the
room. Maybe right then he was standing next to me? I felt the chills
in my bones, so I stepped out of the room and seeked the company of
my family.
They
were in the midst of a planning session, outlining a sailing trip
to the South-Western archipelago. Janna and Ilona were already on
their way to the city centre to buy some food. Jussi sat on the table
and studied the navigation routes.
I
was still disturbed about the news of my friend. The thing bothered
me so much that I was full of restless energy which got packed into
my body. The energy didn't find an outlet, so I started rising upwards.
"Is
this normal?" I asked my brother. He turned his head and looked
up. "Come down!" he said. "What on earth are you doing
up there in the ceiling?"
I
descended. The surplus of energy had become discharged.
It
was 1:30 p.m. We were in a hurry if we wanted to go sailing today.
My parents had already been shopping, but Janna and Ilona were missing.
After
a short search, we found them in a smoke sauna. This was in the outskirts
of the city in an old farm house. They were sitting outside, cooling
off, and were about to go back in, when my father shouted, "There's
no time for sauna now. Let's go!"
Ilona
started crying. Janna protested loudly, "We have the right to
go to sauna. It's not fair that we never have time to do anything
properly. There must be an end to this kind of tyranny. You'd better
pay attention to what you're doing!"
There
was nothing to be done but to suit ourselves to the situation. We
sat in the car and waited for the sauna-goers to be finished.
