The November project 2019, part 12

In one second, everything can change. In one second, your world is put out of place, ends up upside down, is smashed in pieces or suddenly golden. In one second, someone scratches out the third of the same value and wins a million dollars. In one second, someone’s heart stops. In one second, the message icon shows up on the screen and the person you were just hoping would message you, just did. In one second, you drop the ring and see it fall into the sewers.    On a day in late December, a day one would rather stay at home on Christmas break until the middle of January, Pernilla was sitting in her car on her way home from work. At an intersection she only one vehicle in front of her – a man on a bright yellow scooter – but the line was going for miles behind her. The radio was playing the hit of the last month for the thirty-twelfth time, bored out of her mind she tapped along on the steering wheel. The sun had already set, but at least there was no rain.    Sometimes, one hears about car accidents. About collisions, people driving off the road, drunk drivers, and one thinks that these things never happens to oneself. These things don’t happen on a normal afternoon during rush hour when everything moves at the pace of a snail, and the weather under the circumstances is fine, no ice on the road. But maniacs and idiots are everywhere.    In one second, Pernilla saw the man on the yellow scooter get hit by a black Lexus. It came from the right – their side had got red light, but the driver seemed to have ignored that since it came on in full speed. The man flew in one direction, the scooter another. That second felt like an eternity, but hit right in the guts.    Pernilla knew better than just staying in the car and staring, even if she was shocked. At once, she ran out to the man to see how bad he was hurt – he had ended up in an unhuman position and blood was running in a thin stream from his forehead, but he was still conscious. But it was on the edge.    “Johanna…”    “You! Call an ambulance. Did anyone see the license plate on that car?” “Hi honey, it’s me… I’m gonna be late today. I don’t how much. There was a man getting hit by a car right in front of me… it was insane, there was a car coming in full speed, just like that. Yeah and then he drove away! Not a single bit of responsibility. I know right? But anyway, I’m thinking that I’ll stay with him here at the hospital until his family gets here. Maybe longer, we’ll see. But you guys will be fine, right? Okay, love you. Bye.” “Excuse me ma’am, are you Pernilla Schultz? Hi, Mona Johansen, M.D. Jonas is stable now, we’re just waiting for him to wake up. He seems to be getting along fine. Are you family of his?”    “So far, I guess… no, actually, I’m just the woman who was in the car behind him when the accident happened, I took care of him while we were waiting for the ambulance. I’m a nurse myself down at a heath care center so I know what to do. But I don’t know him at all. He mentioned a Johanna though, right before he went unconscious. Maybe that’s his wife?”    “Johanna? That muse be someone else, his wife’s name is Elizabeth according to what we’ve found. Maybe it’s a daughter?”    “Maybe. At least it’s someone important to him.”    “Yeah, it must be.” An hour or so passed before Elizabeth showed up. A fur coat, but with panic in the puffy eyes, the hair somewhat ruffled. You could see she was a fine lady usually; that few things could make the surface crack. Few things – but this was one of them.    Calmed down by the doctor’s words, she sat down. Pernilla gently presented herself was met with great thankfulness in the blank eyes. A tightly squeezed hand.    “I was thinking… I’m wondering something. This might screw things up completely, and it’s definitely not my intention to upset you even more, but he said one single word right after the accident, a name. And it wasn’t yours. Unless your middle name is Johanna though. Do you know any Johannas?”    Elizabeth looked like she didn’t understand the question at first. “Johanna…?”    “Yeah, we were thinking if she was a daughter or so?”    “No, we only have a son… but, what, Johanna?” Elizabeth now looked puzzled instead. Seemed to think so hard her head would burst.      “Maybe she’s what we feared she’d be… that he had a… mist-”    “No, wait. He didn’t have an affair if that’s what you think. None that I know of at least. But I know who Johanna is now.”    A pause.    “He’s a gadget geek. He has a habit of naming his expensive gadgets. Both real names and nicknames. We have a boat called Jolene, or the America schooner. His camera is called Astrid, or the Moth. Johanna – that was his scooter. Also called the Banana because of the color.”    “The scooter…”    “Do you know if it survived the crash, Pernilla?”    “Well… I could say this: Jonas has come out of this in way better shape than Johanna has.”    “Oh… oh dear, he’s not gonna like hearing this. He loved that piece of junk.” In one second, everything can change. In one second, your is put out of place and ends up upside down. In one second an unknown Johanna goes from being wife to daughter to mistress – and in one second it turns out she wasn’t even a person at all, but a scooter. In one second, a scooter can take a hit to the side and soar through the air. In one second, it can burst into flames. And in what feels like just a couple of seconds, those flames will swallow everything that once were. banana scooter