Chapter 10: Signs in the Night of Vik

Chapter 10: Signs in the Night of Vik

The kitchen of the cottage was filled with the comforting aroma of fresh dough and garlic browned in olive oil. Stretching the pasta with my own hands was a therapeutic process; Each movement released the tension accumulated in my shoulders. I cooked slowly, enjoying the process, savoring the aroma of the mussels and clams opening in the pan.

When it was ready, I served the steaming dish, uncorked the white wine and went out to the terrace. The cold of the night was imposing, but the thermal jacket protected me well. Before I sat down, I hung the new light bulb in the center of the wooden porch and turned it on. Its warm and intimate light bathed the space, creating a small beacon of peace in the midst of Vik's gloom.

I sat down to eat. The pasta was perfect and the white wine had just the right acidity to cleanse the palate after each bite of the sea. It was my dinner, my space, my triumph.

Halfway through the meal, I remembered the promise of the supermarket. I put the cutlery aside, took the wine glass in my hands, and approached the edge of the wooden railing to observe the few cabins that dotted the shoreline, separated by distance and rocks. The landscape was plunged into almost total darkness, ruled by the roar of the Black Sea.

Then, in the distance, in one of the huts built higher up on the hillside, the miracle happened.

A light began to turn on and off rhythmically. A blink. Two blinks. Three blinks. It was a clear sign of light that cut through the night. Then the light stood still, revealing the silhouette of a man standing on his terrace, holding a glass aloft in my direction.

I felt a rush of pure emotion in my stomach. I wasn't crazy, I hadn't imagined it. On the other side of the darkness, he was keeping his word. I raised my glass of white wine into the distance, letting the light from my new lamp illuminate my silhouette so he would know he had understood the message. Miles away from the hell of my divorce, between two illuminated terraces at the end of the world, Norway's cold didn't feel so lonely anymore.