Edith’s eyes filled with tears, and she turned away from the deserted world to go into the house. She hadn’t bought cigarettes after all. She didn’t want to smoke. She had just hoped that she would meet someone, anyone she could talk to, and in whose eyes she could see herself: Edith Jørgensen, married to assistant professor Klaus Jørgensen, mother to three children, transplant to the city, but still accepted due to her friendly disposition – or was she accepted? No one really knows the impression they make on others, and likewise, Edith couldn’t say what impact others had on her. It wasn’t anything a person really needed to think about, as long as one had a husband. And she did still have one, since they were still married. But her husband – she walked quietly through the rooms so as not to wake the children, sat in the recliner next to the telephone, and stared into the living room without focussing on anything particular – her husband was in love with another woman, and at that moment – nine-fifteen p.m. – he might be saying to her: You have to be patient. It will take some time. I have to consider my wife and kids. No, he said: I have to consider Edith and the kids. Since they had known each other so long, it would have been natural for them to use her name.

Edith was cold, but she was too tired to get the heater, too tired for anything, even for driving away unsettling thoughts. It was like this every night, and the only thing that helped was taking two sleeping pills. They worked on her like a narcotic, and in the hour or so it took before she fell asleep, she was always feverishly occupied with preparing for the practical arrangements the divorce would bring. But they didn’t really interest her all that much. It would work out; she could save money if she had to, which actually was necessary at the moment. Klaus had said that she could have things the way she wanted them, and that everything would be arranged so she and the kids wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Everyone must think he’s so great! She thought this without bitterness, but also without thinking that he was ‘great’ herself. That wasn’t what she was worried about. She could return to her work with no problem and they wouldn’t be dependent on him at all.