Waiting at the Airport
I am looking at the faces of people I might never have seen. They are sitting across from us as we wait to board a flight to Bergen. These three happen to be young and beautiful, with clear and luminous skin, as if they wash themselves in waterfalls and sunlight. One is a very blonde woman with deep-set blue eyes and red lipstickked lips. She's wearing summer pants with a flower print, silver chains, and sneakers, and she and her companions are speaking Norwegian but she's reading a book, in English, on how to be a vegan. I idly look up a Norwegian phrase or two but hope it's true that nearly everyone in Norway speaks English. In two hours we'll be there, as far north as I have ever been. We'll see how it all unfolds.