1664

"Where was your mother's father", asks Erik. "My grandfather died when we were seven but he was quite wealthy and left his family a generous annuity. In the meantime, my mother married the same young man who had led her to the beach house, who also insisted that he was not our father, but that his identity must remain a secret. Mother did everything in her power to get out of this arrangement, but her hands were tied. She was sixteen when we were born, and Sweden back in that era was a velry patriarchal society. But when I was three, something very odd happened, and that is also the first thing I ever remembered from childhood. His face is still engraved n my mind, though I have had a number of meetings with him over the years. A teenage boy, very beautiful, with dark golden hair and green eyes..." "Dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans", say I. "Yes, you know him." "The teenage Jesus", says Carl. "How did you come to know him", says Stella, her face rapt with wonder... "How do you know this" says Jesús. "Tell me what you are feeling right now." "Very strange." "Strange in what way", says Carl. "Like I'm in a dream. Like I am waking out of a dream." Now we are all staring stupidly at the empty chair where Jesús, up until this very moment, had been sitting. "Adiós querido Jesús", says Stella...