We didn't speak for the longest time. Jannik was
engrossed in the flight manual he found in the seat pocket,
and I was still feeling sore from the residual adrenaline left
over from the rescue. Sander whispered something in
Jannik's ear and the boy brightened and nodded his head.
He unsnapped his seat belt and Sander pulled him onto
his lap. Then they stared transfixed out the window, both
alone in their thoughts. It was their moment to share.
I glanced out my window and thought about how
different this day could have been, and quickly quashed
that line of negative thinking. Our family was whole again,
and that's what mattered most.
"Johnnie!" came the squeaky little voice. I turned to
see Jannik and Sander looking at me. Jannik held out his
hand. I took his hand in mine and scooted into the seat
next to them. Now it was all full circle, and we had
triumphed over the evil happenings that had tried so hard
to destroy our serenity. We'd won.
"I love you, Johnnie, wery mush and you and
brother has to be for me always, okay?" Jannik declared.
"No worries ever about that, right Pokes?" I said.
Sander gave his brother a squeeze and we sat back and
enjoyed the moment as the helicopter chased the sun
home.
"LOOK! IT'S ODENSE DOWN THERE!" Jannik exclaimed.
"I think we is home wery soon."
"I think you're right, cowboy," Sander said. "You
must sit in your chair and put your seat belt on." A couple
of minutes later came the welcome sound of the landing
gear dropping and locking into place. And just as quickly,
the runway and taxiway lights of Odense's Hans Christian
Andersen airport appeared below. The copter kissed the
landing pad, and the door opened as the blades whirled to
a stop. And there they were. Not just Mama and Pop, but
sister, grandma, grandpa, assorted cousins—shit! It's Uncle
Ole!—and of course the media was there. This was a big
story anywhere, but in Odense it was massive.
Three policemen walked to the chopper door and
formed a little protection cadre around us, and the second
she caught sight of her boys, Magda broke through the
barrier and said Fuck it! I'm gonna hug my kid! Yep. We
were home, and the Family Hansen had come out in force
to prove it.
The short drive to the Hansen house resembled a
motorcade, what with all the relatives and news people
following.
A funny incident occurred when Niels pulled into a
gas station to fill the tank and all of the cars behind us
followed him in. But we were the only ones getting gas,
and the kid working the cash window was confused when
we pulled out and all of the others did too, none stopping
at the pumps for gas.
Soon we were home, and everybody piled into the
house. Magda even invited the news crews in, and it soon
turned into a party. We stayed up until well past three,
and by the time the night was over there were no strangers
amongst us. The news folk were our new friends, and
Mama and Pop said we could all sleep in as long as we
wanted to.
Pokey and me went up to his old room, and we
instantly fell asleep in each others' arms. I'd never fallen
asleep so fast. To think that morning we were in the
Shithole of Murmansk, and tonight we were in our own
beds kind of fucked with our heads a little bit. But it was
truly amazing.
When we woke up a third musketeer had joined us.
He'd snuck in sometime in the night, and he was splayed
all over, each limb pointed in a different direction. Jannik
was fast asleep and was in no danger of waking up any
time too soon. I smiled at Sander and he just turned on his
side and watched his little brother sleep.
"I can't believe he's really here."
"I know."
"You were right," he said. "You said we'd get him
back and we did. You did."
"We all did. Truth be told, it was Marge and
Signe who really did it," I told him. "I don't know what we
would've done without those two."
"How can anybody be so hateful, you know?"
Sander asked. "I mean, first some people were hurt and
Why do they do this?"
"Your guess is better than mine," I admitted. "I
don't know what the purpose of meanness is. What do
people get from doing bad things to other people? I don't
know. I just don't."
Sander gathered his thoughts, pausing to gaze out
the skylight. The rain had moved on, so it was a puffy
cloud day; a perfect day for being together, for doing
something. But all any of us wanted to do was to stay right
where we were.
"The thing what makes me worry now is I don't
want Jannik to make his heart hard, you know? He is so
much a kind and sweet boy, and I don't want this to make
him be hard to others and to himself," Sander explained.
"He needs to stay who he is, and I think maybe I am scared
that he won't."
"Well, he's gonna grow up. Especially now. But I
don't think anything could change who he is, Pokey. That
one is special, and I think it'll take more than a stupid
Russian and his loser Arabs to change Jannik."
"I am hoping you are right, of course. And you
probably are. But I want to make for sure that my mother
and father watch for if he has any changes that aren't so
good," Sander said.
"You know they will. So will Ingrid. And both of
us," I pointed out. "That kid has a thousand eyes on him,
and nine hundred of 'em belong to angels. He's protected."
"What is it you two boys is talk about?" Jannik
asked, his eyes closed.
"How long a time have you listened to us?" Sander
asked.
"Long enough. I hear all. I see all. I am Jannik the
Great."
Sander shook his head. "Well, he's back."
Chapter 12
human being's capacity for resilience is fascinating
to me. I once had the opportunity to talk with a
A Jewish woman who had survived both the
Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps, and she told me that within a week after regaining her strength, the
first thing she did was go to a movie.
Jannik fell right back into the rhythm of his life and
was soon playing with friends and asking to go to town, or
to game online with his mates. It was good to see, but there
was something different about him. Sander noticed that
his fuse was shorter than usual concerning small stuff that
didn't matter, but that the things that should matter, didn't.
As long as I had known Jannik I'd never seen him
display a foul temper, but one afternoon, when I drove
him into town, he went ballistic when I passed the store he
wanted to go to, and then he berated me on the quick and
dirty parking job I did.
Magda was beside herself. She told Niels one night
&nb
sp; that the boy sleeping upstairs was not the same boy who'd
gone to the duty free store with his brothers that Saturday
morning. And Ingrid was heartbroken.
He was kind of her favorite, and while he was
never nasty towards her, he showed little affection and
deflected her many attempts to engage him in
conversation. Something had to be done, but what?
Then came Sander. It was like Jannik was glued to
him. He even wanted to sit with him in the bathroom
when he went for a shower. Jannik would plant himself on
the closed toilet lid and talk, talk, talk. It didn't matter
what about; some of the most inane conversations
happened between them in those strange days. I was at the
library one morning when my phone rang.
"Johnnie it's Pokey."
"I know. You know how I know? Because I can see
your pretty picture looking back at me and the ringtone is
our song," I chuckled.
"Where are you right now?" he asked.
"The central library. Why?"
"The transport section?"
"You know me so well," I joked.
"Can you stay there please until I am there? I very
much need to be talking to you about what is important.
And so will you stay?"
"What do you think?" I smiled into the phone. He
knew the answer anyway.
"Okay, I'll be there in twenty minutes and I'll tell
you. Maybe we can go for lunch and I will pay for the
foods, and so can talk with you about it, okay?"
"Love you. See you," was my reply. And I headed
downstairs to the curb to wait for my totally cute and sexy
driver to pick me up and whisk me off for a two hour
lunch date.
"THANKS FOR CHANGING YOUR DAY because I really
need you right now, Johnnie," Sander began. We had
chosen Målet for lunch, one of Odense's tastiest restaurants
with a kind of sports pub theme.
"I am very, very
worried about Jannik, and so I have idea which I think is
good but I want to, uh, to make a talk with you about it,"
he said.
"Yeah, of course. What are you thinking?"
"He is not the way he usually is, I think we can
agree, yes?" Sander stated. "He worries me and I know he
worries you, too, because I see in your face that he does."
"I know," I agreed. "So what are you thinking?"
"I think he shall see a doctor who can help.....
maybe help him with what happened. I think he shall see
a—well, in Danish is call a psykiater," Sander explained.
"Psychiatrist."
"Yes, that's the one. He must, because he'll have to
deal with what happened, and if he waits too long, maybe
his life go bad or maybe he feel—damn, I hate when I can't
think of the word on English!" Sander said. "So I say in
Danish... Maybe he feel deprimeret, you know?
Deprimerit—sad all time."
"Depressed, I think. Yeah?"
"Yes! That the one! Depress. So do you think I am
wrong for this?" he asked.
"Nope. I agree one thousand percent. What will
your mom and dad say?"
"They will do what I say. This I can promise. When
it come to Jannik, they know I have special forbindelse.
Damn! You know... Together like one?" Sander explained.
"Like special communicate?"
"No, I get it. And yes, I think you do. I'm sure
Ingrid will agree, too. So next we have to talk with the
little guy," I said. "How do you think he'll take it?"
"If I say, and if you say, and if we promise him that
it will help him, he will do it. This I know."
"Then let's pick him up after school and talk with
him. Done deal," I said.
He smiled at me with a relief that I couldn't really
grasp. I mean, why would he even worry about what I
think? This was his brother we were discussing, and at the
end of the day no one had to tell Sander Lars Hansen what
he needed to do on Jannik's behalf. He always had his
brother's best interests at heart, but I was touched that he
would consider what I had to say. And besides, who
would have ever disagreed with such a pointed and
proper plan of action? Bottom line, the kid needed help
and Pokey was gonna see that he got it.
"Do we have time for lunch, then?" I asked him.
"We can just get something on the fly and take it with us.
He gets out in, what, about an hour from now?"
"No, we has time and like I say before, is my treat. I
pay the ticket and we have a good steak or schnitzel. So
let's enjoy this time together, and then we fix Jannik and
make everything good again, Johnnie boy!"
"SANDER! SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!" said the school's
office manager when we approached her counter in the
central lobby. "You were always my favorite, you know,"
she smiled.
"You say that to all the kids," Sander teased. "I
know your tricks, Lotte."
"No! I mean it. You were always so sweet, and
never gave me any trouble."
"That you know about!" Sander laughed.
"Oh!" she grinned. "So what can I help you with?"
"We're here to collect Jannik, and we wondered if
you could send a note to his class so he'll come meet us
here instead of go home," Sander asked.
"Better than that, here's a pass," she said, scribbling
on a pink pad, "because I know Jytte would love to see her
favorite student! You can sit with them for the last half
hour and then he can leave with you after, no problem."
"Same room?"
"Same room!" she said. "You know the way."
I followed Pokey through the halls, taking note of
the cute little art projects and decorations the children had
posted all around the school. This felt like a happy place,
and I was a little envious of it when I compared it to my
own middle school years.
The students were polite to
one another, and the teachers appeared to genuinely listen
and care what they had to say. The fact that it was so
evident that one could size up the situation in minutes
proved the point. The parents were definitely getting their
tax-money's-worth. These kids were truly being educated.
"Sander Hansen, you are all grown up!" said Jytte
Carlsen when he entered the classroom. "Jannik, it's your
brother!"
"Hello, Jytte. This is Johnnie. He's American but he
lives—"
"I know exactly who he is! We are all so happy to
meet you, Johnnie! People, this is Jannik's brother and his
man, Johnnie, who we saw in the newspaper and on the
television. Sander was my student for four years, and I am
so proud of him!"
"Thank you, Jytte. Uh, Lotte gave me this so we can
collect Jannik after class."
"Sure! Sure! Can you share a little about what
happened last month? It's not every day that we have two
real heroes visit Marie Jørgensen's Skole!"
"Really, it is Johnnie who helped. You can ask him,
but I was just there waiting for Jannik when they brought
him out," Sand
er explained.
"If it's not too much trouble?" she asked, shooting
me a little smile. I spent a couple of minutes regurgitating
everything that had already been reported in the news,
making sure to edit out the terrifying aspects that Jannik
had experienced. But that did the trick anyway. And both
Sander and I could see that Jannik felt important seeing his
big brother and me visiting the class. The bell came soon
enough and we helped Jannik gather his coat and his
books and made our way to Pokey's car.
"It was wery big surprise to have you at the class!"
Jannik enthused. "I think sometime maybe some are not
believing what happen even if it in the news, because some
just are like that," he said. "But now they know because
you are there!"
"It was nice to visit everyone," Sander said with a
gentle smile. "You have a very nice class I think."
"They're okay. But why do you come to get me? I
always walk home, you know..."
"Well because Johnnie and me want to take you to
our place for the weekend and have a really important talk
with you. If that's okay with you," he said.
"Oh yes, of course. Do we have to go to my house
first?"
"Nope. Mama and Pop knows you are with us. And
you have plenty of things to wear there and plenty of
things to play with, so we're ready to go!"
"Okay! The Olsen Band is together again! I'll be
Egon!" Jannik laughed, referring to the long-running
comedy film series about the exploits of the dunderheaded
Olsen family of crooks. Watching those films, you'd have
to recognize the similarities between the crazy characters
and our very own Uncle Ole.
"Did you know that the Queen comes here on
Saturday in her big white ship?" Jannik informed us. "It's a
very pretty boat and she has some wiener dogs and Prince
Henrik got really fat and he's old. Can you believe it?"
"Really? And how do you know all of this?" Sander
asked as we arrived at the car.
"Oh, we learn she comes in her ship at school, and
they give us little flags to wave if we go and see her. And I
see Prince Henrik in Billed Bladet and he looks like a big,
French balloon. He has a wine castle in France, did you
know this? I think he maybe drinks too much of it," Jannik
declared.
"Well, aren't you just the little journalist," Sander
teased. "If I want to know anything about anything, I'll see