But Robert, who is holding open a taxi door for Linnea right now, doesn’t know all that and he feels the drag of air around her as she passes him and sits down in the taxi, a faint scent of mild soap or shampoo. He gets in and says, the Glyptotek, to the taxi driver. The Glyptotek, the taxi driver repeats slowly, what’s the address? It surprises Robert that a taxi driver in Copenhagen doesn’t know the Glyptotek. Um, let me see, he says, and looks in his briefcase for a tourist brochure. Dantes Plads 7, Robert says. Hmm? says the taxi driver, and Robert shows him the address in the brochure. Okay, says the taxi driver, and starts the car. New, the taxi driver explains, pointing to himself. Aha, Robert says. Where are you from? he asks. Japan, the taxi driver says. Aha, Robert replies.
* * *
Then no one says anything for a while. Linnea sits and looks out the window. He feels his heart hammering. It’s getting closer, the time when he has to say what he’s got to say. How to start? Maybe he could start with another subject? Japan! It hits him. That’s the perfect starting point. Did you know, he says to Linnea as they drive through the streets of Copenhagen, that four tectonic plates meet in Japan? And that’s why there are so many earthquakes there. There’s a lot of tension between the plates, they don’t fit seamlessly together but kind of butt into each other, so there’s a buildup of pressure, and when this gets too much, it’s released and triggers an earthquake. Hmm, says Linnea. Naturally, she doesn’t realize that Robert has thought of using this earthquake metaphor about his own feelings, about his inner tremors and the problem with the film. Like hope, Robert thinks, and reality, which grind against each other. He’s glad to have found such a fantastic metaphor, he who’s normally no good with metaphors. Is that not true, he asks the driver, leaning forward, that Japan is on top of four plates … and the driver smiles but obviously hasn’t understood, that Japan, Robert says, and identifies Japan as a point up in the air, and then indicates below this point, on top of, Robert continues, and at the bottom point, he flattens his hands out and tries to simulate tectonic plates meeting, moves his hands back and forth, aaa, says the driver, kung fu! Yes, kung fu, yes, the driver says. Chinese, he says.