Afterword

Coming home to the farm in Småland

Can you imagine us years from today

Sharing a parkbench quietly

How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,

Silently sharing the same fears

Paul Simon

The night's flight from Washington to Copenhagen goes smoothly for Kurt. He pays many visits to the toilet, but the pain relieving pills cause him to endure and the antibiotic helps the bladder feel a bit better. The airplane lands at Kastrup, the Copenhagen Airport, early in the morning, and Kurt takes the train over the Öresund bridge to south Sweden. He is a bit surprised that the ID control is so sloppy and suspects that it is because he looks so Scandinavian.

At home in the province Småland, a mate picks him up at the railway station and drives him home to the farm. When Kurt arrives at the farm already at noon, his wife is at work and tries to cure patients with pain in the body or the soul.

Actually, Kurt is really tired after only sleeping one of the last three nights. In addition, he has felt depressed by his painful urinary tract infection. At times he feels to go to bed and sleep, but decides that sleep is overrated. There is a lot to deal with in addition to packing up and running some washing machines.

In the mailbox he finds an envelope from the urologist reception. It contains a call for a surgical procedure, a planer of the prostate’s inside, five days later. Kurt draws a deep sigh of relief. It would be so nice to get rid of the two daily catheters. Then he realizes he has to cure his urinary tract infection before the surgeon can enter and plane the prostate.

He calls directly to the urologist and gets a time early tomorrow to check the infection.

Then he goes out into the forests to see what the last storm was about, to feel the smells of the moss and the trees, his moss and his trees. It turns out that most of the devastation from the autumn storm is fixed, so he goes home and starts preparing a real American dinner for his wife, who is expected to be home at 7 PM.

Then Kurt plans to serve bean burgers, French fries and APA, American pale ale. He finds what he needs as a semi-finished product in the freezer and starts cooking. He is making the table and is wondering if he can find a dessert. Yes, he finds a frozen apple pie and an opened packet of ice cream. He feels "as American as apple pie".

When everything is under control, he sits down and goes through the rest of the collected mail. Much is addressed advertising from various help organizations. Most of the time it goes straight into paper recycling. Kurt and his wife are generous monthly donors and are not usually interested in temporary mailings. Just a few of his favorite magazines lure him to read.

Kurt looks forward to telling his wife about his trip. He has sent daily reports to her, but there is still so much more to tell. Soon, the wife will also retire and Kurt looks forward to traveling together.

Where will their first trip together go? Japan maybe? Or Australia?

Another thing he is looking forward to is to hear his wife’s south Swedish dialect again. In the United States, everyone has pronounced his name with an American r and a long u sound, Kuurt. Now he thinks it will feel homely to hear his wife call him Kutt without an r in the way people speak in this part of the world.

He calls his daughters and tells them that he has come home to the farm and everything is fine. They have followed him closely on Facebook so they do not have so many questions. He also calls the grandson as he skyped with the other night. They discuss what they can do together to improve school. Kurt feels enthusiastic and looks forward to a fun and meaningful collaboration with the grandchild.

It takes long before his wife comes home. She never wants to leave the health center until the waiting room is empty. This day is the peak season for flu-like illnesses as well as for hypochondria or health anxiety as it is called nowadays

Kurt rises to go for a beer. On the way between the kitchen sofa and the fridge is as if someone presses a button. Everything is not only black at all. Instead, his consciousness disappears forever.

Kurt falls dead on the floor.

The autopsy later shows that he has died from a massive stroke.

At Kurt's funeral, only music by Neil Young is played. On the tombstone you can read, according to Kurt's own wishes, "It is better to burn than to fade away" from a famous song by Neil Young. The widow would have liked to write "Do you believe me now?" on the gravestone to mark that Kurt was not the hypochondriacal he was sometimes accused of by some relatives.

Kurt’s ashes are expected to be under the tombstone. In reality his widow has spread it illegally in his forests. She knew that it was what he wanted and managed to empty the ashes from the urn when nobody was looking, and slipped the ashes into her handbag. Because the officially grazed urn should not be completely empty, she replaced the ashes with Kurt's own roasted muesli.

The widow see it as a kind of civil disobedience that does not hurt anyone else.

Kurt has also received a large digital gravestone on Facebook. The widow has left Kurt there, even though she knows his password and could close his account. She thinks he would like it to be a forum for all his friends to tell funny stories about Kurt.

His Facebook page was filled soon after his death by the same texts: RIP Kurt Andersson. Thanks for everything Kurt. Many have also been more personal.

Gunnar, an old gritty neighbor who is a Sweden Democrat, has long been annoyed that Kurt has argued both for a generous refugee policy and a higher tax on diesel. Gunnar writes on Facebook something that suggests that he wants Kurt to burn in hell.

The widow enters his Facebook and answer in the name of Kurt:

"Here it is really warm, about 30 degrees, and the sun is shining around the clock. Every day, we choose between three dishes, one Italian, one Indian and one Lebanese. All wines are organic and we always get a glass of liquor with the coffee. I have internet access so I listen to and watch Neil Young on YouTube every day.

In my dayroom I have met many exciting people: Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy, Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Edith Piaf, John Lennon and more.

Another good thing here in heaven is that I feel young and horny again. I have met many nice women who seem serious, smart and sweet.

I feel comfortable.

Gunnar! God greets you that, despite being a grumpy old man, you may also be welcome here. Though you have to be prepared to hang out with people from all nationalities. If you persist to drive your dirty diesel car you will end up downstairs.

Love! Kurt”

The widow laughs when she is publishing this last post from Kurt. She knows he would have liked it.

Facts about Småland

• Småland is a province situated in southern Sweden. The area is than Israel and has more than 750,000 inhabitants.

• Småland is a forest landscape and an important part of the industry is connected to wood.

• Småland was the cradle of the worldwide furniture chain Ikea. The creator Ingvar Kamprad was born here.

• Many famous authors have come from Småland. Astrid Lindgren who wrote the books about Pippi Longstocking is one example. The Nobel Prize winner Pär Lagerkvist is another.  
• Linnéuniversitetet in Växjö and Kalmar has about 32,000 students. Jönköping University has 11,000 students.

Read more at www.visitsweden.com/smaland