介绍:
April 5th, 2011, 05:43 a.m.
Subject: Emma
Dear Mr. Leike,
I find it hard to write you this message. I admit I am embarassed, more so with every line.
My name is Bernard Rothner.
Mr. Leike, I have a huge favour to ask of you. I will then try to explain my motives.
Mr. Leike, MEET MY WIFE. Please do it and bring this nightmare to an end.
At the moment you are not palpable, Mr. Leike. You are just her fatacy. You are fashioned out of words. Only when my wife can see you as she sees me as someone imperfect, only then can I compete with you on an equal footing.
Allow me to fill in some blanks for you. When we met, Emma was 23, and I was her piano teacher at the academy of music, 14 years her senior, happliy married with two kids. A car accident distroyed our family and my wife Johanna died. And then out of the blue, there was Emma, this sparkling gorgeous sassy young woman. The children ran straight to her and I feel head over heals in love with her. Two year later we got married. That was 8 years old, which made her 34 years old now by the way. Everyday that past I waited in fear for a younger man to appear, and Emma would say, "Bernard, I&`&ve fallen in love with somebody else." But a far worse nightmare has come to path, you, Mr. Leike. Ever since you arrived, as it were, Emma has been transformed. She&`&s distanced from me. She sits in her room for hours, staring at the computer screen, and when there is a smile on her face and it’s no longer for me. Do you know how much that hurts? So for my sins, I snooped around in Emma‘s room. Eventually in a secret drawer I found a folder, containing her entire correspondence with a certain Leo Leike, printed out, nice and crisp, pages and pages of it. In a fate of self-destruction I read through all the Emails last night. Let me tell you, since the death of my first wife I have experienced no greater torture.
And along come to my idea of self-humiliation. Please Mr. Leike, meet her, spend a night with her. I won’t think it as infidelity. Sleep with her, once. Let that be the commination, the coda of to the crescendo of passion you‘ve built up. Then, put a stop to it, release her, let our family continue to live. Just one final request Mr. Leike, don’t betray my confidence. I‘ve gone behind Emma‘s back and I could never look her in the eye again if she knew. She would hate herself and me in equal measure. And now I&`&m going to send the most excruciating letter I’ve ever writen.
Yours sincerely,
Bernard Rothner
Dear Mr. Rothner,
I don‘t know what to say. I’m shocked. You haven‘t just humiliated yourself. You’ve shamed all three of us. I need to think. I‘m going to draw back for a while. I can’t promise you anything.
Regards,
Leo Leike
Leo? Where are you? I haven‘t heard from you all day. Leo? Oh you have no idea how close I was to coming over last night, closer than I’ve ever been. Why don&`&t you write to me? Should I be worried?
Leo, two days! It‘s been two days! Leo, what’s wrong? Please, please write to me.
Your Emmi
April 8th, 2011, 10:47 p.m.
Subject: A Deal
Dear Mr. Rothner,
Let me propose a little deal. If I promise I won‘t say a word to your wife about your Email to me and how it came about, you have promise me that you will never again read her Emails to me, or mine to her.
Regards,
Leo Leike
Yes Mr. Leike, I promise. I’ve read too many things that I shouldn‘t have. And now may I repeat my request: will you meet my wife?
Mr. Rothner, I can‘t answer that. And even if I could, I wouldn’t.
Kind regards,
Leo Leike
April 9th, 2011, 06:05 a.m.
Subject: Another woman?
What’s her name Leo? Leo, is Marlina back again?
Hi Emmi, sorry I&`&ve not been in touch. You’ve got it all wrong. There‘s no body else. Just me. The last few weeks have worn me out. I need a break, a break from myself. I‘ll write again in a fews days. Promise.
Lots and lots of love,
Leo
Leo? I know you are not there. You are having a break from yourself. I wish I could. I&`&m having a drink with myself, a large whiskey. I’m so unhappy at the moment. And do you know why? Because you are not there. I‘ve fallen in love with you in a peculiar way, Leo. And I feel like I can’t live without you, not happily. Awful is it, but I love my husband too and the children. I wanted this family and no other, and I still do.
Thanks for listening.
I miss you so much.
All my love,
Emmi
Leo, It‘s been a whole week now. Not a word from the man on a break from himself. I realise that my Email the other night was verging on the painful. Was it too much for you Leo?
Longingly,
Emmi
April 13th ,2011, 01:13 a.m.
Subject: My last message.
Eight days. This is the last Email I’m going to send without hearing back. What you are doing to me is too harsh Leo. You can do anything you want except keep up the silence.
May 2nd, 2011, 08:02 a.m.
Subject: Counter-message
Dear Emmi,
It only took me a few hours to make a life-changing decision, but it has taken a little more time to tell you the consequences. In a few weeks, I will be moving to Boston for at least two years. I‘m going to be running a project at Boston University. I’ve also made another decision. Here it comes. I’m going to stop our Emails. I have to get you out of my head, Emmi. It can‘t be that you are the first and last thought I have each day for the rest of my life. You are spoken for. I&`&m certain your husband loves you. Emmi I’m shutting down. I‘m gonna say Goodbye.
Yours,
Leo
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