The Dinosaur Feather

leg and disappeared around the corner to the main car park.
    She decided to tell Johannes about the incident the next day, and to begin with he looked annoyed as though she had broken their tacit agreement not to discuss Helland, but then, to Anna’s huge surprise, he admitted that he, too, had noticed that Helland wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Johannes and Helland were working on a paper based on Johannes’s dissertation and, to be honest, Helland hadn’t displayed his usual professional acuity.
    All of a sudden Anna said: ‘And what’s that thing he’s got in his eye?’
    Johannes looked blank.
    ‘He’s got something in his eye,’ Anna said, pointing to the corner of her own right eye. ‘A small hard pouch of some kind. Do you think he’s ill?’
    Johannes shrugged. Anna had been unable to figure out if Helland really did have something wrong with his eye, because the only times she ever caught a glimpse of him was when he hurried down the corridor, inevitably leaving mayhem in his wake, roaring ‘morning!’ at the open door to their study before disappearing into the lift.
    Johannes bent over his keyboard again and Anna decided to drop the subject.
    Anna had moved to Copenhagen in 1999 when she was offered a place to read Biology at the university. Jens, her father, was already living there, and he had helped her find the flat inFlorsgade. Jens and Cecilie had divorced when Anna was eight. Anna had remained on the island of Fyn with her mother, in the village of Brænderup, just outside Odense, the largest city on the island. The village consisted of around fifty houses, the community was close-knit and it was a lovely place to grow up. For years Anna was uncertain as to when exactly her parents had split as Jens, like some hopeful suitor, never stopped visiting them. Anna knew it had been a source of friction to the girlfriends Jens dated after Cecilie; not that Jens and Anna spent much time discussing their feelings, but he had once remarked that it happened to be the case. His girlfriends resented that he would rather spend Christmas with Cecilie (and Anna), would rather go on holiday with Cecilie (and Anna), and never forgot Cecilie’s birthday (but managed, on two occasions, to forget Anna’s). Anna knew that her father loved her, but he worshipped Cecilie. Anyone could see that.
    Anna had once told Karen that she thought parents liked each other better than they liked their children. Karen was Anna’s best friend, and they had both been ten years old at the time. They were building a secret hideaway, and Anna had asked Karen why grown-ups seemed to like each other more, and why children seemed to come second, and Karen had said that was just not true. Karen’s mum said she loved Karen more than anyone on the planet. That grown-ups could choose whether or not they wanted to be together, but that you loved children all the time, for as long as you lived, and that you never regretted having them. Karen and Anna had almost ended up having a row. In the middle of it all, Jens called them into the kitchen for toast and chocolate milkshakes.Jens and Cecilie must have been divorced at that point but, nevertheless, Jens was there, in the kitchen, reading the newspaper by the window. And making toast. The girls came in and Karen said:
    ‘You don’t really like Cecilie more than Anna, do you?’ to Jens, who lowered the newspaper and looked shocked. Anna was small with dark hair, Karen’s was blonde and curly.
    ‘Why on earth do you want to know that?’ he had replied, and Anna had blushed. She hadn’t wanted Jens to know about this, not at all, she hadn’t wanted Karen to ask him. Anna glared defiantly at the tablecloth. She couldn’t remember what happened next, only that she refused to play with Karen for the rest of that day and that she took back the special stamp she had given her, even though Karen said she couldn’t do that. However, that evening Jens told her something. When Anna had been born, Cecilie had been very ill, back problems of some sort. She was in great pain and had been in and out of hospital, Jens explained, and even though Anna only weighed three kilos, Cecilie hadn’t been allowed to lift her. That had made her feel really sad. Jens tucked Anna up in bed and kissed her forehead.
    ‘And that’s why I take good care of Cecilie,’ he said. ‘Special care.’
    Anna nodded. Anna, too, always tried really hard to please Cecilie.
    ‘But I love you more than anyone,