across the water. All the windows were now shuttered up. The red building was the
most deserted place she had seen for ages.
Joanna turned toward her. “Do we have to walk on the water?”
“Of course not. We’ll row.”
Sophie pointed down into the reeds. There lay the rowboat, just as before.
“Have you been here before?”
Sophie shook her head. Trying to explain her previous visit would be far too
complicated. And then she would have to tell her friend about Alberto Knox and the
philosophy course as well.
They laughed and joked as they rowed across the water. When they reached the
opposite bank, Sophie made sure they drew the boat well up on land.
They went to the front door. As there was obviously nobody in the cabin,
Joanna tried the door handle.
“Locked... you didn’t expect it to be open, did you?”
“Maybe we can find a key,” said Sophie.
She began to search in the crevices of the stonework foundation.
“Oh, let’s go back to the tent instead,” said Joanna after a few minutes.
But just then Sophie exclaimed, “Here it is! I found it!”
She held up the key triumphantly. She put it in the lock and the door swung
open.
The two friends sneaked inside as if they were up to something criminal. It was
cold and dark in the cabin.
“We can’t see a thing!” said Joanna.
But Sophie had thought of that. She took a box of matches out of her pocket and
struck one. They only had time to see that the cabin was deserted before the match
went out. Sophie struck another, and this time she noticed a stump of candle in a
wrought-iron candlestick on top of the stove. She lit it with the third match and the
little room became light enough for them to look around.
“Isn’t it odd that such a small candle can light up so much darkness?” said
Sophie.
Her friend nodded.
“But somewhere the light disappears into the dark,” Sophie went on. “Actually,
darkness has no existence of its own. It’s only a lack of light.”
Joanna shivered. “That’s creepy! Come on, let’s go...”
“Not before we’ve looked in the mirror.”
Sophie pointed to the brass mirror hanging above the chest of drawers, just as
before.
“That’s really pretty!” said Joanna.
“But it’s a magic mirror.”
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”
“I’m not kidding, Joanna. I am sure you can look in it and see something on the
other side.”
“Are you sure you’ve never been here before? And why is it so amusing to
scare me all the time?”
Sophie could not answer that one.
“Sorry.”
Now it was Joanna who suddenly discovered something lying on the floor in the
corner. It was a small box. Joanna picked it up.
“Postcards,” she said.
Sophie gasped.