The Dinosaur Feather

but strange, titillating almost, to make love to Vibe in her new bed, in a bedroom with apple green curtains and wallpaper with tiny flowers, it was almost as if they had only just met. They went to the cinema like they used to, went running together every Sunday and even flew to Paris for a long weekend. A strange calm existed between them; limbo. A few times Vibe had cautiously asked him if his mind was made up and he had kissed her forehead and said that she deserved better.
    ‘And so does your child,’ he had added.
    When he realised that it was
that
Katrine who was calling, his palms grew sweaty. His first thought was genital warts, his second, HIV. Tracking him down had been no easy task, she said with a nervous laugh, because she only knew that his name was Søren and that he worked at Bellahøj police station. She had been put through to several different people and she was relieved she had finally found the right person. She laughed nervously again, and then she said gravely, ‘But Bo and I agree that I should.’
    Søren was baffled, who was Bo? Bo was her boyfriend, she explained, and she had met him shortly after the night Søren had spent with her. They had just moved in together.
    ‘And Bo will be the baby’s father,’ she then said.
    Everything stopped.
    Søren didn’t understand a word.
    It was surreal.
    They spoke for a little while. Afterwards he called Vibe and told her that he was working late and please would she go to Elvira and Knud’s on her own and he would join them later? Is everything all right? she wanted to know. No, yes, he stuttered. Something has come up at work, he lied.
    He worked through the longest day of his life without any sense of what he was actually doing. At five o’clock he drove to H.C. Ørstedsvej and rang the bell. The nameplate below the bell was new; in addition to Katrine’s name it said
Bo Beck Vestergaard
. Upstairs, in Katrine’s flat, the situation became even more bizarre. Katrine was seven months pregnant, her belly beautiful and round.
    ‘We’re really looking forward to the baby,’ Bo said, narrowing his eyes.
    Bo was assembling a changing unit in the corner of the room. He was clearly putting in a lot of effort. However, Søren was the biological father, Katrine said, there was no doubt about it. Katrine didn’t meet Bo until after she had found out she was pregnant and Bo had been relaxed about the whole thing – after all, they were all adults, and he was very much in love with Katrine. Initially, they had decided not to contact Søren, but as Katrine’s pregnancy progressed, they had second thoughts. They didn’t want to lie to the child, but this was precisely what they were setting themselves up for if they concealed the baby’s real parentage at this early stage.
    Søren didn’t know what to think. His jaw had dropped and panic stuck to the inside of his throat like a piece of obstinate tomato skin. Bo carried on explaining. Søren would be kept informed and the child would be told when it was old enough, but Bo and Katrine agreed that it would be too confusing for the child if there were multiple fathers around during the early years. Søren understood, didn’t he? He wouldn’t have to pay child support either, unless he absolutely insisted. Bo had his own business selling music instruments and Katrine had got a job at a school in Valby; she was currently on maternity leave. They would manage. In fact, they were asking Søren to keep a low profile and not interfere too much. Not until the child itself wanted to meet its biological father. It was clear that, as far as Bo was concerned, the need would never arise. Søren nodded, asked a timid question and nodded again. He declared that he would need time to process it all. Bo looked pleased and saw him out.
    Søren stumbled out into H.C. Ørstedsvej, clammy with sweat, his mouth dry as a bone. In a kiosk he downed twosoft drinks straight from the chill cabinet while the shopkeeper eyed him suspiciously. What would he say to Vibe? What the hell was he going to say to Vibe? Vibe, who had blind faith in him, who still called him ‘the straightest guy in the world’ to her friends, even though they had split up, even though he hadn’t been prepared to give her the child she so desperately wanted. He walked down to the lakes and began pacing up and down. He had to convince Bo and Katrine that it would be in everyone’s best interest if Søren never became the baby’s father. Not