I am sitting on the ferry from Borkum to Emshaven. Outside the rain is running down the windows and it smells of journey and ship petrol. Opposite me, an elderly couple has sat down. He comes from the restaurant with a tray in his hands – coffee and bread rolls. Both of them are very much tanned and look very much relaxed. She is wearing a flamingo-coloured knitted top, a red scarf and underneath a white pearl necklace with a large mother-of-pearl pendant in the shape of a sea horse, with that a frameless, hexagonal pair of glasses.

The microscopically small coffee cream portions are being stirred into the cups, the single package of sugar is divided equally. Rather hungrily, the two people swoop down on their bread rolls. He has stemmed his elbows on the table right and left of the restaurant tray which keeps his bun in a practical bite-height and only has eyes for his delicacy. She on the other hand touches the table only lightly with her lower arms, her hands have been formed into some sort of small fist with erect thumb. After every single bite, she puts down her bun to constantly run thumb and index finger against each other. Her nails are filed roundly and are covered with a transparent nail varnish. As I look up again after another page of my book, there is not a single crumb left. He is wearing a dove blue shirt, is shaved like a baby’s bottom and apparently has the same optician as his wife. During the complete period, they both keep chillingly quiet, he gazes into space and stalks other passengers walking by. She is digging in her purse and something tells me that we will now witness the appearance of ‘Take a Break’, the magazine for women who do not have anything to say anymore to their husbands. The Sudoku is untouched, she proceeds to the crossword. The magazine is lying flat on the table between the two of us. Whilst she is reading, she slightly raises the pages, however, keeps her head perfectly straight so that she has to almost close her eyes in order to see the crossword. Thereby, she raises her eyebrows all the way up, creating three deep and edgy lines on her forehead. The fingers of her left hand are in constant motion, tipping on the paper, going back and forth, straddle the pages and smoothen the edges.