Chapter 16 six

When my older sister Sif turned 50, I called her to ask her if she wanted me to come with her, and all I heard was an automated voice message: This number is not in use.I emailed her and it bounced back saying the mailbox didn't exist.So I contacted other brothers and sisters, and the answer was that they hadn't heard from Sif for several years and knew nothing about her.I ended up writing a normal letter and mailing it to her, which was also returned, with her name and address crossed out on the envelope, and it said Return to Sender.I drove to Malmö, and when I arrived at Sif's apartment on Cornell Street, I saw someone else's name written on the door.I rang the bell and was answered by a young man who said:

No, never heard of Sif.Weig the man.I have lived here with my boyfriend for two years. He lied!or?I am confused.As far as I can remember, I had only met Sif in this apartment a year earlier, on her forty-ninth birthday.We try to see each other every two years, maybe for each other's birthdays, maybe for Christmas and New Years together.Sometimes we can't travel long distances to see each other, or can't afford it financially, and plans to meet have to be postponed or canceled, so I've come to the conclusion, somewhat reluctantly, that perhaps my memory is A few years of things get mixed up.We're all entering middle age, and it happens all the time.My mind has been a little confused about the sequence of recent events, and the time intervals between events.Time and the past more or less lost their linear structure, and my memories began to sequence in ways they had never before, breaking time series and rearranging past experiences and reference points, in arbitrary order.So I concluded that it must have been more than two years since Sif and I last met at her apartment.

Of course, I didn't let this matter go. Sif was still missing and didn't contact me. It was not her style at all, so I reported her missing to the police, even though I suspected that she had been sent to a certain place. unit, but I'm not sure.True, Sif has no children, but she could suddenly take off in a career, or find a stable, loving partner, or both.We're not used to asking about each other's relationship lives, and Sif isn't the type to bring it up, so I probably don't know anything about what happened to her.For example, she might meet someone on the other side of Sweden, move in with him or her, and forget to tell me.Or something terrible happened: she might have moved to the other side of Sweden with her partner and was going to tell me, but lost her life in an accident or a violent crime and couldn't tell me.Maybe she was buried in some forest or swamp, or dumped in the sea, or dismembered and hidden in someone's refrigerator.Or maybe she decides to climb a mountain and falls down a valley, in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses.Anything can happen, that's why I reported her missing.

However, the police investigation was fruitless, at least every time I called to ask what was found, they replied: We have tried our best to investigate what happened to your sister, but unfortunately, we have found nothing so far. Sometimes when I go to Malmö, I run into old friends of Sif, and I always take the opportunity to ask if there is any news about Sif, or if they know anything.I might get something like this: No, I haven't been in touch with Sif for a long time.No, you know who she is, she probably quit the house with the landlord, sold all her belongings, and went on a long trip somewhere.You just wait and see, she must be chanting a spell at some ashram, or paddling a raft on Cape Horn or something, and one day she'll pop out like a doll in a box and show up to us again.

I might also get this answer: Oh, you know, I've been in touch with Sif occasionally, and I have no idea where she's been lately. After about a year, I accepted that Sif had left and wasn't coming back, and I figured she must have friends who knew what was going on with her and didn't say a word.I think she must have told someone that she would be judged unwanted, and that person promised not to reveal a word if asked.I'd love to believe that's the case.I would really like to believe that Sif has a friend who is so close to her that she can confide in her secrets.I would like to believe that she was not just in touch with this friend occasionally.