Voyage 2002

"An embarrassed Frida. I'm at my wit's end!" he laughed. May 2002 / Benny

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT. IF IT'S NOT FOR YOU, PLEASE DON'T READ IT. ME & I

He laid his head on the pillow he had placed on the sofa and exhaled. "Finally."

At last he could relax after a long day's work. It was half past eight now, he had taken a shower and lay down on the sofa waiting for Frida to return.

She was taking a shower in her own suite and he took the time to think back on the past day.

That morning, they had started talking over all things Waterloo. They had watched hours of video material. Together in a room in the television studio, watching and watching, taking notes, discussing it among the four of them and with the production team.

It took much longer than they had estimated.

"It's going to take a lot more time than I expected, and we're talking about 1974. Look what we have to plough through with Arrival next. Or The Album and The Movie. What are we going to do?" Björn had asked.

"What do you mean?" Frida asked in return.

"Well, we're not going to make it in the time we've reserved for it. We also have an interview today, don't we," Björn replied.

"Pfff," Agnetha said. "And then all the make-up again. That alone will take another hour."

Frida sighed too.

"Maybe we can hand things back to the production team?" Björn suggested.

Agnetha and Frida were immediately against it. That wasn't going to happen! This was the only programme they really had control over and they were not going to give that up.

"I understand that," Björn said, "but then we have to take into account that we are going to run out of time. I really think we need another week."

Agnetha grimaced. She had always wanted to go home first. So now she probably did too.

At that point they decided to have lunch and discuss it later. Frida was tired, he could see. Although they really had a good time together, she still had some difficult moments every now and then when she suddenly doubted everything. She slept restlessly and was scared. He could handle it, but it was hard at times. Especially because he couldn't completely guess the cause. That morning it had happened again, they had just made love, and all of a sudden he had to comfort her. "I am so afraid that you will leave me..."

He had no intention of doing so, and he thought he told her that regularly, but still she would panic. He soothed and cuddled, but it made him a little unsure.

After lunch they went on again. Hours behind the screen. In the end, they were all so exhausted that an interview that same day was really out of the question. A solution had to be found.
"Wouldn't it be an idea to have the kids come over for a few days," Björn suggested, "so we can catch up with each other and they will have a sort of mini-holiday. If we add a week to our stay afterwards, it won't feel as if we are away from home that long."

Agnetha jumped up.

Björn, you're a fucking genius, he thought to himself. There was no better way to keep Agge on track and for Frida it was more than wonderful too. She lived far from her son and grandson. Ruzzo's daughters, with whom she was still in close contact, were also big girls now who no longer lived in Switzerland.

A second later, Björn and he looked at each other. He winked almost invisibly at his best friend and said softly, 'Nice work, Ulven', as soon as Agnetha and Frida enthusiastically started making plans to get their family to London.

Once back in the hotel, it became quite an organisation and a lot of phone calls were made. Frida wanted Jonathan and Hans to come over coûte que coûte, especially after it turned out that Ruzzo's daughters couldn't make it. Henriette had appointments in the States, where she worked, and Pauline was staying with her accidently, while she lived in London. It was a bizarre coincidence, but that was just the way it was. Pauline and Frida would see each other later on - they had agreed on - but Frida regretted it very much.