This
really only makes sense if you have read the book, although
even there except for the wind up by Sylvia Ross, the song
isn’t mentioned.
It’s included because when I was speaking to Harry he
told me that he and Red used to dance to this tune when they
were alone.
He also said that he liked it because it reflected so much
that he had once had in his grasp and yet, allowed to slip
away; his words were "As all important things do, unrecognised
and without value ... until it’s too late".
I have never seen Red but knowing what Frida Lyngstad looks
like I can create a picture in my mind of him and Red dancing
one last dance to this song.
Chapter reproduced with kind permission of the
author
This
is part of what Sylvia had to say
The night before he vanished we dined out, just the two of us, at a small intimate
outer city restaurant. As usual Harry didn’t eat, just enjoyed
a few glasses of wine. I still kick myself for not picking up
the signals. He was distant and tended to talk about the past
as if reviewing the facts. He even talked about Anna, something
he rarely did. We even quietly danced but I’m not sure who,
in his mind, he was actually dancing with. A couple of times
I got the impression that he was really talking to himself,
going over things in his mind. I had to smile to myself as the
music being played was from that Dreaded Norwegian Woman and
her cohorts. I wondered if it was hearing this sound from his
past that was making him so reflective (he really is a sook),
especially as it ended with a song called ‘The Way Old Friends
Do’ which was very, very bad timing. Their music does seem to
resurface every couple of years and for a while you hear it
everywhere, luckily these resurgent fads don’t last long. At night’s end he proposed a toast. Holding his glass
out to mine he very gently said "To old friends".
At the time I thought he was talking about us, it was only
later that I realised that it was to others he was making
one last toast.
