Anxious People

Julia immediately regrets mentioning her fiancée, so she tells Estelle and Anna-Lena to forget it. But Estelle pulls out another bottle of wine and says they have time for long stories. Julia says that her fiancée always wanted to experience new things, like bungee jumping off bridges, and Julia wanted to be bored. So, she came home from Australia a week early and kissed Ro. Giggling, Julia says that she’s a florist and met Ro when Ro came into her flower shop. She says Ro was beautiful, and Estelle agrees: Ro is “exotic.” Sighing, Julia ignores this and says that Ro kept coming to buy tulips, and she always made Julia laugh. Julia told her mom about Ro, and Julia’s mom said that “the funny ones” last a lifetime.

When Estelle asks about Julia’s parents, Julia says that Julia’s mom cleaned offices and her dad “hit women.” Julia and her mom walked out, and her mom never let her hate her dad. And then, when Julia told her mom about Ro, Julia realized Ro was the real thing. So, while her fiancée was in Australia, Ro came into the shop and made Julia laugh so hard she spit in Ro’s face. They went out for a drink, and Julia got so drunk she got into a fight with the security guard and told him that Ro was her girlfriend. Julia broke up with her fiancée and has loved being bored with Ro ever since. Estelle says Julia’s mom was right, thinking about several authors who wrote about the necessity of laughter and companionship.

Remembering Julia’s mom’s reaction when Julia shared that she was pregnant, Julia says that Ro will be a great mom. She has a nine-year-old’s sense of humor and can make any kid laugh. Estelle says Julia will be great, too, but Julia admits she’s not so sure—she doesn’t like playing, and she doesn’t even like most children. Anna-Lena says parents only have to like their own kids, and what kids really need are chauffeurs. Estelle says gently that as long as Julia is going to protect her child, sing to it, and teach it to not be a menace on public transit, she’ll be a great mom. Unable to stop herself, Anna-Lena says she hated the poop.

Estelle says that Julia will be a great mom—and that she’s a great wife. Julia says she nags Ro so much, but Ro does still make her laugh. Smiling and fumbling over her words, Julia says the first time she and Ro went home together, they entered Julia’s apartment and sheets she’d left hanging to dry hit Ro in the face. Ro flinched, and Julia nagged her to tell her what was wrong. Eventually, Ro shared that when her family fled over the mountains to get to Sweden, the kids each carried a sheet so when they heard helicopters, they could hide under them and blend in with the snow. The parents planned to run to distract the snipers in the helicopters. Somehow, Ro grew up to be a person who laughs. Her parents taught her to fight despair and cruelty with puns and fart jokes.

After a few moments of silence, Estelle blurts that she had an affair that Knut never knew about. Anna-Lena is convinced this is all getting out of hand, but Julia wants to know what happened. Estelle says Knut wasn’t a reader, but she was. The other man, her neighbor, also read and soon, they started swapping books in the elevator. This progressed to leaving notes in the pages. Blushing, Estelle admits that they never had sex, but once, the neighbor gave her a book with the key to his apartment inside. He wanted her to have a key, just in case. He died a few years later and Estelle went to the apartment showing when his kids sold it. Then she went home to Knut. Estelle says she always planned to end the night with the same person she started with.

Anna-Lena has never had an affair; she was always too busy rushing between work and home, and she always felt like she was failing in both places. So, Anna-Lena is the first to suggest that they should help the bank robber. Estelle suggests that since there’s no real estate agent in the apartment and the police will certainly expect one, the robber can pose as the agent and walk out with the rest of the hostages. Just as Julia gets up to go tell Ro the plan, Lennart knocks on the door and explains that he needs to borrow a pair of pants; he accidentally lit his on fire earlier.

Lennart joins the women in the closet, where Estelle is now smoking. Anna-Lena gives Estelle a dirty look, but Estelle says the smoke will go out the vent. Coughing nervously, she says she’s pretty sure there’s an air vent—but when she stops coughing, someone continues to cough. Julia drags the ladder to the back of the closet and Lennart starts to climb up. The real estate agent is sitting in a cramped space above the hatch.