the flat is without decoration, an enfilade of small rooms. a stove, a sink, a tub, a boiler, a table, a few wooden chairs. there is no window, just a balcony door to let light into the room. hanna carries on ironing.
hanna is at the kitchen table, drinking a glass of milk. she has taken off her jacket and loosened her tie. michael comes in with the two buckets of coal, his face and clothes filthy. she roars with laughter, full-throated.
hanna is at the sink. michael comes in, precipitate, tearing off his clothes and embracing her at the same time. he drops his trousers and lifts her onto the sink. he comes in about twenty seconds. he stands sweating.
they are on the bed. he is lying underneath her. hanna leads his hands to her face, then down her body. she begins to move, and in response, he moves too. he watches awed as she comes.
hanna has fallen asleep on michael's chest. he is awake, looking at the birthmark on her left shoulder. the sound of the wood yard below. he kisses the birthmark. she stirs.
hanna has gone in to put down her things at the kitchen table. michael follows, desperate.
hanna is baking bread. michael is on a chair beside her with a book.
michael is at the bottom of the bed. hanna is lying inside. he is reading lady chatterley's lover.
michael flies up the stairs, then goes in. hanna is sitting sewing. he kisses her on the cheek as he gets out a book.
hanna is sitting unhappily as michael reads to her. they are both in a bad mood.
hanna is on the edge of the bath, running water. she has a pale blue flowered smock. she is running with sweat. the smock sticks to her. michael gets out a book. hanna drops lavender oil into the bath. michael stands in the bath and she washes his body.
they are making love on the bed. it's intense. at one point she moves on top of him. she holds his head between her hands, as if she would crush the life out of him. then she lets go.
they are both sweating, exhausted. she looks a moment.
michael has gone. hanna washes out milk bottles and empties them into the sink. then she picks up her luggage and leaves the empty apartment.