About Matthijs
There he is, at the table with the two sisters Lotte and Roos. I fall into the middle of the conversation that I will watch three more times that evening. When I do (that rewatching), I see Lotte take a big breath as Matthijs announces their topic. Here we go, I see her thinking. And: now the world knows. Literally. Fortunately, there is still De TV Draait Door first. A bit of air.
One of the girls is moving into a room and her father is worried. Matthijs understands that. I turn up the TV a bit and urge my girls to be quiet. I see two beautiful girls in the prime of their lives. But there is something. Otherwise, they wouldn't be on De Wereld Draait Door.
Usher, as I learn, has a rare syndrome where you slowly (well, slowly, around your thirties you see nothing anymore) become deaf and blind. At the same time. It’s the question that friends ask each other during endless evenings. What is worse? Deaf or blind? Deaf AND blind didn’t even cross our minds.
It was a kind of Russian roulette. If both parents are carriers (which is already a unique situation), you have a 25% chance of getting it. Their older sister doesn’t have it, Roos and Lotte do. It started with hockey. Roos didn’t see the ball. And they were already night-blind and hard of hearing anyway.
I look at the sisters. Their reddish, wavy hair. Their eyes. The beer that is on the table. They talk. About Lotte's world trip that had to be made. About the relationship she ended. And about the northern lights that Lotte could only see through a camera. They went to Lapland for the documentary. For that northern light then. They had a great time. Lotte names the crew they were out with and I hope she has become a little in love with the cameraman. Just like young women should fall in love carefreely.
Are they learning braille yet, Matthijs asks. Lotte shakes her head no. Almost angrily. I really don’t, she says. What will all fall away, Matthijs asks. Then you should just watch the documentary. It sounds almost bitter. That he did that. Yet she can’t say it. Even if it’s just because she will immediately start crying. Suddenly the interviewer turns into the father.
The broadcast is coming to an end. That she found it manageable, Lotte says. Matthijs wraps up. Talks about tomorrow. As the camera zooms out, I see his hand. It merges briefly with that of his sidekick and then moves towards the sisters. The image of his hand in front of the faces of the sisters that is not captured, I just can’t forget.
