Raija Oranen has published a novel about Armi Ratia.
Armi Ratia had time to experience many things during her life. IL archive
The founder of Marimekko, Armi Ratia, once had an accident, which he later actively wanted to forget.
In Raija Oranen’s recent novel, I, Armi Maria R., however, it is reported.
It was 1967 and Ratia was driving from Helsinki to Porvoo. He had picked up the Swiss CEO from the airport for business negotiations. Ratia wanted to open a couple of stores in Switzerland.
Parivaljakko had eaten in Helsinki before leaving in the direction of Bökars.
The woman had big bags full of stuff on the horns of her bike and a large red wash basin full of stuff was also roped to the porch.
The cyclist is right in front of me and I’m going to pass him, I’m just about to catch up, but at the same time the bike swings, starts to rock and derails directly in front of Mersu. I try to brake, but it’s too late, as well as the sudden jerking of the steering wheel to the left, besides, the heel of the shoe gets tangled in the pedal, and then the shoe is completely off the foot and I can’t find the pedals under the pedals and the car’s engine shuts off.
The next few seconds or minutes are covered in darkness. When I see again, I remember again, there is a cyclist, that elderly woman, on the edge of the ditch in a strange position, the bike is on her head, the back tire is still spinning and the big bags are hanging on the horns, but the red wash basin has come off the stand. The woman’s limbs are grotesquely spread out, the jacket has flown open and pink wide-legged panties and a garter, which is covered in blood, are visible from under the skirt. When I open the car door, I hear a woman’s scream, a lot of pain, and then it suddenly becomes very quiet, the woman loses consciousness.
Armi didn’t have a musical picture of how he and his Swiss guest finally got to Bökars, apparently through the police in Porvoo. The woman who fell in the accident died.
All I remembered about the court session was the light of a cloudy cloudy day in the old log building, men in dark clothes behind the table, myself on the bench supported by Vee. And the witness said that everything happened in a couple of seconds and the car wasn’t going fast and there was nothing special about it, that woman just wobbled on her bike directly in front of the car and no one could do anything about it. Judging from the tracks, the road surface had given way under the heavy load and the bike had therefore swerved to the left in front of Mersu.
Ratia received an acquittal. He was not charged with anything. But what happened left a scar on my mind for the rest of my life.
I was innocent. That’s what they said, but how much did it help if you yourself knew that you had caused the death of another person and I had probably had a couple of glasses at lunch, no one investigated that because you couldn’t even suspect that in the case of Mrs. Ratia.
The events in the book are based on truth and Oranen has used factual information as the source of his work.
– What happens in detail in my novel is also based on imagination, but the events themselves are real. She was a fierce woman, in every way, Oranen commented on her novel to Iltalehte.
Raija Oranen: I, Armi Maria R. (Otava) will be published on July 25. Italicized passages are from the book.