Fame Read Free Page A

too! There’s nothing else on the market.”
    “True,” said Ebling. “There’s nothing else.”
    “Hey,” said Rogler. “Stop staring at your phone.”
    Ebling twitched and put it in his pocket.
    “Not so long ago you didn’t want anything to do with one, and now you don’t budge an inch without it. Just relax—nothing can be that urgent.” Rogler hesitated for a moment. He swallowed, then stuck another piece of schnitzel in his mouth. “Please don’t take this the wrong way. But who would be calling you anyhow?”

In Danger
    A novel without a protagonist! Do you get it? A structure, the connections, a narrative arc, but no main character, no hero advancing throughout.”
    “Interesting,” said Elisabeth wearily.
    He looked at his watch. “Why are we running late again? It was the same thing yesterday, what are they doing, why does it keep happening?”
    “Because stuff happens.”
    “Did you notice the man over there, he looks like a dog on its hind legs! But what causes those delays, why can’t they experiment just once, just like that, and try taking off on time ?”
    She sighed. There were more than two hundred people in the departure lounge. Many of them were asleep, a few others were reading crudely printed newspapers. The portrait of some bearded politician grinned down off the wall under a gaudy flag. A kiosk offered magazines, detective novels, spiritualself-help books by Miguel Auristos Blanco, and cigarettes.
    “Do you think these airplanes are safe? I mean, they’re really ancient equipment sold on by the Europeans. With us, they’d never even be allowed to take off, it’s no secret, right?”
    “No.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “It’s no secret.”
    Leo massaged his forehead, cleared his throat, opened and shut his mouth, and blew his nose at considerable length, then looked at her with watering eyes. “Was that a joke?”
    She didn’t reply.
    “They should have told me up front, they shouldn’t have invited me, I mean, where are the rules? They can’t invite me if it’s unsafe! Did you see the woman over there, she’s writing something down. Why? What’s she writing? Say, you were joking, weren’t you, about these planes—they’re not really dangerous?”
    “No, no,” she said, “don’t worry.”
    “You’re just saying that to make me feel better!”
    She closed her eyes.
    “I knew it. I can tell. See over there! If we were in a story, we’d be part of this group, and they’d forget us before we even took off. Who knows how that could develop!”
    “Why should anything develop? We’d catch the next plane.”
    “If there is one!”
    Elisabeth said nothing. She wished she could sleep, it wasstill early, but she knew he would never allow it until after they’d landed. She would have to spend the entire flight explaining to him that flying was perfectly safe and there was no need to worry about a crash. After that she’d have to take care of the luggage and in the hotel it would be her job to speak to the receptionist and arrange for room service to send something up that Leo would agree to eat, given his juvenile tastes in food. And in the late afternoon she’d have to make sure that Leo was ready when they came to collect him for his lecture.
    “I think things are starting to move!” he cried.
    At the other end of the departure lounge a young woman had taken up a position at one of the counters. People began to stand up, gather their belongings, and shuffle in that direction.
    “It’s still going to be some time,” said Elisabeth.
    “We’ll miss the flight!”
    “They’ve only just started. They’ll be another half hour at least.”
    “They’re going to leave without us!”
    “Please, why would they—”
    But he was already on his feet and in the line. She crossed her arms and watched his skinny figure inch its way forward. Finally it was his turn, he showed his boarding card, and disappeared into the walkway to the plane. She waited. Fifteen, twenty,