Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Author:Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

2

Memphis and I faced each other silently as we ate our little pots of chocolate mousse.

‘I know what you want to ask me,’ Memphis said all of a sudden. ‘And the answer is yes. I can’t stand my adoptive mother. But I’m eternally grateful to her and Richard for helping me out of a shit situation and giving me a future.’

‘How old were you when they adopted you?’

‘Thirteen. Old enough to have lost all faith in humanity. My biological parents were alcoholics, white trash of the worst kind. My so-called father hit me and abused me and my so-called mother knew about it and hit me because she didn’t know what else to do. I had my first abortion when my own father got me pregnant. When I was finally placed in care, I celebrated like it was independence day. Everyone thought the care home was hell and it was, but it was a paradise compared to what I was used to. In the end I didn’t stay there long. Jessica and Richard turned up and took me to Michigan.’

‘And what’s life like in Michigan?’

‘Dull,’ she said. ‘But you should know it’s a blessing for someone like me to lead a boring life. I was able to go to school without being scared of coming home again. I’ve almost become a normal girl of my own age. And after this holiday, Jessica and Richard are sending me to college.’

‘What are you going to study?’

‘Economics and management. I’m not particularly interested in those subjects but I live in America. I learned at a young age that America is not a country to be poor in. It’s the land of the American dream, which means it identifies with winners. If the official philosophy is that everyone who does their best can reach the top, it means that those who don’t reach the top haven’t done their best. They don’t deserve pity but indifference. The competitive system creates losers, but that’s their problem. If success is a choice, failure is your own fault. I know it’s bullshit. The fact I can make something of my life now has nothing to do with having earned it. I’ve got Jessica and Richard to thank entirely for that. If two complete strangers from Crystal, Michigan hadn’t decided to love me and help me, I’d have ended up part of the trash I was born in. I would only have been able to dream of my American dream. But I did learn one thing, and that is that I never want to be poor again. So this girl is going to study economics and management and get a stupid job with a fat salary. And you can bet your bottom dollar I will. And with my first pay cheque I’m going to buy an expensive flashy European car for Jessica and Richard. Do you understand? Yes, you do. And I’m going to take creative writing as an elective on the side.’

‘Why do you want to write?’ I asked.

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