We Had It So Good by Linda Grant

Author:Linda Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2011-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

Her First War

Everyone was waiting. Day after day, nothing was advanced in the situation, the guests sat under the gilded dome of the Hotel Esplanade drinking coffee, eating strudel and waiting for the dinner hour, when waiters wheeled metal trolleys across the carpeted floors and stood by the white-clothed tables flambéing cherries in liqueur. Blue flames rose from the sizzling pans, illuminating bored faces. The diners walked back and forth restlessly. Was there any news? If there was news, no one would share it. News was a secret you kept to yourself, it was a commodity you did not give away.

Marianne could not afford to dine in the restaurant. She was not a guest at the hotel, nor was she interested in its sumptuous menu, the veal dressed with cream and brandy, the braised pork, the white wine soup, the goulash and the schnitzel. The staff was trying to keep up standards, but only five tables were taken out of fifty and the diners had no idea about etiquette and decorum; they clamored for hamburgers and macaroni dishes, which the chef despised. The maestro at the piano kept his head down, smiling secretively. It was rumored that he was a spy, though for whom it was not possible to determine.

Marianne’s hotel was a more modest affair, its guests were Croatian, Slovenian, Austrian and Italian commercial travelers, dealing in sunglasses, drill bits, coffee, wine, Mercedes parts (stolen), aluminium pipes, chocolate, nylon tracksuits, Swiss watches, lightbulbs and fancy china. These guests were all men, though one or two had stationed mistresses in the city and brought them back to their rooms for entertainment. Only the young blond desk clerk spoke to her in a way that did not involve a sexual invitation. But her English was not good and all she could offer was a poorly printed map of notable churches.

Marianne was in a rush, she had not expected to be delayed. No one had told her that war was five percent fear and ninety-five percent boredom, she was only twenty-two and she expected things to happen immediately, the world revolved around her, why shouldn’t it be arranged according to her own wishes? Sitting on the narrow hotel bed with its yolk-colored counterpane, she looked out of the window to dark drizzly streets, the evenings were still coming too quickly, it was a late spring. A small TV showed only Croatian and German programs, a war was going on and she was out of the loop, she had already been waiting for two days.

She had walked around the city taking pictures, of women in the markets, of the UN vehicles along the half-empty boulevards, a brass band marching with drums and bugles, a policeman eating an ice-cream cone (there was nothing funnier than men eating ice cream, particularly men in uniform, she took such pictures whenever she got the chance), but didn’t she know there was a war on? And was she not separated from it by the impediment of a missing

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