Married Life by David Vogel

Author:David Vogel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000
Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Published: 2013-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

22

On the red and blue trams, masses of human beings were carted from the suburbs to their day’s labour in the city centre, and from there to the suburbs again. They were mainly young people of both sexes, torn from the sweetest part of their slumber by the necessity of earning their daily bread, and busy now, as they stood shoulder to shoulder in the crowded coach, demolishing the remnants of buttered rolls wrapped in grey, transparent paper. The interval between sleep and work was very short, barely sufficient for the journey itself, with the result that the one often invaded the territory of the other, to the annoyance of their employers. But a new day, a harbinger of spring, was rising in the carefree, abandoned city of Vienna, whether the people crowded in the noisy, rattling trams saw it or not. The streets seemed clearer, more spacious, more polished, like a picture postcard of some other distant, unknown city. These handsome streets were close at hand, you trod them underfoot, but nevertheless your heart longed for them with all its might, and you felt a strange urge to get into a train and travel a few hours in order to reach them. Others, wiser and more prescient, had risen early to greet the glorious day, as if they had known in advance of its coming. They too had eaten hastily and hurried outside, where you could see them now with their dogs — that long, slender pointer, for example, standing on three legs next to the first lamppost and thrusting his alert head into the crisp morning air.

Yes, it was a day to gladden the heart and arouse new hope. And since he had risen early in the morning, Gurdweill decided to walk to work. His coat had grown very shabby during the winter months — the edges of the sleeves and pockets were frayed — and in the light of the young spring day it looked even more worn than it was. But Gurdweill did not notice. As he strolled along Praterstrasse, there was a rebellious spring in his step. On a day like this it was even harder than usual to have to go to the office and spend eight hours in the company of Dr Kreindel. Even the posters outside the Karlstheater, advertising The Merry Widow in huge red letters, upon which Gurdweill had never bestowed a glance, now compelled his attention as part of the other, free life, so completely different from that in the back room of the bookshop.

It was still rather chilly; a delicate layer of frost on the pavement had not yet altogether melted. But it would certainly be very warm in two or three hours’ time, and in the fields the farmers would doubtlessly be sowing seeds in the newly tilled soil.

A smell of burned coffee beans wafted out of one of the houses, and as Gurdweill entered its ambience something black and shapeless flashed into his mind, trailing behind it,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.