Summary

The first page consists of just one paragraph, in which the narrator describes his arrival at an airport to someone. The narrator does not tell us straightaway who he is, where he is, where he has come from or who he is addressing, but he has “come all this way to see you put underground” (3), so we know that “you” is not us (the reader) but a character, who is dead.

The narrator arrived at the airport, where a man holding a sign met him. On page 5 the man, Christian, welcomed him to Romania and took his luggage. The narrator noticed that the airport (the Aeroportul Otopeni) was full of hurrying Italians, who had gotten off the same plane as him. Outside, the narrator and Christian made their way with difficulty to a car. While driving, Christian was quiet and respectful. He told...