Fiction by Nobel laureate Herta Müller: An isolated Irene moves in the emotional orbits of three men

Men walked one by one through the metal detector into the airport departure hall. The man in uniform moved another detector up and down. It beeped at the coat pocket of a man in a suit. The man in the suit raised his hands and turned around. He was holding his boarding pass in his mouth.

Everyone was looking at him when he entered the departure hall. After he sat down he looked toward the metal detector. They were checking another man in a suit. The man corrected his sitting posture as he watched.

A woman’s voice said through the intercom that the airplane was ready for boarding.

Irene was wondering which one of the men she could sleep with. The men were getting up one by one. She examined them again in the light of this question. She saw something repulsive in each of them, things she had not seen before.

The older men had dark career rings around their eyes. Their faces had been firm for many years. That they had aged in that state comforted Irene.

Irene saw an older man wearing a big gold ring on his little finger. She imagined herself lying in bed and waiting for this man. She saw...

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