Vocabulary

Highlights

I was relieved that I’d stuck to my guns, that we wouldn’t be meeting the Lohmans until we reached the restaurant

The lectern-with-book was lit from above by a thin, copper-coloured reading lamp

Something was being flambéed at that very moment, from the looks of it, accompanied by the obligatory clouds of blue smoke and dancing flames.

I cursed it all, right there: the restaurant, the girls in their black pinafores

he didn’t drive himself, no, driving would be a waste of time for someone of Serge’s status, he had a chauffeur to do that for him, so he could spend his precious time judiciously, reading important documents.

it seemed like far too much fuss over one little plate of olives

after which he would stammer some vague apology – something he’d been taught to rattle off,

My wife gave me a lovely smile, the smile she always bestowed on me when she thought I was getting worked up about nothing

Let me make it clear right away that I’m not stingy by nature

I looked at my wife, but she looked back earnestly. ‘No, I’m not pulling your leg,’ she said.

the predictable grovelling of the manager and the pinafore girls

The smile came from the same carload as the handshake

After the wine cellar and the trip to the Loire Valley

In my mind, I egged her on.

across the table I saw the look of bewilderment on Claire’s face

they also cast a wistful eye at the bottle when it seems to be getting empty

To be polite you feign interest at first, but soon you bid farewell to courtesy, you yawn openly, stare at the ceiling and squirm around in your chair

Serge looked at me, a morsel of appetizer still in his mouth, he was chewing on it, but that didn’t stop him from addressing himself to me.

things for which he did not have a local craftsman at his beck and call

When he wasn’t lugging roofing tiles or sawing wood

pair of married homosexual writers who spent the whole evening carping at each other

so maybe he was more nervous about how the evening would go than he was letting on.

at a certain point she had come out and said goodnight to all of us, and given her Uncle Paul two pecks on the cheek

Water was gurgling everywhere, not only along the stainless-steel peeing wall,

The photo moment had caused a certain amount of commotion

We won’t bother you any more. You’re here in a private capacity.’

during those blinks I thought about stepping back and making myself fade into the shrubbery.

horrible stench: a mixture of barf and sweat

even the appeal to restore the death penalty had raised its hoary head again

He had burst into a tirade about ‘the riff-raff’ who played soccer in front of his store

perhaps what I felt was the way something nameless and indefinable unfolded: a folding trellis, tent poles, an umbrella – I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stand up straight again

that would make this passer-by a witness who might have seen the boys. A material witness, someone the police would have wanted to summon via the broadcast to report what he knew

I was acting on the basis that it was better not to come back to any of it, not to rake up our secret

dogged detective who sinks his teeth into an unsolved crime and doesn’t let go for years

I ran through the whole laundry list of uncles and aunts and cousins

I don’t want any midwives pawing me!’

From a certain vantage point you could see only the presence of people, not the people themselves any more

I would deny it, I would shake my head, but much too vehemently, which would give me away, as I, in a strange, scary, squeaky voice that didn’t sound at all like my own, would say: ‘No, everything’s fine. What could be wrong?’

I looked at her, I felt warm, but in a pleasant way, the warmth of a down quilt

No more peaks and troughs

I saw her again, but now with a whole series of drips in her arm and a monitor beeping at the head of her bed

No, it’s not peanuts

I had emphasized the festive aspect

I was grateful to have every moment accounted for

The larder was full, I had done all the shopping that morning

The apple core, like all apple cores exposed for more than a few minutes to sunlight and air, was a dark brown

particularly at the overflowing laundry basket and the unmade bed strewn with newspapers

More than anything else – more than the brazen way my brother stood there, hands in his pockets, his feet planted squarely on the carpet

the smile had vanished now, replaced by something more entreating

Maybe she considered me capable of doing something rash, of doing something to Serge

fledgling that has fallen out of its nest

‘We can …’ he said. He was smiling, yes, almost beaming as he took his wife by the elbow.

She’s three, she’s the spitting image of her mother