The pigeon, p.7
The Pigeon, page 7
He stopped and set his suitcase down, though only five steps still lay ahead of him. He did not want to turn back. He wanted only to pause for one brief minute, to catch his breath, to let his heart calm down again before he walked this last part of the way.
He looked back. His gaze followed the spiralling oval twists of the railing into the depths of the stairwell, and at every floor he saw the rays of light falling in from the sides. The morning light had lost its blue and grown yellow and warmer, he thought. From the elegant apartments he could hear the first sounds of the awakening house: the tinkle of cups, the muted slam of a refrigerator door, soft radio music. And then suddenly a familiar aroma rushed into his nose, the aroma of Madame Lassalle’s coffee, and he sucked in several breathfuls of it, he felt as if he were drinking that coffee. He picked up his suitcase and went on. All at once he was no longer afraid.
As he stepped out into the hall, with a single glance he saw two things straight away: the closed window and a cleaning rag that had been laid out to dry over the sink next to the shared toilet. He could not see all the way to the end of the hall; the blinding bright square of light at the window cut off his line of sight. He walked ahead, more or less fearlessly, stepped through the light, entered the shadows behind it. The hall was completely empty. The pigeon had vanished. The splotches on the floor had been wiped away. Not a feather, not a wisp of down was left trembling on the red tiles.
THE BEGINNING
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First published in German by Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich 1987
This translation first published in the USA by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1988
First published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton 1988
Published in Penguin Books 1989
Reissued in this edition 2010
Copyright © Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich, 1987
This translation copyright © Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988
Cover illustration by Klaus Haapaniemi at Big Active
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-241-97533-6
Patrick Süskind, The Pigeon
