The Dashing Fellow

The Dashing FellowOur suitcase is carefully embellished with bright-colored stickers: Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Köln--and even Lido (but that one is fraudulent). We have a swarthy complexion, a network of purple-red veins, a black mustache, trimly clipped, and hairy nostrils. We breathe hard through our nose as we try to solve a crossword puzzle in an émigré paper. We are alone in a third-class compartment--alone and, therefore, bored.Tonight we arrive in a voluptuous little town. Freedom of action!...