Fragments of an ordinary evening

We came for dinner and left at two. Nobody let us feel it was late — and that is a rare luxury now.

I had brought four guests from Munich. The kitchen spoke for me all evening, and at the card table we settled something that had been sitting for half a year.

I had never played cards in my life. The rules were explained to me with a patience I had not earned, and I spent two hours talking to a gentleman from Graz.