You Should Have Left

by Daniel Kehlmann

Jana and Ella are riding a tandem bike along a country road.

October 31, 2017 mjp

I’ve always regretted that I can’t identify birds by name.

This is how it is: You have to be completely unimaginative to sit down without fear in a fuel-filled capsule. One second you’re firmly ensconced in everyday life and thinking about dinner and your tax return, the next you’re wedged in deformed metal while the flames devour you, and all that lies between the one state and the other is a clumsy turn of the steering wheel, half a second of inattention. But I didn’t want to be someone who can’t cope with everyday life. People have simply agreed that driving a car is something harmless.

Determined to match him in taciturnity, I nodded.

When you’re awake, you know that you’re awake. Am I dreaming? is not a question anyone asks seriously. I know I wasn’t dreaming. But I must have been dreaming.

I need to have a navigational bronchoscopy. 1/23/18 mjp

Nothing’s more boring than talking about dreams,