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Back The Woman on the Stairs Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Bernhard Schlink
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. Part Two
  33. 1
  34. 2
  35. 3
  36. 4
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 8
  41. 9
  42. 10
  43. 11
  44. 12
  45. 13
  46. 14
  47. 15
  48. 16
  49. 17
  50. 18
  51. 19
  52. 20
  53. 21
  54. 22
  55. 23
  56. 24
  57. 25
  58. Part Three
  59. 1
  60. 2
  61. 3
  62. 4
  63. 5
  64. 6
  65. 7
  66. 8
  67. 9
  68. 10
  69. 11
  70. 12
  71. 13
  72. 14
  73. 15
  74. 16
  75. 17
  76. 18
  77. 19
  78. 20
  79. 21
  80. 22
  81. Author’s Note
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

Over breakfast Irene talked about her plans for the day. She needed to give the old man an injection. She wanted to bake bread with the young people; Thursday was baking day. She didn’t offer to take me to Rock Harbour, and I didn’t ask her to. As I accompanied her to the Jeep, she said: “I’ll be back at the same time as yesterday, hopefully in better shape. Are you cooking again?”

Again, I sat on the bench on the veranda. Unlike in the last days, the sun was shining, I wasn’t cold and I didn’t need a blanket. And yet, I again had the feeling that time was standing still and I was too.

I needed to make decisions. I needed to call my firm. I needed to delegate work. A good firm runs like a machine in which every cog starts at the right moment and stops at the right moment. If one cog fails, another replaces it. For a long time I had thought that I was the drive belt, and when the drive belt fails, the machine runs a little longer, then starts to grind, then shudders, then comes to a halt. But there is no drive belt, there are only cogs, and even a big cog is soon replaced, either with another big cog or with a couple of small ones. If I was absent for a while the firm wouldn’t grind to a halt. But it just isn’t done, to simply be absent. If a senior partner doesn’t act like he is irreplaceable, the other partners start feeling dispensable too and lose their motivation.

Really, it would be best if everyone had to work but could choose the moment when they stopped working. For three years afterwards, society would cover the costs of a decent, comfortable life. Then they would have to take their leave from the world. How they did it would be up to them.

I know, that will never come to happen. But it wouldn’t just solve the problem of our ageing society. It would give everyone control over their life. If someone wants to stop working at twenty-six and make the last years of their youth the last years of their life and enjoy them to the fullest, they would be allowed to stop working at twenty-six; and those who can’t let go of work can keep working as long as they want, only running the risk that one day they’ll be too old to enjoy their three years of leisure.