Flaw by Magdalena Tulli

There was a woman with a large bouquet of roses in her arms; the flowers were still striking, though they had gotten a little squashed. The bouquet is heavy, so as if out of habit she looks round for someone who up till now she could always hand them over to – perhaps a chauffeur. But here there is no chauffeur and no automobile. No one knows how she ended up in the streetcar, nor who pushed her in there. Her white fur stands out conspicuously against the background of dark overcoats; if someone had been waiting for her, they would have spotted her at once.
    But no one is waiting and no one even stares at her, neither the members of the order guard nor the policeman. She’s already hidden behind other new arrivals – thin ones, fat ones, each less attractive than the last. What about her, the beautiful woman in the fur? Perhaps she too would eventually reveal some defect of appearance? Yes, indeed. Puffy eyes, a tear-streaked face, and running mascara. No doubt she would wish to call her agent and have him extricate her from all this without delay. But where is there a telephone? Perhaps in the café across the way? The guards block her path: she is not allowed to cross over there, and besides, the café is closed. Since this is the case, the woman in the fur coat mentions the notary, giving his name and address. Winking at one another, they promise to inform the notary of her presence. It’s not hard to predict that they will do nothing for her whatsoever, yet she expects help, since it is beyond her comprehension that her voice and her looks could have lost their charm. Even if they were well-intentioned, the two guards would do no more than ask the policeman for his opinion. If they were not afraid to bother him with trivial matters. Because from the very beginning the policeman made a show of ignoring the order guard. He was immune to the lofty atmosphere surrounding it. He avoided the guardsmen; he was not interested in collaborating with them, and instead of carrying out the commander’s instructions he preferred to give orders himself, though even that he did reluctantly. Left to rely on their own judgment, the guards knew only that the crowdwas not allowed to spread out. One exception would immediately lead to another. They had this principle from their commander in his tall boots, and lacking anything else they could cling to, whether experience or their own opinions, they had to follow it blindly.
    It was hard to maintain order with nothing but one’s raised voice and bare hands. Several of them had grown hoarse at once. A directive was issued announcing the confiscation of all walking sticks, and sure enough all canes, including the white one, were deposited in the place indicated; subsequently, in the hands of the guards the canes became an instrument for control. These batons were almost as good as the one lost in the early morning by the commander, which had been exhaustively searched for but not found. In the situation the guards found themselves in, it was necessary time and again to swing their cane at someone, to give themselves confidence, which is never in sufficient supply. Looking around for their leader, the guardsmen suddenly noticed they were alone. The commander had vanished at some unknown moment, for some unknown purpose. He had disappeared without a word to anyone, and they could only hope that he was not far away, given how little space there was anyway. His subordinates could see that now orderliness depended entirely on their diligence – that is to say, the blows of their batons – and so things will remain, let’s say, for the next half an hour. Till the commander, intoxicated with power and success, will come running down the kitchen stepsof the building at the back of the courtyard at number seven, hurriedly fastening the military belt over his jacket.
    No one knew when the airmen had woken up in the hotel. Their job involved inspecting air force