magazhn 9

grEEKLIsH
they had agreed.
Then they had won the Eurovision
Contest, suddenly
they were in the lights, famous,
the whole world was
talking about them, and they
had to produce more and
more songs. They had began
a tour of Europe, which had
gone well, so they had produced
more songs, and
more, and more, and released
more albums, and
more singles and then they
had planned the next tour,
and now this was their third.
The world loved them,
they were a household
name.
But at least one of them,
was not happy. Carlo and
Fredericka had each other,
they laughed and joked together
and enjoyed each
other’s company. If she ever
joined them, she seemed
like an outsider, the odd one
out.
Such was the life of a star.
She looked back out at
the city.
She watched it preparing
for winter, and a faint
nostalgia came over her.
She drew away from the
window, and sighed audibly,
but there was no one, save
her Italian maid to hear her,
and Italian maids served,
never questioned. In fact,
there were moments of aggravation
when she doubted
that they could even
think.Paris, Monaco, Rome,
Florence, Rhodes, Smyrna,
Cairo, Dubai, Florida, Kansas
City, Glasgow, then home.
The future was planned out
in front of her, like a well
organised timetable, like an
occurring decimal in a sum.
The cities would, as usual,
rush past in a haze of concerts,
applauds, flowers,
songs, songs and songs, until
her voice would be hoarse,
her complexion pale and unattractive,
and her morale
quite reduced to nothing.
The life of a singer had no
luxury – yet at the same
time it was nothing but luxury.
She looked around her at
the hotel room, the red roses,
the cream carpets and
the velvet wall paper, the socalled,
modern furniture – all
edges and corners – and the
small, enclosed kitchen, with
an electric kettle, a toaster, a
microwave oven, a coffee
machine, an espresso machine,
the bathroom, with
peach-coloured towels and
small metal toothbrushes,
she had initially considered
them a joke – of rather bad
taste.
That, was luxury, yet at
the same time it was not luxury.
It did not relax her, it did
not boost her spirits, it did
not make her laugh and feel
merry. Her throat hurt already,
her mind shivered at
the thought of the songs
that Fredericka and Carlo
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