Chapter FiveThe bar shines across the waterfront that Friday, orange and inviting in the night. As Felix approaches the building, he notices how the light catches the sea, or perhaps it is the sea that catches the light; at once dark and glassy but bright, as though burning from beneath.
Even for the weekend, the bar seems busy. Crowds have formed the length of the counter, and all of the sofas are occupied. Bodies made thin by modern life cut to the front with savage jabs from bony shoulders pressing through their clothes. Mouths grow wide when pressed to glass, desperate to drink, to speak, to scream a word or two after five days of bitten tongues and muted minds. Figures flicker in his vision; slim shapes, bent silhouettes with blemished skin and feathered arms. When Felix turns to fac
