Characters
Marco
Emergency physician who stops by with bratwurst after his shift
Marco has been an emergency physician for eleven years. After a shift, he doesn’t go straight home; first he goes somewhere someone is still awake. Sometimes that’s Lena’s office at the ICRU, at twenty past one in the morning; the night guard at the entrance knows him by now. He is solidly built, his black hair cut short, and he still has his scrub pants on under a coat that doesn’t go with them. He brings food and hands it over without asking whether you want it. He never asks Lena why she has to go away, only when she’ll be back, and he remembers the answer. He has read three articles about the circulation she works on, and afterward he slept worse than after a double shift.
First encounter
- First noticed: he leans against the door frame right away, as if he had been on his feet for twelve hours
- Speaks: short and dry, care as a command (“Eat.”); by way of hello: “The night guard knows me.”
- Object: a paper bag that smells of grease and onions, with two bratwursts inside
Connected to
- Lena VossOceanographer at the ICRU in Hamburg, following a falling line
- Anna KesslerLower Elbe emergency manager who has known Lena thirteen years
- ICRU HamburgLena’s institute in Hamburg, looking out over the Elbe
Spoiler-free. This describes the starting point of the book named, without its major twists or resolutions.