about waiting at the gate

The pilot pulled us up to our gate at Reagan. The old couple in the row in front of me immediately stood up. Husband had the aisle seat; wife had the middle. Deplaning is a slow process. One by one, starting in the front, the passengers stand up, gather themselves, step into the aisle, open the overhead bin, pull down luggage, check themselves one last time, and then head for the exit. So the old couple in row 14 waited.

The wife had to hunch over, as all middle-seat passengers do when they stand up. The husband, in the aisle now, stretched. And he shifted, readying himself, sort of, as if he was deplaning imminently. But the Southwest deplaning process proceeded as always: indifferently. The old husband lifted his hand to his wife's shoulder and made a rubbing motion. Then he gave her two slaps on the back as he would the Pontiac after a successful road trip. The slaps said, "You made it, and I respect that." She held steady, elbows propped on the headrest in front of her, and faithfully absorbed the wordless encouragement her husband offered. Welcome to Washington, D.C., and thank you for flying Southwest.

something about "A Gambler’s Anatomy" by Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem’s A Gambler’s Anatomy scratches out a few ideas but steers clear of story. The novel follows Alexander Bruno, an international, handsome-but-aging playboy who engages in high-stakes backgammon games arranged by his shady, mostly absent business manager. We meet Bruno as he contemplates his faded youth and a growing blind spot in his vision. The blind spot turns out to be symptomatic of a seemingly inoperable brain tumor that forces Bruno through the German healthcare system and into the office of an eccentric surgeon in California. On his rapidly unraveling journey, Bruno, suddenly broke and alone, is warily reunited with high-school classmate Keith Stolarsky, who is a wealthy California real estate owner. Of course, a few women hang around and complicate things. Although Stolarsky and Bruno have no apparent attachment or affection for each other, Stolarsky bankrolls Bruno's surgery and convalescence. The surgery wrecks Bruno's looks, forcing him to wear a mummy-like mask; the scalpel also destroys Bruno's telepathic powers, which have no consequence whatsoever in this novel. This surrealistic series of events lends the novel a Thomas Pynchon-like quality. I did not enjoy it.