The Appointment

"I have been summoned." A young woman in a busy Romanian city is on her way to an interrogation by the secret service. She's travelled this way by tram many times before, but this time she feels a sense of foreboding, and so has packed a towel, toothpaste and toothbrush. On her way there she thinks back on her life: growing up in the provinces, the almost sexual longing for her father, her grandparents' deportation, the fleeting moments of happiness she has experienced with Paul, even though his heavy drinking is causing problems between them. Outside, rigid clocks show the unstoppable passage of time: tramway stations, passengers getting on and off, streets rolling by. All this ought to act as a distraction, yet everything seems to lead inexorably back to: "I have been summoned." But today the driver doesn't stop at the station where she's meant to get off. And, for the first time, she decides not to go to her appointment with the police.