Amerika: The Missing Person

At an unspecified point in the future, Karl sees a poster advertising the Theater of Oklahoma—inviting anyone to apply and promising that all are accepted. Karl notes that there is little interest in the poster, as it does not include payment information and “no one wanted to be an artist, but everyone wanted to be paid” (202). He has little money left—only enough to survive for eight more days—but decides to spend it on public transportation to the hiring event at the Clayton racecourse.

Karl arrives to the cacophonous sound of trumpets: Women in angel wings stand on high pedestals playing their instruments. Impressed, he is convinced that the “grandiloquence” (202) of the advertisement was not a lie. Karl runs into an old acquaintance named Fanny, playing one of the trumpets; she invites him to join her on her pedestal. Karl climbs up the steps, and Fanny asks him if he’d like to play her instrument. He realizes that the instrument is not a trumpet but one “capable of almost infinite expression” (205). Fanny is impressed by Karl’s ability and tells him he should become a musician.

Karl meets the head of personnel and goes to the engineering office, but is told he should go to the “office for people with technical qualifications” (209).