The Memory Police

The narrator meets R. in the lobby of the publishing house and offers a safe house but doesn’t disclose its location. R hesitates, not wanting to leave his pregnant wife. The protagonist tells him the plan—meeting the old man at Central Station—and leaves him to decide.

Wednesday, the day of the meeting, it begins pouring rain; when R and the old man are late, the narrator prays. The men eventually arrive, and she introduces them, still without naming the old man, calling him “our collaborator, a friend of my family since long before I was born” (76). They all drink tea together, and the narrator and the old man show R to his secret room. R says the room is “like a cave floating in the sky” (77). The old man demonstrates the amenities, such as how to use the DIY toilet and intercom system. The narrator decides to let R sleep and closes the trapdoor, covering it with a rug, for the night.

The next 10 days are a period of adjustment—figuring out scheduling for meals, obtaining needed items for R (like books), and transferring water. They share desserts, such as cookies baked by