Before Dinner
by Jeff Gabel

After Mavis Gallant’s “In Transit”

Perched on a hillside overlooking Vevey, there is a pension the size of a small chateau. The translated version of their website boasts of the most romantic view of Lake Geneva, nestled above Switzerland’s quaintest town. On a late September evening, the view from the lounge offers something like this. The rooftops of town are like a quilt, the color of burnt orange and cider. A cathedral tower rises high above, its bell ringing in the hour. Across the lake, the French Alps are capped in snow after an early frost. To the west, a setting sun marries the horizon line, cutting the pension’s lounge into pools of hard yellow light and long dark shadows.