The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho Read Free Book Online

permanently grid- locked, and so all she could do
     was get dressed and leave at once. She would be there in an hour and a half; she
     remembered the hotel where the producer was staying because it was on the pilgrimage route
     she had followed yesterday, in search of some opportunity, some opening.
    Now the problem was what to wear.
    She fell upon the suitcase she had brought with her, chose some Armani jeans made in China
     and bought on the black market in Chi- cago for a fifth of the real price. No one could
     say they were fake be- cause they werent: everyone knew that the Chinese manufacturers
     sent eighty percent of what they produced to the original stores, with the remaining
     twenty percent being sold off by employees on the side. It was, shall we say, excess
     stock, surplus to requirements.
    She was wearing a white DKNY T-shirt, which had cost more than the jeans. Faithful to her
     principles, she knew that the more discreet the clothes, the better. No short skirts, no
     plunging necklines, because if other women had been invited to the audition, that is what
     they would be wearing.
    She wasnt sure about her makeup. In the end, she opted for a very light foundation and an
     even lighter application of lip liner. She had already lost a precious fifteen minutes.

The Winnder Stands Alone
    11:45
    
    
     AM
    People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot,
     they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but
     are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.
    Is it just that they dont understand how simple happiness is? What can she want, that girl
     in the jeans and white T-shirt who just came running past? What could be so urgent that it
     stopped her taking time to contemplate the lovely sunny day, the blue sea, the babies in
     their strollers, the palms fringing the beach?
    Dont run, child! Youll never escape the two most important pres- ences in the life of any
     human being: God and death. God accompanies your every step and will be annoyed because he
     can see that youre not paying attention to the miracle of life. Or indeed death. You just
     ran past a corpse and didnt even notice.
    Igor has walked past the scene of the crime several times now. At one point, he realized
     that his comings and goings might arouse sus- picion and so decided to remain a prudent
     two hundred yards from the scene, leaning on the balustrade that looked out over the
     beach. Hes wearing dark glasses, but theres nothing suspicious about that, not only
     because its a sunny day, but because in a celebrity town like Cannes, dark glasses are
     synonymous with status.
    Hes surprised to see that its almost midday, and yet no one has realized that theres a
     person lying dead on the main street of a city which, at this time of year, is the focus
     of the worlds attention.
    A couple are approaching the bench now, visibly irritated. They start shouting at the
     sleeping beauty; theyre the girls parents, angry because she isnt working. The man shakes
     her almost violently. Then the woman bends over, obscuring Igors field of vision.
    Igor knows what will happen next.
    The mother screams. The father takes his mobile phone from his pocket and moves away,
     clearly agitated. The mother is shaking her daughters unresponsive body. Passersby stop,
     and now he can remove his dark glasses and join them as one more curious onlooker.
    The mother is crying, clinging to her daughter. A young man gently pushes her away and
     attempts mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but soon gives up; Olivias face already has a
     slight purple tinge to it.
    Someone call an ambulance!
    Several people dial the same number, all of them feeling useful, important, caring. He can
     already hear the sound of the siren in the distance. The mothers screams are growing
     louder. A young woman tries to put a comforting arm around her, but the mother pushes