The Other Shore (33 page)

Okay, I’ll call you old Bern then, I like that.

Why not? I may be old, but I still have to live, and live happily I will.

Daniel, Anne

This is like paradise on earth.

There’re lots of rooms here, nobody’d bother you if you wanted to write, it’s totally quiet.

You write too?

Sometimes, just for fun.

Cecile, Daniel, Anne

I envy you. Daniel, let’s buy a house in the country, okay?

Sure, if we can afford it.

It wasn’t that expensive when we bought it, but we renovated the place afterwards. He was his own designer.

It’s not too difficult, is it? You just have to write a best-seller.

A love triangle, better yet, add one more angle and make it a quadrangle, and spice it up with something juicy, you know, cops and robbers, political scandals, sex changes, exotic places, and things like that.

Got to have sex.

Daniel, Anne

Are you writing about sex? Is that what you plan to write about?

I only write about myself, and I’m the only one to read it.

A kind of private writing? Not for publication?

Cecile, Bernard

Look at these, Daniel. Wow! What a life!

Let there be wine! A beautiful weekend, a friend from the city, and the company of a charming young lady to boot, this is the best time to get drunk, wouldn’t you say? What a beautiful sunset, and there’s no war, what more could we ask for, eh? People, what music shall we put on? Take your pick, but not those crazy teenyboppers’ rocking and rolling stuff, you’re too old for them. Not that you haven’t been crazy before, from self-obsession to revolution, or to be more specific, from subversive art to the art of subversion, you’ve tried your hand at all of them. In the final analysis, art is still art, and revolution, where’s it now? Anyway, you’re lucky to be still alive! Here, let’s propose a toast to all of them!

Wow, cherries!

That’s right. You can pick one off the tree whenever you feel the urge to, and they’re grown without pesticides.

I just adore cherries.

Go pick them, don’t be shy. Anne, give her a pair of scissors.

Where are they? I’ll get them myself later!

Daniel, Bernard

An early summer afternoon.

A weekend.

God has given us one day.

And men think it’s not enough.

So that we can take it easy and enjoy life for a while.

If all men were like birds on a tree, far away from all their troubles, wouldn’t life be just wonderful?

If there were no earthquakes, no car accidents, no pollution, no frauds, no unemployment, and no Aids, kidnapping or assassinations.

Got to have no justice, no ideals, no sympathy, and no compassion.

And naturally no morality, can you imagine how wonderful the world would be? Who needs them anyway?

No matter what, right now we have this wonderful weekend to ourselves.

This is the Garden of Eden on earth, God isn’t the only one who can afford to have a garden.

Bernard, Anne, Daniel, Cecile

Hear, hear! And the sunshine is very good also—

The sunshine is gorgeous.

No wars, either racial or between the sexes.

Wars, wars, forget about wars, they’re so annoying.

What do you want to drink?

Cecile, Bernard

I’ll have a small martini first.

Ice?

Thanks.

Daniel, Bernard, Anne

Have you seen the papers? You know, Sarajevo.

Everything is happening there.

Can’t we talk about something else?

And in Italy, the Mafia—

They’re everywhere, aren’t they?

At least they’re not here yet.

Bernard, Cecile

Oh, sorry, did I make a mess of your dress?

Just a little, don’t worry about it.

If you want to take a bath—

In front of the garden?

Anne, Bernard

He designed the whole layout himself, he considers it his chef d’oeuvre.

But you still need a young lady who’s willing to perform.

Let’s talk about something more interesting!

Daniel, Cecile, Anne

One day…

Go on.

Right, go on.

A fable.

Anne, Cecile

What do you mean?

It doesn’t mean anything.

Why?

Daniel, Cecile, Anne

A fable which is unspeakable.

That’s not funny.

Well, it still means something, doesn’t it?

Cecile, Bernard

What does it mean? Tell me!

How sweet!

Somebody says I’m stupid.

Who?

Go ask him.

Anne, Bernard

Can’t we talk about something else?

Wow, it’s so nice out.

The sunshine is gorgeous!

And there’s no war.

Daniel, Bernard, Cecile

Let’s drink to our health!

Cheers! Cheers!

Can I, sir, oops, I beg your pardon, can I see your studio?

Bernard, Anne, Daniel, Cecile

Of course, you’re most welcome.

She’s so full of zest.

And hot air, there’s never a moment of quiet when she’s around.

Will I be in your way?

So typical of today’s younger generation.

Cecile, Bernard

I just adore paintings.

And cherries?

That’s right, it’s like when I was small, in our place there’s also a…Dan—

Let them go, Anne’s like a lazy cat whose only love is to bask in the sun.

Anne, Daniel

You like his paintings?

I saw them, you know, those in his albums and in the museum…

You haven’t answered my question.

I like him as a person, he’s so hospitable.

You slick devil, you.

Cecile

Come quick!

Daniel, Anne

In a minute. Furthermore, he’s a straight shooter.

He’s straightforward all right, I dare say.

Shall we go together?

You go ahead, I’ve seen them countless times.

Cecile, Bernard

He’s always like that, like his head’s in the clouds or something. He tells you to meet him on a certain day, and then he’s got the nerve to get the date wrong!

Of course he wouldn’t get it wrong if it was his girlfriend, oh, I beg your pardon.

Daniel, Anne

Why not look at them again?

I should go and prepare dinner.

Cecile, Bernard

What do I care? But it’s like he’s senile without even getting old.

It’s not easy living with a writer.

Daniel, Anne

Can I help?

Thanks, I’ve put them into the oven already.

Cecile, Bernard

To hell with writers, I’ve got my own stuff to look after. Anyway, it’s not like I’m his secretary or something.

Of course, of course, we’ve all got our own dates to keep, especially a beautiful girl like you.

Anne, Daniel

You certainly know how to please people.

No, it’s just good manners.

Cecile, Daniel, Bernard

Daniel!

Coming.

Give me a hand, we rarely open the front door, usually we just use the passage upstairs.

Wow, you’ve even got a second floor? Gosh, this is such a huge place!

We’ve divided it into two studios, a big one and a small one. They used to keep a herd of horses here, you know.

(
Music
)

Cecile

Oh, a cherry tree!

She says she’s got a soft spot for cherry trees, especially one that’s full of red, ripe cherries, all of a sudden she’s reminded of her childhood. She’s talking about the time when she was small and there’s a tree just like this one in their yard. At that time her parents had not yet split up. She had a home, a home with a garden. She also had a father, but she can’t remember when she last saw him. Once when she was dashing out of a man’s house, rushing down the stairs and across the street, a car suddenly halted right beside her and she was so scared that she began sweating all over. In the car was an old man, he just stared at her and didn’t say a word. The street was empty, there were no pedestrians, and then the car just drove away. She suddenly thought if only she had a father…

She says she tried to look for her father and found his number from the phone book. For a long time she was thinking it over whether she should make the phone call. Eventually she did.

She says a woman answered the phone.

She says she left the woman her phone number. Later, her father phoned her back and they were to meet at a cafe. She thought the baggy-eyed bald man sitting in the corner by the glass door must have been her father, but he was so different from the father in her memory, according to her memory, but who knows if it’s all just a figment of her imagination…

He said, she says her father said that if she needed money for something urgent she could go to him, but he also added that he didn’t have very much money, he was living with this woman, and he had to look after their little girl. But still he wrote her a cheque.

She says, she hasn’t tried to find him since, she hasn’t tried to find her father.

Bernard, Daniel

Quite a charming young lady.

Of course.

How old is she?

Twenty.

So young.

She always says she’s twenty.

She’s still in the prime of her life. Still at school?

Sometimes, sometimes not. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with herself.

Well, at her age, and a beautiful girl at that, she can afford to pick and choose.

Cecile, Anne

Sorry, I’m a bit nervous.

Why?

I feel strange.

Why’s that?

I haven’t had my period this month!

Go check it out, it’s not that difficult.

You think I’m pregnant?

Do you want to have a child?

He doesn’t want one.

Well, you’re still young.

Why don’t you have a child with him?

Him? He’s too old.

Don’t say that.

You don’t know.

Of course I don’t. But he still looks like a ball of fire, and so witty—

But he’s a diabetic.

Bernard, Daniel

It’s so touching when she’s talking about her father…

She hasn’t got a father.

Well, she talked about this cheque—

She told you that?

In any case, it’s a very touching story.

She tells everybody, once she meets them.

Must be some kind of incubus, it’s understandable. Lovely girl though. You’re so lucky.

Lucky or not, it’s hard to say, but it’s like a godsend that I met her.

Where did you meet her?

At the railway station.

Really!

Cecile, Anne

Shouldn’t there be some kind of symptom if I’m pregnant?

I don’t know, I haven’t had a child before.

I really want to have a child with him.

That’s easy enough.

But what if he says it’s not his?

Are you involved with some other men as well?

Don’t say that, I only love him.

And he?

Of course.

Then you should marry him and have children.

Are you married? Oops! Don’t mind me, I was just asking.

I was divorced once.

How about him?

He was too, and we decided not to get married.

Bernard, Daniel

No kidding, the railway station, it’s a wonderful place!

To be more specific, it’s the café at the railway station.

It’s too far from here to the station. At any rate, it’s such a small place that it doesn’t even have a café. We only have a country pub here, a hang-out for old folks. Young people have all gone to the cities to find work.

Cecile, Anne

Is he famous? I mean as a painter.

Painters have to put in time, they have to grind it out for years, how else can you get yourself known? Do you aspire to be a painter?

Oh no, I like paintings, I mean, I like looking at them, except that I don’t quite understand them.

It doesn’t matter if you understand them or not, it’s how you feel that counts.

Sure I’ve got feelings, if they’re landscapes or nude paintings, but his kind of painting…I wonder how I’d feel if I were his model.

Bernard, Daniel

Go on.

What should I say?

The cafe at the station, I haven’t been there for at least ten years, you don’t believe me? It’s true.

Of course it’s true. She came to me and asked me for a cigarette, I gave her one and lit it up for her.

That’s pretty much to be expected, doing a little something for a young lady.

And then she sat opposite me at the table.

Was she also waiting for the train?

Yes. She asked me what time it was.

The same train?

The same train.

Well, obviously when you’re at the station cafe, you’re either waiting for somebody or waiting for the train.

Anne, Cecile

Has he asked you to be his model?

Oh no, he hasn’t.

Don’t worry about it, he hires models all the time.

And he’s got to have models when he paints?

He paints everything.

Nudes too?

He did that a long time ago and then he stopped, and now he’s starting to paint them again.

Daniel, Bernard, Anne

What…is something burning?

Anne—the roast! It’s all burnt—

Oh, I’m awfully sorry!

(
Music
)

Bernard, Cecile

How about this?

Any way is okay.

Can I tell you something?

Go ahead.

But I don’t know how to put it.

Say whatever’s on your mind.

It’s somewhat embarrassing. I don’t know what to say.

Whatever you say, it’s bound to be interesting.

Really?

Of course, for example, when you talked about that cherry tree, I found it ever so touching.