Delphine… He squeezes her with all his might… he throws her down on his couch! still out of breath… He puts his tongue into her mouth. all the way in. he’s declaring his love.. while coughing and smoking away… It was quite an act!. the smell was revolutionizing him!. Ah! I thought he was going to croak the way he was tossing around coughing.. Delphine, that was another matter. She was cluck-clucking away!. she escaped!. came back!..
"Oh! cluck! Oh! cluck!.. please Mr. Claben! ”… while twisting around on the bed swooning.. most happy.. cluck! cluck!..
They were both urging me to take a cigarette!..
"Smoke, my boy!. Smoke!”
It was making me sick. Everything was going round. I was seeing stars… but mine was just starting!.. It couldn’t’ve been tobacco. It was far more brutal!. It was wooziness with a wallop… the real thing!.. no laughing matter… It immediately made Boro queer.. maybe in a quarter of an hour.. maybe just two or three cigarettes.. completely off!.. He wants to go up the stairs… I see him trying.. holding tight to the rail. Oh! Whiss!. Step by step!. When he gets to the landing. he turns around. he rolls about-face!.. Zoom!.. He topples straight into space!.. It’s fantastic!.. He’s not scared!. not at all!. through the air!. Boom!.. He falls right in!. into the junk. He disappears into the crater!.. into the porcelains! the crockery! He emerges delighted!.. He brushes himself off. shakes himself! He’s going up again! He hasn’t dropped his pipe. it’s still lit!. His hands are bleeding a little… He wants to start all over. He’s going up!.. to the top of the stairs.. Whiss!.. hop! a tumble!. He’s off again!. higher and higher!.. He’s torn a whole ear off!. Now he’s full of blood!. It gives Titus a big laugh!.. sitting there in his bed… he applauds! he applauds! and then the chortling starts him choking!. The fun’s strangling him!..Our patient can’t take any more! He rolls and convulses over Delphine!.. ah! we’re having a great time!.. the little loonies!.. He loses his turban!. They put it back on. Boro’s laughing hard, too.. all smudged red… ah! we’re plastered to the limit! Those weeds must be poison.. that’s what I’m thinking, the way I see it!. even with all my nausea!.. My idea!.. Just have to see those poor wretches. the way they’re yowling!.. squirming!..
"Poison! Poison! ” I yell to Delphine in English!..
She doesn’t give a damn about poison! she hasn’t taken off her hat, or her veil, or her gloves, she’s simply tucked up her skirts. she’s on top of Claben again! she’s frolicking on him! astride! Giddy-ap! she’s singing. she’s roaring with laughter..
Hep! Youp! horsey!
See me that horse!
Trot! Hi! gallop!
To Burberry Cross!
The charge of the children!..
Ah! some fun!. The old guy’s drooling in the furs. The smoke’s so thick I can barely see them.. we’ll pass out in that atmosphere. "I’m going to run all around!” I say to myself. A sudden idea. it’ll do me good!. around the big heap of furs. I was squatting. Then Boro grabs hold of me. He’s colossal… He lifts me up, he carries me in his arms… I kick, I rear, I bite at his wrists.. He carries me off, anyway!.. He’s as strong as a bear… He rocks me on the bed next to the two pigs. He lies on top of me too. He’s crushing me..belching at me. jabbering at me..
"I love you!. I love you!”.. He’s fondling me. "Ferdinand my baby-face! ” he calls me..
And now the other two, The Horror and his maid, go for my pants!.. they want to take them off!.. they’re dead set on it. they want to go down on me!. They say it right out!
they yell it at me!.. they clutch me, pull at me, roll on me.. they’re drooling on my head.. but Boro won’t let go of me!. hegrips me, chokes me!. He’s much too strong.. All three of us are rolling. we fall down! plop! plunk! from the bed! Whack!. on the floor!. we go sprawling. I tear myself from his grip!. I get out of it!. I stand up. I’m seeing red… I’m going to kill Boro!.. I see the yataghan hanging there in the middle of the room!.. in the air.. very sharp. right in the darkness.. just at my height!.. Ah! it’s going to be a cinch! I grab the saber!. It eludes me!.. What a dope!.. Am I boiling!..
"Shit!” I say. "Just my luck!. It’s an illusion!..”
The rest of them were in stitches watching me carry on that way, their little zany!. they’re laughing at me! They’re in seventh heaven!.. The old guy’s stopped choking!.. He’s cured, sure thing!. They’re necking away hard. giving each other love taps.. They adore each other.. and big gooey kisses.. right in the midst of the hodgepodge!..
"Come and see! ”.. he calls to me. "Come and see! my little bunny!. My little onion!”
It’s The Horror urging me!. I don’t want to go near. Immediately he leans over his table, he shows me his globe, his water-lamp.. with the light in it..
"Look!” he says. "Look!”
We all bend over it.. We look hard… to the bottom.. We don’t see anything at first..
"Don’t you see the man?. Don’t you see the man?” he insists in my ear..
I squint harder… I press my beak.. I’m sort of hypnotized.. maybe I see something in the crystal.. sort of jigging in the ball. but I’m not sure. I lean farther over. I get all the way down.. And Boro goes for me again… He takes advantage of my leaning over… he wants to spank me in public… I give him a stiff clout in the eye… a real hard sock. he goes staggering backwards!. He goes smashing into the sofa! He stays there collapsed! then I go for him! I climb on him! on his big body! I stamp on him! I kick him! I let him have it!. I go right at him!
We’re all pretty tight, no denying it!. Worse than that!
Were boiling!. We’re thundering!. It can’t be what we drank that’s affecting us like that!. There’s no such liquor!
After all, I’ve still got my common sense. It’s the poison cigarettes! That’s it! it’s the cigarettes! I said it as soon as I saw them. I’m going to cut their throats, all of them!.. right now! and no one’s going to stop me! No doubt about it!
.. I feel it!. to make them spit out their lies!. all their lies!.. all over the place!.. I’m going to save them in spite of themselves!.. I see a big battle scene!.. It’s a vision!.. a movie!. Ah! it’s going to be something out of the ordinary!..in the darkness above the tragedy!.. There’s a dragon munching them all!. tearing their behinds out. their guts. their livers. I see it all!. Ah! the poor carcasses!. it’s all dripping bleeding! it squirts in my eye! rip their buttocks out! Ah! there!. that’s a juicy piece. That dragon’s got hooks like sabers!.. the louse!.. He digs into the meat again… It goes "Rrrpp”.. each time!.. The blood squirts all over.. spatters!.. I’m going to pep myself up, too!.. I’m going to smoke up all their tobacco!. That’s it! That’s it! That’s the big miracle! I swipe some from Delphine’s bag. one, two, three, four cigarettes!. the sticky ones.. just wait!. They’ll see how I smoke them!. No monkey business!. another one and then two!.. then twelve!.. I smoke nine of them together!. all at the same time!. My mouth full. all together!. The spoiled brat!. I light up nine of them at the lamp!.. I take a good squint!.. I immediately see the things!. the queer things inside! At the very bottom of the ball!. Ah! he sure was right!. damned old Horror! I’m fascinated!.. It’s my head moving!.. And Boro, his head beckoning. He’s after me, the louse! He’s coming from the back of the shop, feeling his way.. blindly, from one thing to another
"I see you!” he screams. "I see you clearly!. I see you, you wet blanket. It’s some job, huh? you big dope! Come here, pretty boy! Come, I’ll tell you something!”
He takes me by the ear. He whispers to me.. He’s got an idea! Ah! but I’ve got the saber in my hand! I’m armed, fearfully! That’s why he’s joining up with me now!.. Something bad’s going to happen!.. I’m holding the saber in my left hand!. my strong and powerful left hand!. Invincible! I’m going to slit the skunk’s nostrils!.. I don’t like homos!.. What if I cut off his organs?… ah, that’d be something! I’m thinking about it!. I’m thinking about it!. but suppose he went around telling?. Ah! that scares me!. I’m palpitating!.. ah! the gab! the yellow doubt!.. Boro’s really a stool pigeon! A big dirty double-crosser!. He’s in the police, that’s it!. Ah! a rotten hunch! I see him as a policeman! I see him double!. I see ten of him!. with his ten helmets at the same time! Ah! still and all it’s funny! I’ve stopped killing him! I give up the idea!. The old guy’s clamoring again!.. He’s bellowing! He wants the piano!. He’s dreaming a concert!.. He’s having a sweet dream about the piano! The female, too!.. They insist! They’re both crying!.. But Boro, that’s another matter!. The pound they owe him!. They squabble. It’s his dough he wants!. Titus gives in!. He’s ready for great sacrifices! He doesn’t have the strength!. Anything so long as he plays!.. plays the pretty piano! magic! charm!.. One pound!.. two, three pounds!.. ten!.. for the Merry Widow Waltz!.. It’s a craze for chords!.. In short, he’s in good humor.. He’s under Delphine at the moment, just swooning, she’s lapping him, kissing him voraciously.. straddling him.. Suddenly he brutally tears away… he wants to grab me… he wants to play with me!.. But Boro rushes in between us… He doesn’t want it to go on.. He wants his dough and right away!. He wants his twenty pounds!.. Twenty pounds, he demands!.. He swears!.. He curses!.. He’s in a rage!