"Well, got to get him out!’’.. the idea occurs to me.. "Got to send for the police! ’’
There’s a brilliant idea!..
"Shut up!.. Leave him there. We’ll go get Cascade.” That’s the way he answers. It’s certainly more reasonable!
I immediately agree. I even congratulate him!. I wouldn’t have thought of that by myself!.. And then I throw up again!. It’s some relief! but not much. I invite Del-phine to come outside.. She’s nauseated too.. but she won’t go out at all. doesn’t want to get any air.
She never wants to leave the body again!.. That’s Del-phine for you!
"Come on! this way, little birdie!”
Boro grabs her by her bun and ouch! she’s got to get up!. We’re all pretty seedy. We don’t look so good!. I’m staggering. It wasn’t an ordinary drunk!. Ah! now I’m quite sure of it! We finally get to the door.. We open it.. The light comes rolling in. It blasts me!.. absolutely right in the eyes! like a punch! I grab hold!.. I don’t know what it is!
I open again!. It’s the park!. Right in front!. Right there!. the steps. I grab the railing. it’s clearing up!.. The veils are lifting.. it’s gray.. purple… in front of my eyes. it’s dawn. What time is it?. No bells are ringing!
Maybe five o’clock, six?. in my opinion!. Delphine’s whimpering.. that it still hurts.. that she’ll never be able to move again!. She forces herself, anyway. She gets to her feet.. Now she’s simpering.
"Gentlemen!” she calls out.."Gentlemen! it’s all a mistake!.. It’s the fumes of drunkenness!”
She straightens her hat, her feathers, her gloves… She puts on a smile. she’s enjoying herself. "What a mistake!”. a lady of fashion. just bantering. just a joke. She’s amused at the sight of us.. woebegone, crestfallen.. she finds us funny, childish.. She treats us like little rascals..
"Boys! Boys!” she calls us…"You drank too much!.. You’re sick!”
She plants herself there in front of us!.. She’s going to whip the little devils!.. going to restore us to reason!..
Ah! then Boro grabs her. he lifts her up!. carries her to the back!.. throws her down on her knees so she can get a good look! so she’ll stop being a pain in the ass! so she can get a good look at the stiff! so she’ll stop dreaming!..
"Look!. Look!” he tells her. "That’s not him, eh?.. That’s not him?”
She hangs back. she grumbles.. she doesn’t understand a thing. then suddenly she starts screaming again!..
"That’s the man!. Yes that’s the man!” she screams.. "It’s he. It’s the devil! Gentlemen, we are all damned!”
There goes another riot..
She rushes toward the steps.. She yells it across the park. to the trees!. to the open air!. to the echoes!. Boro grabs her again… He brings her back in.. She throws herself on the stiff. she starts kissing it again!..
"Darling! Darling! ” right on the mouth!. above his wound… all around.. she sucks the opening. she gets all spattered with blood!..
Boro yanks her away again..
"Go wash!” he says.. "Go wash!..Shit!”
He pushes her under the faucet… he takes her completely in hand… he gives her a good rinsing.
"Come on! you mope! Let’s go!”
He holds on to her… he keeps her head under the running water!. She howls. she protests..
"But I’m Lady Macbeth! Never! Never! Never shall I be clean again! Never more! ”
She thrashes about.. but he doesn’t let go!
Now we’ve got to make up our minds!.. Do we go?… Or don’t we?. Ah! I’m trying to think!.. I want to put my word in, too! I don’t say anything!.. It's sleepiness, my eyes hurt too much. sleep first. I couldn’t have told left from right!. Ah! it’s pretty bad, all the same!. I force myself. I take a look outside.. there on the steps. I see the trees climbing in the park… I see them growing visibly. there in front!. right in front of my eyes. branches and branches!
.. the way they’re going up and up!.. to dizzying heights!
.. and then they get tiny.. tiny little trees, tiny little branches, they all shrivel up small. they get into my pocket! whole trees!. I don’t believe it! No. I don’t believe! Ah! can’t fool me! It’s just dizziness! a mirage! But I see them moving! Ah! no denying it! it’s a fact! they’re rising up!. It’s still the smoke I see! as far as the Observatory up there! it’s in full blossom. All those moving treetops give me a pain in the ass!
Ah! but Boro’s in charge. he’s doing the talking. "Let’s go!”
So we’re out in the chilly air. Boro’s dragging us along.. We don’t go far. Just to the bench. We squat in front of the lawn. in front of the bed of heliotrope. I remember clearly… I still see it!.. on the other side is the water! the bank!.. and farther on Poplar.. the gray house-fronts.. the anchored barges.
The three of us are sitting there.. on the bench. We’re wondering. got to know!. Delphine’s between us. she’s afraid we’ll run away..
"What do you say?.. Talk, wise guy! ”
I wasn’t saying anything.
"Listen!” I exclaim. "Listen!”
It was striking six o’clock over London. ah! it was true.. exactly six o’clock!. I was right! Boom! Boom!. Real loud above the wharves!. from way off in the distance!..
‘'Say!. Say listen!”
That was all I had to say!..
"Don’t you know anything, you dumb dope?. Don’t you know anything?”
He insists on my knowing!.. But God damn it I don’t know anything!. What I like is the Booms!. it makes me fluttery.. hazy.. the sound of the chimes.. especially as I’m already bleary, already off center. I get lit up! that’s it! lit up! I’m sensitive! I vibrate!.. He can’t understand, the big lug!
Dirty filthy dope!
"They’re drifting! ” I say to him.. "They’re drifting!. The chimes are drifting, don’t you hear them?.. Listen, you slob!
.. You blockhead! you murderer!”
Pop! just like that! whack, right in the teeth! It simply came to my mouth!..
The hell with him!
"What?” he gasps. "Wh-what, you louse? I’ll show you!”
He’s about to leap at my throat. He thinks it over. He sits still.
"Shit!” he mumbles. "Shit!”.. he’s grousing..
"You don’t give a damn, you stinker!”
I do give a damn! But I’m cold. that’s the size of it!.. I’m shivering!. So’s Delphine. Is he warm?. Delphine and I are shaking the bench. We’re trembling so much that we’re going to knock it over.. People are passing by.. the early-risers. men from the dock opposite. They stare at us.. They wonder what’s up.. why we’re yelling at each other like that. what the hell we’re doing there. We shouldn’t be talking so loud.. But he’s the one shouting, not me!..
He’s ill-bred!.. his voice booms through the park!.. his Bulgarian accent..
"So, you mug! you don’t give a damn?”. That’s how he talks to me!. "You’re leaving it all to me?”
"No! that’s not so! ”
"Maybe it wasn’t you?”
There it goes! he’s at it again!.. He’s starting!.. he’s stubborn! God damn it!
"It wasn’t you who tossed him around!. I suppose it wasn’t you? Maybe I was the one who was drunk?”
The gall! He’s pulling a fast one! He still dares!
"A dream!.. A dream!” I answer.
Ah! he can’t control himself. He’s foaming!. Some act!.. He gets off the bench to yell at me.. for better effect! Ah! he’s on the wrong tack! He makes us laugh!.. he’s trying hard!..he’s working himself up!..he’s gesticulating, the lunkhead!. standing there right in front of us. He absolutely wants me to confess! He bounces around, jumps on the grass!. with fury! with hot air!.