A Very Long Engagement Page #5

Because my dad's the keeper!

Be stuck-up then! Church mouse!

Country bumpkin!

Do you want a kick in the pants?

Can you see far from the top?

I'm going to gobble up your ears!

l'll throw you in the dungeon!

l am the squid's servant!

Doggie fart, gladdens my heart!

Manech's Marrying Mathilde!

Mathilde's Marrying Manech!

- l don't smoke.

- l know, but take it...

lt'll help you make new friends.

lf l reach the bend before the car,

Manech will come back alive!

lf l reach the bend...

lf l reach the bend

before the car...

Manech will come back alive...

lf l reach the bend...

You used to brag

about being one year older than me.

Now l'm older than you.

The man who gave you his glove

is called Poux.

Clestin Poux.

Funny, isn't it?

The man l hired to find him is Pire.

Germain Pire.

Strange name, too.

Either way, he hasn't found him.

Nor the Corsican's whore.

The wire's snapped, Manech,

but I'm not giving up.

l still believe

that Tina Lombardi's a lead.

I need to be sure.

You understand, right?

That's why

I must find Clestin Poux.

You can be really annoying,

you know.

We would be

so much better in Brittany.

Let's go, Mathilde.

You'll catch cold.

Thouvenel!

What do you want?

Who are you?

Was it you who phoned?

Who are you?

The days go by.

Still no news of Clestin Poux.

Mathilde's sadness is overwhelming.

She must eat.

She's making herself ill.

Leave her the marrowbone.

Her sadness is beginning

to rub off on us.

And so,

in the middle of the night

on the 1 5th of September, 1920,

the wire is re-tied.

"Victory!

I've finally found the roaming Poux.

"Sent by the grace of God

and Davidson motors.

"All expenses paid, of course.

Germain Pire."

Clestin Poux, Terror of the Tarmac!

The ad was yours?

Mathilde tightly clasps her hands,

to keep from shaking and crying

and making a fool of herself.

I didn't actually see

your fianc get hit.

l went to get the stew

and ran into Lebgue,

a guy l met in the Vosges.

A native of the Meuse.

Or rather a nave of the Meuse.

Even so, he could tell good coffee

from a stomach remedy.

l know. I tried to sell him

a mixture of coffee and charcoal

in exchange for

some Dutch tobacco.

So, the last time you saw Manech,

he was alive?

You couldn't miss him.

Carving Ms on a burnt tree trunk,

smack in the middle

of no-man's-land.

He carved three Ms

before the albatross got him.

Albatross!

"Albatross.

"Great sweeping sea bird,

"indolent traveling companion,

"gliding with ships

"upon bitter deep."

lt's a poem by Baudelaire.

lt was also a Jerry bomber.

The machine gun was at the rear.

We couldn't shoot yet

through the propeller.

It was you who gave him the glove?

A thick woolen red one.

My fiance spent her time

knitting scarves and mittens for me.

l traded them

with frostbitten Senegalese

in exchange for Germans' gold teeth.

l melted them down

after the Armistice.

They paid for my Harley.

But...

are you sure Manech's dead?

A comrade told me,

with a wound like that...

he didn't stand a chance.

I only saw three of them get killed

with my own eyes.

I surrender!

Don't shoot!

l beg you! l surrender!

Let me through!

I'm on your side!

l'm not French, I'm Corsican!

l've nothing against you!

Poor bastard.

So, he's not French!

Let's cancel his birth certificate.

A French corporal dealt with him...

Thouvenel. A trigger-happy swine!

He had a heart made of stone,

but a sharp eye.

Poor bastard!

l guess you like it.

I'd kill my parents for a good stew!

Don't worry, he's an orphan.

The same goes for truffles.

lf you like truffles,

I have one from Prigord...

Which ones did you see die?

The one with gangrene.

Six-Sous.

Yes, the welder.

Comrades...

Before dying...

I have a final request.

I want to piss standing up.

Like a man!

And then, you can fire away

to your heart's content!

So long to life, so long to love

So long to all those women

lt's all over

Done forever

This shameful war

At Craonne, on the plateau

That's where we'll leave our skins

For we've all been sentenced

We are the sacrificed

And Bastoche?

He was so well hidden,

we couldn't locate him.

Even at dawn,

when he answered roll call,

no one knew where he was.

A ventriloquist!

No, he was a carpenter.

No matter.

He was shot down by the Albatross,

along with your fianc.

The Albatross caught fire

and crashed on the enemy line.

Return to sender.

What about the Dordogne farmer?

He played dead from the beginning.

Not that it saved him.

The Jerries didn't appreciate

the grenade.

Don't look!

lt'll only make it worse.

When l got back with the stew,

bullets were flying everywhere.

Heavy shelling had begun.

Damn! No one can imagine

what it's like.

Can't move your legs, your heart

beats like a scared animal.

Then l saw the Dordogne farmer

shatter into pieces.

Attack,

before we're all slaughtered.

Prepare bayonets!

All that was nothing

compared to what followed.

For France!

Charge!

We'd passed

the five prisoners bodies

when the Jerry machine guns

started spitting bullets.

We were wiped out!

That Lavrouye bastard!

He kept the paper to himself.

Stretcher-bearers!

What paper?

That's all he said.

That evening, there was enough food

to feed an army.

Favart and Chardolot

were counting losses.

Why do those five

show up on our battalion list?

We're only following orders.

Something stinks here.

Something stinks?

Lavrouye stinks.

This food doesn't.

Dig in before it gets cold.

It's cold!

So you only saw

three of them get killed.

With your own eyes.

False hope

will only make you suffer.

They're not false!

You'll taste my cake?

l don't know if I should.

With a bit of fresh cream.

If you insist...

l like people

who appreciate my food.

I'll put her to bed.

Let's all get some sleep.

Slow down!

You lack control, no style...

You're better at raking

than skidding!

Hey, Postman! l'll drop you off

at the next letterbox.

And my bike?

Leave it to me. I fought in the war!

I don't have a desk job.

It's not my fault. I'm asthmatic!

An asthmatic who rides a bike!

- By the sea.

- Sure, by the sea!

Clestin, it's not a sidecar.

Those men, they never grow up...

As long as they don't play soldiers.

"Tell old Bernay... settle up by

March. His manure's too costly..."

He wouldn't write such trivialities.

Don't you agree?

There must be a code.

Except lovers' codes

can't be cracked with brains

or divine intervention.

And Bastoche?

lf he was seen with his German

boots, he must have survived.

Not so, Miss.

Gordes didn't let him go over

the top with those boots.

If the Jerries see these,

they'll know

you've stripped one of their dead.

So Tina Lombardi's

on the wrong track.

The one with the boots

wasn't Bastoche.

It was Gordes!

That's right, Miss!

He was with a boy,

from the class of '17...

Desrochelles.

l'd met some stretcher-bearers

who'd just passed them.

Are you from Bingo?

Might be.

Tell them Gordes is wounded.

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