My Afternoons with Margueritte Page #5

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Laby...

Labyrinthe.

L, A, B.

L, A, B, l...

One 'R' or two?

Whadda you think?

How do you write it?

It's not here.

Let's look up

peoples' names.

How about 'Marguerite'.

Marguerite.

Mar...

With one 'T'.

Marguerite.

Name of a flower. [daisy]

Who wouldn't know that!?

Thanks for telling me!

Name of a flower!...

Annette.

That's not how it's written.

That means fennel.

So...

...we'll look up Germain.

Where is it now?

G, E, R...

Here it is. Germain.

Cousin-germain, etc...

Inhabitant of Germany.

Germans.

Burgundians..

..Franks,..

..Goths,..

..Lombards,..

..Saxons, Teutons.

Vandals.

Yes my pet...Vandals.

So there,..

...we're not alone, eh,

Jeremy my boy.

We'll have a look at 'tomato'

and then we'll go to bed.

Tomato, tomato, tomato.

Tomato, tomato. Here we are.

So-la-na-ce-ous plant.

Solanaceous.

See 'olivette' tomato.

Don't they have

any other varieties?

The Marmande ?

The Saint Pierre ?

The White Beauty?

Just to name a few.

Why?

Are they out of season?

let's see

'solanaceous'...

Plant family...

..di-col-te...

De-col-de...

Sh*t!

Bugger this!

It's all bullshit.

All double-dutch.

Not for us.

A lot of words

are missing.

And there's too many others.

This is not for us.

I'll give it back to Marguerite.

- I've brought your clothes.

See you tonight.

- What d'you say?

What?

My shirts...

- Goddamn weather!...

...and the taxes we pay.

- Share it around...

A bit of rain for you all.

- Flowers for.... ?

- Not for you.

Let's see now.

-it's a fix!

You buy that

from the fruit salad shop?

- Piss off.

- You guys seen the

meeting hall?

Graffiti everywhere.

Arseholes !

- Who's done it ?

- Young idiots.

It'd just been repainted.

-What'll it be?

A strawberry.

..diabolo.

Vandals !

-Vandals,

Lombards.

- Loubards?

- No, Lombards.

Or Burgundians, Franks,

Goths.

- Any more?

- Saxons.

Swabians.

Vandals.

- You're getting to be a pain in the neck.

- Where'd you get all this stuff?

Implanted knowledge.

What's that?

- Don't you dare touch it!

Or I'll kill you!

- Are you crazy or what?

- I won't have you lot in here

if you carry on like this.

- Ciao Youssef.

- Ciao.

- Oh Youssef.

- Bravo, Youssie darling!

I didn't really want

any ruined bread.

Go and dry it out.

You too.

- Is he back?

- You saw him.

It wasn't his twin brother.

-That's what all the......was about!

- It's like I said before about...

...the old...

Cut it out!

You nuts or something?

You need to see a doctor.

I was saying...

- You're not saying anything!

Don't say anything.

- Well... if I can't even talk...

- Play.

- Play.

- G'day.

I've come to see

Margueritte.

- Marguerite who?

There are several Marguerites here.

-With two 'T's.

- Ah...Madame Van de Velt.

She's expecting you?

- Yes. For tea.

- First floor.

At the end of the corridor.

- Thanks very much.

- Germain.

... from my garden.

- Thank you.

Flowers

from your garden.

Come in.

....You go walking

with your dictionary?

- I'm returning it...

I can't use it.

It's of no use to me.

- Not at all?

- If I don't know how

a word's written, I can't find it.

And besides that...

I don't agree with it.

Things I know about

for example...

Tomato varieties.

There's only one there:

the olivette.

None of the others

get a mention.

- I agree, Germain.

It's very incomplete.

I looked for 'cootie'

and I looked again.

It's not there.

- See what I mean!

- I haven't asked you

to sit down.

Not there!

It's too late for me.

No need to cut down rain forests

to make dictionaries...

...that are of no use

to idiots.

It's like giving a pair of glasses to...

...someone who's short-sighted.

Suddenly you see too much.

All the defects...the holes.

With you I tried to learn...

...but it's painful.

It was better when things were blurry

...and simple.

- I'll make some tea.

It hurts me when

I hear you talking like that.

- Is that you there?

In the photo.

- Yes.

- Well, well, well.

You were a bit heavier

than you are now.

Where were you camping?

-It's in Zare.

Used to be called Congo.

I was there for...

... a medical mission.

for WHO.

- What's that?

- The World Health

Organisation..

- Hold on.

Allow me.

I'll help you.

So you're an

ex-scholar?

- let's just say...

...scientist.

That's enough.

Can I pour?

- Thanks.

Not too much.

It's nice here, isn't it.

- Yes.

But it's very dear.

My nephew helps me,

but for how long?

His wife doesn't agree.

So...have we given up

on them?

- Who?

- Our Amazon indians.

I found this novel...

..by Sepulveda.

He's a writer from Chile.

It's a story...

...of natives

in a faraway country...

...accused of murdering...

...a white hunter.

The real culprit...

...is a majestic panther.

There.

We'll let our indians

go back to their forest.

- Wait...

...What's it called?

- ''The old man

who read love stories''.

''Feeling dizzy, he stood up...

...''brandishing

his machete in both hands...

...''waiting for the final attack.

''Above him the female

...''wagged her tail frantically...

''Her small ears twitched,

catching every sound in the forest.

''But she didn't attack.

''Surprised, moved slowly

to pick up his rifle.

''Why don't you attack?

''Are you playing a game?

''He cocked the hammer...

...''and aimed.

At this distance

...he couldn't fail...

- And then?

- Next episode.

- Yes.

You're tired.

- It's just that...

I don't think I'll be able to go on

reading for a long.

- Why?

- I don't see very well.

I suffer from macular degeneration

due to old age.

I see spots

in the center of my eyes.

.

They're going to get worse.

I can hardly read.

- That's why you use

a magnifying glass.

- Yes.

Soon, my dear Germain...

...will disappear

into the shadows.

I won't be able to count

the pigeons.

- Isn't there

an operation?

- My sight's dying.

You can't operate on death.

I'll need to get a cane...

...to find my way past the obstacles

in the street.

- Ah yes.

No, wait.

I'll take care of the cane.

- Who were they for?

The flowers... I thought

they were for me.

I've been waiting all day.

I watched for you.

- Why would I be giving you flowers?

Why.

Who were they for?

Eh?!

I'm no Francine!

You can't treat me like Youssef.

Do you love her?

What's her name?

- Her name's Margueritte.

The flowers were for her. And this is too.

She's 95 years old

and yes, I love her.

Satisfied?

- You're crazy.

- Sit down.

Sit down.

-Why haven't

you told me anything?

- In what order ?

An old lady

who counts the pigeons.

A dictionary where

you're named Fennel.

A town overrun

with rats.

Nobody'd believe it.

- But I believe you.

- If you saw her.

So delicate

on her fragile legs.

Like those little glass animals...

...like a doe in the window.

I could break her

like that.

Now...

She'll soon be seeing in black and grey

and then just black.

Does it seem fair?

- She's going blind?

-Yes, she's going blind.

What can I do?

Get her windscreen wipers

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