Chapter 5 chapter Five
At around 1:30 in the afternoon, McGregor pushed open the door of the Fontaine Hotel. At this time, the boss just got up and walked lazily down the winding ladder in the back hall.
He was not as tall as the sheriff, but as big and strong as he was.At the moment, he still smelled of a lavatory, his hair had been sprinkled with cologne, and there were traces of talcum powder on his earlobes.He wore neither a coat nor a stiff collar.The shirt was lightly starched and dazzlingly white, with a loose collar pin pinned to the neckline.
He walked behind the counter, pushed the waiter aside casually, picked up a bottle of white wine and a glass, mixed some mineral water into the wine, then tilted his head back and rinsed his throat with the wine.
At this time, only a few passers-by came in to drink a cup of coffee in a hurry.McGarry sat alone by the window, but the boss didn't see him, and he put on a blue bib.Then he turned around and faced the blonde girl who was busy selling tobacco leaves and also in charge of the cashier.
He neither talked to the waiter nor the girl, opened the cash drawer that automatically recorded income, checked some kind of book, and finally stretched himself before he woke up completely and started his day's work.When he inspected the store, the first thing he noticed was that McGarry was looking at him calmly.
They had never met before, and despite this, the boss frowned his thick, black eyebrows.It can be seen that he is thinking hard, but there is no result, so he looks a little unhappy.However, he did not expect that this peaceful customer would stay in the shop for twelve hours!
McGarry's first thing was to go to the cashier's office and ask the girl:
"Do you have any money for your phone bill?"
The telephone booth is in the corner on the right side of the store, separated only by a frosted glass door.McGarry felt that the boss was watching him, so he fiddled with the telephone vigorously, making the dial rattle and unclick from time to time.At the same time, his other hand cut the telephone line with a knife. Since the cut was close to the floor, it was difficult for others to detect.
"Hi! . . . Hello! . . . " he cried loudly.
When he walked out of the phone booth, he looked unhappy.
"Is your phone broken?"
The boss looked at the female cashier, and she said in surprise:
"It was all right just now. Lucien called and asked for a croissant. Didn't you, Lucien?"
"Not a quarter of an hour," confirmed the waiter.
The boss hasn't become suspicious yet, but he has been watching McGregor secretly.He walked into the phone booth and tried to see if he could get through the phone. He fiddled with it for ten minutes, but he didn't find the cut phone line.
McGregor returned to his seat expressionlessly and ordered a glass of beer.He is mentally prepared enough to know that he will sit in this chair for hours in front of this imitation mahogany table, and he has enough time to watch what is happening at the zinc counter and watch the cashier Girls behind glass partitions sell tobacco leaves and rolls.
When the boss came out of the phone booth, he turned around and kicked the door shut.He walked to the door of the shop and took a few breaths of street air.He was standing very close to McGregor, and McGregor was watching him intently, and he finally realized the gaze fixed on him, and turned around sharply.
The sheriff remained as poised as a customer about to leave, without taking off his coat and hat.
"Lucien! Go to the next door and call someone to fix the phone."
The waiter hurried out with a dirty towel in his hand.The boss had to entertain two masons himself. When they came in, they looked very strange, almost covered with a layer of uniform white ash.
The mystery in the hotel continued for almost another ten minutes.When Lucien came back and told that the decorator would not be able to come until the next day, the boss turned to McGregor and cursed softly through his teeth:
"asshole!"
This sentence may refer to the decorator who did not come, but in any case, more than half of it refers to the customer, and the boss finally recognized him as a policeman.
At 2:30, a long comedy that everyone could not see kicked off.The owner's name is Louis.Some customers who knew him went up to shake his hand and exchange some pleasantries with him.Louie himself was too lazy to deal with customers, and spent most of his time retreating behind the counter, among the waiters and the girl selling cigarettes.
He peered at McGregor over the head, as uneasy as the customer.They must have looked very funny, because they were both fat, big, and bloated, and neither of them would back down in spite of themselves.
Neither of them is stupid.Louie knew very well what the customer was doing when he kept looking at the glass door, worried that someone might come in just at that very moment.
At this time the activity in the streets of Fontaine was as prosaic as in any street in Paris.There was an Italian grocery store opposite the Tobacco Hotel, and the nearby housewives department went to that store to buy things.
"Waiter! A glass of cider."
The blond cashier sat listlessly, watching McGregor with increasing wonder.As for the waiter, he had already smelled something, but he couldn't tell the truth, so he glanced at the shopkeeper from time to time.
Just after three o'clock, a light-colored spacious sedan pulled up on the sidewalk.A tall, brown-haired young man with a knife scar on his left cheek got out of the car, walked into the tobacconist, and stretched his hand over the zinc counter.
"Hi, Louie."
"Hello, Eugene."
McGarry looked at Louie from the front, and then at the newcomer in the mirror.
"A glass of mint water, Lucien. Quick!"
It was a Brott fan, probably the owner of the brothel in Béziers that Fernand had been talking about.He was wearing a silk shirt, the outer clothes were well tailored, and he exuded a fresh fragrance.
"you saw it……"
He didn't finish his sentence, because Lucien signaled that someone was listening to them, and Eugène immediately looked at McGregor in the mirror.
"Yes! A glass of iced Xifeng mineral water, Lucien."
He took a cigarette from the case with his initials on it and lit it with a lighter.
"Good weather, huh!"
That's what the boss said, sarcastically, while continuing to watch McGregor.
"Good weather, yes. But you've got a strange smell here."
"What smell?"
"It smells like burning."
They both laughed while McGarry smoked lazily on his pipe.
"See you later?" Ou Ren asked, holding out his hand again.
He wondered if they would meet again later, as usual.
"See you later."
Heartened by this brief conversation, Louie grabbed a dirty rag, smiled secretly, and walked towards McGregor.
"Would you please let me go?"
He wiped the round table clumsily, knocked over his wine glass, and spilled the cider on the sheriff's trouser leg.
"Lucien! Bring another glass of wine to this gentleman."
As an apology, he said:
"Don't worry, it will be the same price!"
McGregor could only smile lightly.
At five o'clock, the lights were on in the room, but it was still quite bright outside, and the customers could be clearly seen crossing the sidewalk, turning the hook handle of the door, and entering the tobacco shop.
When Joseph Odia arrived, Louie and McGregor looked at each other in unison, and since then, as if after a long heart-to-heart talk, the two of them have agreed to each other.There is no need to speak of Floria, Pepido, and Caro.
McGarry knew it all, and the boss knew he knew it all.
"Hello, Lutt"
Odia was a small man in a black suit, with a slightly crooked nose and rolling eyeballs.He walked up to the counter, held out his hand to the cashier, and said:
"Hello, my big beauty."
Then he said to Lucien:
"Have a glass of Pernot, young man."
He talked eloquently, as if he were an actor in a play.Yet McGarry doesn't have to look closely to see the uneasiness beneath the illusion.Besides, Odia's facial muscles twitched.When the smile disappeared from his lips, his facial muscles automatically returned to their original shape with a exertion.
"No one has come yet?"
The room was empty except for two customers standing in front of the counter.
"Eugène has come."
The boss re-enacted the scene so Odia knew McGregor was there.The guy wasn't as quick-witted as Eugene, and suddenly turned around to stare at McGregor, and even spat.
"Except for this? . . . " he asked finally.
"Nothing else. Did you win?"
"Don't even think about it! Their inside information is inaccurate. In the third set, I should have hoped to win, but the horse started slowly. Give me a pack of Gauls, beauty."
He could not settle down for a moment, crossing his legs, shaking his arms, shaking his head again.
"Can I make a phone call?"
"No. The gentleman sitting over there cut off the phone."
Louie glanced at McGarry again.
This is an open struggle.Odia felt very uneasy. Uncle Sheng himself did something stupid, because he didn't know what happened before.
"Shall we meet again tonight?"
"Same as usual!"
Odia left after drinking the perno.Louis sat down at a table next to McGarry, who was being served a steaming dinner by the waiter on the gas stove in the pantry.
"Waiter!" cried the sheriff.
"Here comes the bill! Nine francs and seventy-five . . . "
"Give me two more ham sandwiches and a glass of beer."
Louie was eating a warm pickle with two delicious red sausages.
"Is there any more ham, Mr. Louis?"
"There should be a piece of stale ham in the freezer."
He chewed loudly, and pretended to eat very vulgarly.McGregor pretended not to notice that a lover sent two shriveled and wrinkled sandwiches.
"Waiter! Some mustard..."
"No la."
The next two hours passed more quickly because the hotel was full of passers-by drinking aperitifs.The boss also had to do his own thing.The door kept opening and closing, closing and opening again, and every time it opened and closed, a gust of cold wind hit McGarry.
Because the freezing period has already begun.For a while, the buses passing the hotel were packed, and some passengers were even hanging on the pedals.The pedestrians on the street gradually thinned out.After the peak at 7 o'clock in the evening passed, there was a strange silence, which heralded the advent of a lively night market with a different scene.
The most difficult time was from eight to nine o'clock, when the customers in the shop were all gone, the waiters also went to eat, and the blonde cashier was replaced by a woman in her forties, who began to sort the coins in the cash drawer Inventory, pile upon pile to stack up.Louis also went upstairs to the bedroom, and when he came down he had put on a tie and a coat.
Joseph Odia was the first to arrive, appearing in the shop a few minutes after nine o'clock.He first looked for McGregor with his eyes, and then walked towards Louie.
"How are you?"
"Fine. There's no reason it's bad, are you right?"
However, Louis no longer had the energy of the afternoon, he was tired, and he no longer looked at McGregor calmly as before.So does McGregor feel a certain kind of boredom?He drank what he needed: beer, coffee, cider, Vettel's.Seven or eight trays were piled up in disorder on the one-legged round table, but he was determined to drink.
"Here! Eugene and his companion are here."
The light blue car was parked beside the sidewalk again.Two men walked into the tavern, with Eugene walking in the lead, dressed exactly the same as in the afternoon, followed by a shy, smiling young man who was younger than him.
"Where's Oscar?"
"He's sure to come."
Ou Ren winked, meaning to let his partner pay attention to McGregor, and then put the two one-legged round tables together, and took the red table carpet and chips from the shelf.
"let us start?"
In short.Everyone is acting and the directors are Eugène and the boss.Especially Eugene, who came here with vigor and vigor, intending to do a big job.His teeth were white and gleaming, and his wit and vivacity, without affectation, was sure to please women.
"At least we can all see better tonight!" he said.
"Why?" Odia asked, and since then he has always been slower than others.
"Because we have a rare candle, here!"
The candle refers to McGarry, who sits smoking a pipe not a meter away from the card table.
Louie brought the slate and chalk as usual, since he was used to keeping score.He drew several lines of kong on the slate, divided into several columns, and marked each column with the initials of the names of the players.
"What would you like to drink?" the waiter asked.
Eugène squinted his eyes at McGregor's glass of cider, and replied:
"Same as that gentleman's!"
"I'll have a glass of plum-Vettel," Odia said, looking uncomfortable.
The fourth, speaking with a strong Marseilles accent, appeared to be a recent arrival in Paris.He imitated Eugene's behavior and seemed to have great admiration for Eugene.
"The hunting season is not over yet, what do you think, Louis?"
This time, even Louis was dumbfounded.
"How would I know? Why do you ask this?"
"Because I always want to shoot some rabbits."
This is alluding to McGregor again.Further explanations were to follow, but by this time the cards had been dealt and each man fanned them in his left hand.
"I went to see our gentleman just now."
This sentence should be translated as:
"I have already notified Karuo."
Odia immediately looked up.
"What did he say?"
Louie furrowed his brows, probably thinking they'd gotten carried away.
"He's got a belly laugh! He's got a lot of acquaintances, and he's ready to celebrate."
"The main suit of diamonds...three straight flushes, the biggest...is it a showdown?"
"A four-card straight flush."
It can be felt that Ou Ren's emotions are extremely agitated, he is not using his mind on playing cards, he is thinking of another crazy idea.
"People from Paris," he complained suddenly, "go to the country for their holidays, say to the Loire, and the most ridiculous thing is that people from the other side of the Loire go to Paris for their holidays."
The stick finally came!He was anxious to show McGregor that he knew it all.Still smoking his pipe, McGarry warmed his cider with his palm and took a sip.
"Be careful with your own cards," said Louis displeased, and from time to time he looked at the gate with melancholy eyes.
"The main flower... double the 20 points, plus the last ten points..."
A man who looked rather like the shopkeeper from Montmartre entered, and he sat in silence, a little behind, between Eugene and his Marseilles, talking to everyone. They all shook hands.
"How are you?" Louis asked.
The newcomer opened his mouth and only made a small sound.He is a man with a deaf voice.
"still alright!"
"Do you understand?" Eugene yelled straight into his ear, which showed that he was still deaf.
"Understand what?" the thin voice asked.
People had to stamp his feet hard under the table.The deaf man's gaze finally turned to McGregor, and after a long look, a smile flashed across his face.
"I understand.".
"Grass flower main flower... I don't want..."
"I don't want either..."
The Rue Fontaine was alive again.Neon signs gleamed, and doormen from various bars took to the sidewalks.Floria's porter had no one to attend to him, so he had to go back to get his cigarettes.
"Chicken Heart Flower..."
McGregor felt his body was warm, and his joints were numb. Even so, he didn't show any traces, and the expression on his face was still exactly the same as when he came here for "duty" at 1:30.
"Tell me," Eugene suddenly asked the hard-of-hearing person next to him, "a locksmith who no longer makes locks, what do you call him?"
The comedy of this conversation lies in the fact that the other party's reply almost made Eugene howl with anger.
"A locksmith, who...? I don't know..."
"I, I call him Shameless."
They picked up the cards, shuffled them, dealt them, and played game after game.
"What about a policeman who isn't a policeman now?"
Only then did the person next to him understand, his face glowed with joy, and he said word by word in a voice so thin that it was almost hard to hear: "Shameless!"
Then there was a roar of laughter, even Odia laughed, but his smile soon subsided.Something prevented him from having fun with everyone.Despite the presence of his friends, he could still be felt apprehensive.This is not just caused by McGregor.
"Lion!" he called to the night waiter, "bring me a glass of brandy with water."
"Are you drinking brandy now?"
Eugene had already noticed Audie Ambo and watched him sternly.
"You better not overdose."
"Overdose of what?"
"How much perno did you drink before dinner?"
"Fuck!" Odia pushed him back.
"Calm down, my boys," Louis intervened, "Spades!"
At twelve o'clock at midnight, their gaiety seemed even more unnatural.McGarry remained unmoved, with a pipe in his mouth and a coat draped over his shoulders.He has almost become an integral part of the interior furnishings, one can even say: he is part of the wall.Only his eyes were alive, moving slowly from the one playing cards to the other.
Odia was the first to complain, followed by a certain impatience from the deaf man, who finally stood up.
"I have to go to a funeral tomorrow, I should go back to sleep."
"Get out, go to hell!" Ou Ren cursed in a low voice, knowing that he couldn't hear him.
He said this, as he said anything else, for the purpose of emboldening himself.
"Doubling again... Main flower... Another main flower. Let's show your cards..."
Odia drank three glasses of brandy in a row in spite of everyone's eyes. The wrinkles on his face deepened, his complexion became pale, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going back too." He stood up as he said.
He was sick, you could see that.He drank his third glass of brandy to boost his courage, but it made him dizzy.Louis and Odan were relatively silent.
"You're as wet as a towel." Eugene finally said casually.
It was half past one in the night.McGregor was ready to pay the bills, and he put the money on the one-legged round table.Eugene pushed Odia into a corner and whispered something to him, but his tone was very strong.Odia resisted for a while, and was finally persuaded.
"See you tomorrow!" he said, reaching out to the doorknob.
"Waiter! How much?"
The tray slammed.McGarry buttoned up his overcoat, loaded another pipe, and lit it on the gas lighter by the counter.
"Good night, gentlemen."
He stepped out the door and immediately recognized Odia's footsteps.As for Eugene, he had already gone behind the counter, as if he wanted to say something to the boss.Louis had already understood, and carefully opened a drawer.Eugene put his hand in, put his hand in his pocket again, and went towards the gate, accompanied by the Maasai.
"See you later!" After saying goodbye to the boss, he immediately disappeared into the vast night.
Notes:
Notes: