The Height of the Storm Page 3

MadeleineNo, no, I’ll deal with it.

  She goes into the kitchen.

  ÉliseJust as you like.

  AndréI’m here!

  MadeleineIf the weather holds, we could try and eat outside.

  ÉliseGood idea …

  AndréI … I … There, there’s my chair. I can still sit in it. And there are the flowers … I can still smell them. There’s the window. The door. The lamp. And me. I’m here. I … Look at me …

  No reaction.

  Madeleine …

  She doesn’t seem to see him. Seized with fear, he turns towards Élise, who has sat down in his chair and now absently opens a book.

  I’m still here … I’m … You can see! I … I’m here. Among you. I’m here. I … Aren’t I? Look. I’m still here. I am. Can you hear me? I’m here …

  But his words seem to disappear into the void. Despair. Pause.

  Blackout.

  Two

  The same room, a little later. Madeleine and Mrs Schwartz are having tea. The latter might appear to be younger than Madeleine. In any case, she doesn’t correspond physically to the description of ‘childhood friend’. Élise is also there. At the start, she’s playing with her mobile, as if this conversation doesn’t really interest her. In one corner a Man can be seen, whose presence is not explained. Everyone behaves as if he isn’t there; in the same way, he pays no attention to what’s going on in the room. He’s busy with some solitary activity: sharpening knives, for example.

  WomanHe was an exceptional man. I’ve often thought about him, through all these years. I read his books, which I found shattering, and every time I could see again the young man I’d known. I admired him very much, you know … And then I run into you today, I heard someone say your name in the market and I said to myself, ‘That’s her,’ and came over to you with no clear idea of what I might say to you. You were together and …

  Pause.

  You have two daughters, is that right?

  MadeleineYes. Anne and Élise. And … what about you?

  WomanA son.

  MadeleineOh?

  WomanYou saw him just now.

  MadeleineOh, yes. Yes.

  WomanA wonderful boy. I brought him up on my own. Well, you know …

  Élise looks up from her mobile. Pause.

  MadeleineNot long ago, he showed me an article he’d cut out of the newspaper. A story which had caught his interest … Maybe you heard about it? It happened about three years ago … The story of an elderly couple who’d booked a suite at a big hotel in Paris … The Lutetia, I believe. Does that ring a bell?

  WomanI don’t know.

  MadeleineIt was the hotel where they’d got married decades earlier. That evening they had dinner in the big restaurant and went to bed asking not to be disturbed. The next day when the maid finally went into their room, she found them stretched out on the bed. Fully clothed. Both of them. They’d taken something. The newspaper said it was some kind of mushroom … Anyway, they were no longer breathing.

  WomanDo you mean they’d committed suicide?

  MadeleineOne of them was already ill. And they were quite old. They knew there was nothing very interesting in store for them. Retirement homes, hospitals, all that … They didn’t want that. And they didn’t want to be a burden on their children. So, you see … They preferred to leave with dignity. In each other’s arms.

  WomanCreepy.

  MadeleineYou think so? At the time, when he made me read the article, that’s how I reacted. But today I’m wondering if …

  Brief pause.

  ÉliseIf what?

  MadeleineHow can I put it? I think his greatest fear was that I might die before he did … He wouldn’t have been able to bear that. To find himself completely on his own. He wouldn’t have been capable of managing without me. I don’t say that to give myself any particular importance. It’s just the way it was. He wasn’t able to adjust to the simplest things in life. Anything concrete. He used to talk about it sometimes. It would have been a nightmare for him. A real nightmare.

  WomanSo in some ways …

  MadeleineYes. It’s my only consolation. He made me promise to outlive him. A bit stupid. Not to go before him. And I’m not the kind of person who doesn’t keep her promises.

  Pause. She pulls herself together.

  I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m burdening you with all this! Instead, why don’t you tell me … You, I mean! I still haven’t worked out when you got to know one another … You seem so much younger than him …

  Anne comes in.

  Ah, here she is … This is my other daughter …

  Anne comes over and shakes hands.

  AnneHello.

  MadeleineAnne, Mrs Schwarz. A childhood friend of your father’s.

  AnneIt’s a pleasure.

  WomanNot exactly a childhood friend … We came from the same part of the world, so, when I went to study in Paris, we had a lot of mutual friends. Georges, in particular.

  AnneGeorges?

  WomanI won’t deny we had a relationship, the two of us. For many years.

  MadeleineYou what?

  AnneYou had a relationship with …

  WomanYes.

  Brief pause. Then she clarifies what she’s said.

  With Georges. André’s friend.

  MadeleineAh.

  WomanGeorges Dulon. Name doesn’t mean anything? I was always around … I was fascinated by them. They’d started up this little literary magazine … But all that’s so long ago. A century ago.

  Pause.

  Madeleine(to her daughters) When I met your father, he didn’t tell me anything about his life. Sometimes you really had to nag him to get him to answer questions.

  AnneI know.

  MadeleineHe was a very secretive man.

  Pause.

  (To Anne.) Would you like a cup of tea? Come and sit with us.

  AnneNo, thanks. I’d better get back.

  MadeleineMy daughter’s trying to sort through André’s papers.

  WomanOh, yes?

  MadeleineYes. He kept a kind of private diary, which he never published. And his editor, who knew about the existence of these diaries, asked her if she could find them. That’s why she’s here.

  AnneIt’s not the only reason.

  MadeleineIsn’t it?

  ÉliseYou know very well, Mum, we came to be with you.

  MadeleinePerhaps you did …

  Pause.

  WomanAnd have you read these diaries?

  AnneI’ve just started. They’re not always very legible …

  WomanI imagine that must be quite unsettling. Isn’t it? The image you construct of someone is bound to be invented. And suddenly you find out … the truth. And there’s always something scandalous about the truth. Don’t you think?

  Pause. Uncomfortably, Madeleine holds out the teapot in the Woman’s direction.

  MadeleineWould you …?

  WomanThank you. Delicious tea.

  MadeleineThanks. (To Anne.) Is he still asleep?

  AnneNo. I think I heard him.

  MadeleineCould you go and check? Tell him his friend has arrived.

  ÉliseNever mind. I’ll go.

  AnneNo, no. I’ll take care of it.

  Anne goes out.

  MadeleineHe has a siesta, every day at the same time.

  WomanOh?

  MadeleineYes. He’s done it for years. I’m sorry. I thought he’d have woken up a bit earlier.

  WomanIt’s all right. I’m not in any hurry …

  Pause.

  MadeleineAs I told you, he has moments of complete alertness. Brilliant insights. Epiphanies. And then other moments of confusion and incoherence … of fog … But I think he’d be happy to be able to talk to you about that time of his life … To recall the past.

  ÉliseAnyway, when we told him we’d run into you this morning, he seemed happy. I mean, at the idea of seeing you again … Didn’t he?

  WomanMe too! To me, he’s the greatest writer of his
generation. I admired him so much.

  Pause.

  (To Élise.) My brother had this kind of … He also had problems with his memory. But they didn’t find out about it until very late on. I must say, his wife did everything she could to stop people realising.

  MadeleineOh, yes?

  Woman(to Élise) She was very good at it. She would answer for him, always kept ahead of him in the conversation, took possession of the field … So well, no one really grasped the situation. It was only when she disappeared that we realised how ill he was.

  ÉliseSo what did you do?

  WomanWe had to put him in a nursing home. It was very painful.

  ÉliseI’m sure.

  WomanAll the more so because it happened very suddenly. His wife was so … strong. Younger than him. No one was expecting her to go first … And then one morning she got up, went to do some gardening and dropped dead. Quite simply.

  Madeleine(apparently concerned) Doing some gardening? Do you mean … in the vegetable garden?

  No one answers. The Woman rests her hand on Élise’s forearm, as if she wanted to support her.

  WomanDon’t worry. I’m sure everything will be all right.

  ÉliseLet’s hope so.

  André appears, followed by Anne. He sees Mrs Schwartz.

  ÉliseAh! You’re awake!

  AndréNo.

  ÉliseCome and have some tea with us! We’ve been waiting for you.

  AndréWhat …?

  The Woman gets up.

  WomanAndré! How are you?

  AndréMe?

  WomanIt’s been such a long time …

  He looks questioningly at his wife. Who is this woman?

  MadeleineI told you I ran into your friend this morning.

  AndréDid you?

  MadeleineIn the market.

  André(as if he’s remembered) Oh, yes!

  MadeleineYes! And I invited her to come to the house for tea. Mrs Scartzw. You remember?

  WomanHow wonderful to see you again! I’ve often thought about you, you know …

  AndréThat’s nice. But …

  WomanAfter all these years …

  AndréYes, yes. Right. Is that right? Yes, yes. Yes, that’s right. That is right, isn’t it? That’s right. Right. That’s right. Yes, yes, yes.

  Madeleine(somewhat embarrassed) Mrs Scatrtz is passing through the area. I said to myself, you’d be happy to see one another.

  She turns towards the Woman.

  As I understand it, you were friends when he was starting out?

  WomanYes. There was a whole little group of us … As I was telling you, André and Georges were inseparable. He’d just published his first novel. Isn’t that right? He was already famous. Everyone admired him. So … But you couldn’t say we were especially intimate.

  MadeleineNo? I thought you said …

  WomanNo. Later, yes, we did have a, let’s say, special relationship.

  AnneSpecial?

  WomanYes. That’s the right word, I think. Isn’t it?

  AndréI don’t know.

  WomanI remember it as if it were yesterday. We all went on holiday and stayed at a friend’s house … Laurent. Remember?

  AndréLaurent?

  WomanYes, I …

  AndréLaurent Marignan?

  WomanYes! That’s right. I’d forgotten his surname.

  AndréIt was Marignan.

  WomanYes!

  AndréCharming boy. His father had made some sort of dubious fortune …

  WomanI remember! You’re absolutely right!

  Élise(to her sister) You see, he remembers.

  AndréArms dealer or something … wasn’t he?

  WomanMm? I … I don’t know.

  AndréDrug trafficker.

  WomanI … Really?

  AndréOr pig-breeder?

  WomanI thought he was a journalist.

  AndréThat’s right.

  WomanAnyway, they had this house … By the water, in Corsica … and we went down there.

  AndréYes, yes. I remember the sea. It was blue. And flat.

  Woman (to the daughters) Everyone spent the day on the beach, but not him, he stayed in the house, working. He was writing. He never stopped writing. One day I got back from the beach ahead of the others, and inadvertently went into the library where he’d got into the habit of withdrawing to work. And I saw he was crying. I’ll remember it my whole life. He was crying. How can I explain? I’d never seen anyone crying like that … He was like an utterly desperate child and I was shattered. I didn’t know what to do. I was so impressed by the intensity of his grief. So I went to him and, without even thinking about it, I kissed him.

  MadeleineYou …

  WomanI kissed him and we made love. Without speaking a single word.

  Madeleine knocks over her cup.

  From then on, yes, I think you could say we had a powerful relationship. He said I was the only one who knew how to console him.

  Madeleine is pretending to pick up her cup. She straightens out the tea-tray and takes it into the kitchen, watched uneasily by her daughters.

  It lasted many years. Even after he got married, I think I can now tell you … After a certain amount of time, this kind of detail is not so important any more. Don’t you think? He had me read what he wrote. Always. I was at his side. He claimed he needed my opinion to be able to continue to write, that I was the woman in his life. The woman in his life … He never stopped saying it. But I think he only said it out of kindness.

  AnneBut who are you talking about?

  WomanMm?

  AnneWho are you talking about?

  WomanGeorges! Georges Dulon.

  AnneOh … You …

  WomanAndré’s friend. Do you remember him? You started that literary magazine together …

  AnneDo you remember Georges Dulon?

  AndréWho?

  WomanSadly, he never had a career like yours. He died in a car accident. A real disaster.

  AndréI’m sorry, I … I think you’re making a mistake … I don’t know a … Who you were talking about … Who exactly were we talking about?

  WomanWho do you think?

  Brief pause.

  For years I asked him to acknowledge his son, but he was never very courageous about that. He was married. He had children. Classic situation, really …

  Madeleine(very upset) I don’t understand anything about this story.

  WomanHe always used to say: ‘You’ll sort it out when I’m dead …’ That was his big expression. ‘You’ll always be able to claim your share, when I’m dead …’

  MadeleineWho said that?

  WomanSo I said nothing. I waited. And I brought him up all on my own. But one day these sorts of stories have to be resolved, don’t you agree? That a man refuses to acknowledge his son doesn’t alter the fact that this son does have a father. I say that with no inheritance considerations, so that everything between us can be out in the open.

  Madeleine(agitated) But who is she talking about? André …

  ÉliseDad!

  AndréFragments. False starts. Nothing much else.

  ÉliseWhat?

  AndréYou believe in your own life. You lean back on it. The way you would lean back on a really solid rock. But what’s the weight of it today? There’s no grip. That’s the problem.

  AnneWhat’s he saying?

  AndréI had a life. I don’t deny it. But in the end, what’s left? A few faces? A few names lost in the fog? Here and there … Not much more. May as well forget everything.

  Pause. Unease. Madeleine leaves the cups, leaves the kitchen, and, watched anxiously by André, silently disappears towards the bedrooms, as if wounded by what she’s just learned. André remains in suspense: why has she left the room? What’s happened? He takes a step in her direction.

  Where are you going?

  ÉliseDad … I’m finding this conversation a bit incoherent …

  Anne(ironically) You think so? It’s absolutely all over the place.

>   ÉliseI … It seems to me we’re talking about something different from where we started out.

  AndréWhy did she leave like that? Did I say something?

  AnneWho?

  AndréYour mother …

  The women look at each other. Why is he still talking about her?

  ÉliseListen, I’d like you to try to understand why we’re taking this step …

  AndréUnderstand what?

  ÉliseMrs Scharzt –

  André(interrupting her) Yes, I know. I know. You already told me.

  ÉliseNo, you don’t know.

  WomanDon’t worry. It’s normal for him to react like this …

  Élise(to Mrs Schwartz, as if trying to apologise for the situation) I’m really sorry.

  WomanI’m saying. It takes time for everyone to adapt to a new situation.

  ÉliseThe way it happened, it was so sudden.

  WomanI know.

  ÉliseWe weren’t prepared. He wasn’t. Neither were we.

  WomanI understand.

  ÉliseShe was so full of energy … So alive!

  André turns to Élise. What is she talking about?

  AnneI’ve known for years my mobile would ring one day and I’d be told this sort of news. Bad news. I was used to the idea. But strangely, I never expected this.

  ÉliseI didn’t either. And it has to be said, she was younger than him. She was so strong. So present.

  AnneNothing to be done. You just have to adapt to the situation. However painful it is, that goes without saying.

  She speaks now to her father.

  That’s the reason, Dad …

  Pause.

  ÉliseDad …

  AndréWhat?

  ÉliseMrs Armanet was telling us that her brother …

  She turns towards the Woman.

  That’s right, isn’t it?

  WomanYes, my brother … lost his wife, as well, a couple of years ago. They were very close …

  ÉliseAnd when she … When she’d gone …

  WomanYes. We had to find another arrangement.