Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel

Author:Philippe Claudel [Claudel, Philippe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2011-01-15T16:00:00+00:00

Three days later, Monsieur Bark invites Monsieur Linh to a restaurant. It is an imposing place, with lots of tables and lots of waiters. Monsieur Bark invites his friend to sit down and Monsieur Linh gazes around in astonishment. The old man has never seen anything so splendid. Monsieur Bark requests an additional chair and they sit Sang diû upon it. He then speaks to a man wearing black and white, and strangely attired, who jots things down in a notebook, bows and goes away.

“You’ll see, we’re going to enjoy ourselves, Monsieur Tao-laï!”

Monsieur Bark ties around his neck the large white napkin which lay next to his plate.

Monsieur Linh does the same. Afterwards, he ties another napkin around the small neck of the child, who waits, like a good girl, on her chair, not uttering a word.

“I used to come here sometimes with my wife,” Monsieur Bark says. “When we wanted to give ourselves a little treat …”

His voice drops. There is a silence. He starts to speak again, but more slowly. Sometimes he breaks off for a moment, as if he were searching deep within himself for the words and was having difficulty finding them.

He is walking along a troubling path, Monsieur Linh tells himself. He listens to the fat man’s voice, this voice that is so familiar to him even if it says things he never understands. His friend’s voice is deep and hoarse; it seems to be negotiating stones and enormous rocks, like the streams that gush down the mountains before reaching the valley, making itself heard, laughing, weeping at times, and talking loudly. It is a music that embraces everything in life, its caresses as well as its struggles.

Monsieur Bark is silent. His head drops back. He passes his heavy hand over his forehead. He looks at the clouds through the bay window of the restaurant.

“How big the sky is …” he murmurs.

He turns towards his friend again and in a solemn voice says to him:

“I’m really glad to be here with you, Monsieur Tao-laï.”

The waiter returns with the dishes. Monsieur Bark has ordered the very best. Nothing is too good. He remembers the afternoon by the harbour, how he poured out his whole heart to him, and also the old man’s reactions, once he had stopped talking and was feeling upset and ashamed. You could not put a price on that.

Monsieur Bark and Monsieur Linh eat and drink. Monsieur Linh samples dishes he never knew existed. He is not familiar with any of them, but everything is very good. He drinks small sips of the wine that the fat man pours for him. His head feels a little hot. The tables sway. He laughs. Occasionally, he tries to make his child try one of the dishes, but she is not very hungry. She is always well behaved, but she is not swallowing her food. Monsieur Bark watches what he does with a smile. The other guests turn around sometimes and stare at them. Monsieur Bark could not care less.

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