The Portrait by Antoine Laurain

Author:Antoine Laurain [Antoine Laurain]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910477458
Publisher: Gallic Books
Published: 2017-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

‘Amnesia!’ exclaimed the owner. ‘We saw a programme about that on the telly last week.’

How could I have fooled them so easily?

‘And what did they say at the chateau?’ asked the customer with the half-pint.

‘At the chateau …’ I murmured. ‘I haven’t been to the chateau yet …’

The owner’s wife looked horrified and put her hand over her mouth. ‘Mon Dieu, Madame Mélaine doesn’t know yet!’ she gasped.

‘So we’re the first to know!’ cried the large bald man.

The question of my papers was quickly dealt with.

‘And you don’t have your papers with you?’

‘He was attacked by thugs – those criminals take everything, even identity papers.’

‘You know, they’re worth a lot of money, identity papers.’

‘I thought they couldn’t be faked.’

‘It’s the serial numbers that are important. I saw a Jean-Pierre Pernaut documentary about it.’

The mention of the famous journalist brought the argument to a close.

‘You look well, at least,’ confirmed the owner. ‘And you haven’t changed … Well, perhaps your hair’s a bit shorter.’

‘That will be the hospital barber; they use clippers,’ grumbled one of the customers, before looking in my direction for confirmation.

‘Yes, yes, it’s all a bit military,’ I replied, whereas, in fact, I paid one hundred and sixty euros a month to have my hair cut at a chic salon on Avenue Georges V.

It is easy to convince people who want to believe. You just have to tell them what they want to hear. That’s it, there’s nothing else to it. The words are already formed inside them; all you have to do is say them like a magic spell to produce the desired effect. Nature had decreed that I should look exactly like the man who had disappeared, and no one dared challenge what I told them. On the contrary, they had drunk in my words with even more relish than they had the Montrachet ’64. And now that I was leaving the café, they were all watching me with the look of those who are the proud keepers of a great secret.

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