To the One I Love the Best by Ludwig Bemelmans

Author:Ludwig Bemelmans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steerforth Press
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

15

Kitty Cats and Puthy Cats

Not long after the anniversary Achille came in and asked if he could have a word with me. The Korniloff chauffeur had informed him that Mr Sascha Korniloff was looking around for somebody to sell his Bentley to, because he had a chance to get another car even more glorious than the Bentley convertible.

‘Mr Korniloff loves cars the way some people love women,’ said Achille. ‘He’s absolutely crazy about that Bentley. You’ve seen it around—it’s the royal-blue job with the black top and the golden instruments and handles. Because Mr Korniloff loves that car so much, but cannot afford to keep two sports cars, he wants to sell one; but he wants to be very sure who he sells it to.’

So I had been proposed to the Korniloff chauffeur as a possible candidate, and Sascha Korniloff had investigated me and found that I might be all right. The price was fair. The car was in better condition than when new, according to Achille, and so I became the owner of it.

Mr Korniloff said to me, ‘I never let those bastards at hotels or clubs or night clubs—or, for that matter, anywhere—park it. No parking attendant touches that car. I hope you continue that. The speed dial is set wrong, so when she goes a hundred miles an hour it shows only eighty, and at seventy, only fifty-five, because I don’t want to scare my wife. She can’t see the scenery, but she reads the speedometer. She’s got aluminium blocks and aluminium pistons’—he was speaking of the car again.

After I gave Korniloff my cheque he said, ‘I’m already sorry. If you love a car the way I do you shouldn’t sell it. It’s like selling a dog you love, you just don’t do it.’ He fell into a Russian low mood and touched the car and patted the radiator. Achille assured him that the car was in good hands. Korniloff, with moist eyes, looked back at the Bentley twice as he walked away, and Achille was near tears. He took the large flannel and dusted the hood of the car, and then I drove it down to the beach and into the garage behind the shack.

I am car crazy also, and I was very happy. Korniloff, when he had demonstrated it to me, had said, ‘This is the best-kept car in the whole wide world. She has a soul and a heart. Listen to her purr along, contented and happy. I know just how much she wants the pressure of my hand, a little more, and now she sings. Look how she takes this curve, look how she goes through traffic! She has a gauge for altitude, a compass that works. This switch is so that when you drive in Paris, you can flash the headlights instead of honking the horn ring. The upholstery is special, and new. I had it made here. The blue carpets are new. There is a cover that goes over the rear compartment when it is not occupied.

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