For Sure (35 page)

At the entrance to the village, a large multicoloured canopy had been erected to serve as a reception. Everyone piled out of the van to go over and see what was up. Point by point they were talked through the day's activities, and where to find the rest areas, drinks and snacks, and childcare. They were also told the plan for the big treasure hunt. Finally, they were assigned a work zone, and checked to be sure they were properly equipped for the cleanup.

“All de same, it's awful nice of dem to pay our lunch.”

“I heard a lady say all de take-outs got togeder. Dat's right smart.”

“Wonder if we'll be gettin' some fried clams . . .”

In their late fifties, Sylvia and her husband Lionel Arsenault first appeared in
Life's Little Difficulties
(Daigle, House of Anansi, 2004). A brilliant and generous businessman, Lionel Arsenault played an ingenious part in the success of the lofts. The childless couple owns a large modern house overlooking Shediac Bay, but regularly stays over at their small loft in Moncton.

At first, the crossword puzzles were something Carmen worked on from time to time, when she had a spare moment or just to clear her head. Since she's not a slacker and appreciated by her coworkers, and also because she's a co-owner of the business, no one complained at her combining a bit of recreation with her work.

“'Tisn't like she goes an' does it under our noses when der's work to be done, now is it? Den' fer sure I'd be sayin' sometin' to 'er.”

“An' wot would you be sayin', I'd like to know? She's de boss, she can do wot she pleases.”

The magic password “Open Sesame!” comes from the fact that sesame seeds are enclosed in cloves that burst open by themselves when they are ripe.

Having been assigned a field and a small copse between the road and the shore, the group of six decided to divide the area into three sections and to work in pairs. Zablonski turned quite naturally to his future godson:

“Shall we get to work?”

Even though they spent lots of time together, Le Petit Étienne was happy to team up with his godfather to be.

“How's about ya come along wid me, den?”

Zed had turned just as naturally to Chico, who was quick to step up alongside his teammate.

“Well, I suppose dat don't leave me a whole lot of choice. I'm stuck wid Pomme.”

Since everyone knew that Terry and Pomme got along just fine, no one pitied anyone.

A horseshoe nailed above a door points upwards so that its branches can capture celestial energy.

Zed and Chico had chosen to clean up the shoreline next to the abandoned pier without realizing the area had served as a dumping ground.

“We better keep our sneakers on so's not to get cut. Does ya tink yer granny'll mind?”

Shaking his head, Chico moved forward a few steps. The sea bed was littered with rusty cans and other undefinable detritus.

“Yuck! Good ting dey gave us gloves to wear!”

Zed had plunged his arm into the water and pulled out a torn plastic bag, which was dripping a suspicious substance back into the water. A gooey, disintegrating diaper? He quickly shoved the whole thing into the plastified mesh sack he was carrying.

“We won't be needin' to walk far to fill our sacs, dat's fer sure.”

Chico silently began to pick up garbage without grimacing.

“Is dat yer baydin' suit den?”

Zed was pointing at Chico's shorts.

Chico nodded.

“Good ting! Later on when she gets hotter, we'll go in swimmin'. Der's some nice sand over dat way.”

Chico smiled.

“Does ya come often to the shore?”

Chico shook his head no.

Sudden anxiety that the cube might be an old, outdated concept.

The thin puzzle book was kept in a specific place, in the space between the big refrigerator and the wine cupboard, on a wooden shelf too narrow to serve as anything else.

“I can't tell ya why dey put up dis 'ere shelf. I never seen a cupboard like dis anywhere.”

“Must be sometin' to do wid de fridge.”

The waiter, who had become more aware of such details since he'd started a course in woodwork, did not find Josse's explanation particularly helpful.

“Could be. Only 'tis still an incongruity.”

“A wot?”

“An in-con-gru-i-ty. A
fluke
.”

“Awh.”

The 58 books the two ideal libraries have in common were written or edited by 55 authors. This difference results from the fact that two books each by Aron, Duby, Durkheim, Foucault and Lévi-Strauss were included, whereas Bourdieu and Passeron co-authored a single book, as did Laplanche and Pontalis. Almost a useless detail.

Pomme picked up a beer bottle and tossed it gently onto the side of the road.

“Didn't tink der was still so many folks tossin' der bottles in de ditch.”

. . .

“All dese recyclables 'ere, least ways, dey'll make a bit o' money.”

. . .

. . .

. . .

“I'd o' known I's goin' to land up in de canal, I'd o' worn me boots.”

“You knows yerself.”

Pomme pulled on a wire rod, and the skeleton of an umbrella came up after it.

“Must blow sometin' fierce in dese parts . . .”

He picked up a piece of asphalt sheeting.

“Luh! Der's even roofin' down in 'ere.”

Terry thought Pomme was talking a lot.

“Now, take a look at dis! An egg whisk! Probably flew off some tourist's car.”

. . .

“Do you eat a lot o' eggs, yerself?”

Blissful black. Jet black, ink black, coal black, black ebony. Black cat, black ant,
bête noire
. Black tie, black jacket. Black painting. Black sheep. Black hole. The Black experience, African American neighbourhood, bebop. Black and blue. Black swan. Black bread. Blackened fish, black-eyed peas, black coffee. Black mark. Black out, black eye. Black Friday. Blaggard, black mass, black magic. Blacklisted. Black market, in the black, blackjack. Blackball. Film noir. Black dog, “Paint It Black.”

Zablonski and Le Petit Étienne were working the edge of the woods.

“I think there's a path in here. You see, between the trees?”

Étienne saw the pale and sinuous line his future godfather was pointing to.

“All it would take would be a bit of cleaning, cutting a few branches and to take out that old tree trunk . . .”

Zablonski looked around.

“That might be the best thing to do, since there isn't a great deal of garbage to pick up.”

Étienne agreed.

“Here, let's begin with this one. Can you take hold of one end?”

(Take two.) It's not without value to examine the results of a simple statistical analysis of the first letter in the names of the 550 authors or so in “La Bibliothèque idéale des sciences humaines.” Once again, the first letters of the alphabet account for the most writers, particularly the
b, c,
and
d.
These three letters alone account for 29 percent — might as well say a third — of the authors of the recommended titles. The
l
also makes a good showing, as do the
s
and
m
, but the
a
and
p
are somewhat disappointing. A statistician's emotion.

“Big wow! I mean, wer's de wisdom in dat?”

Lacan makes the distinction between the other, lower-case italicized
a
(for French
autre)
, and the Other, upper-case
A
(for French
Autre
). The Other designates everything that does not resemble the self, everything that is constituted as different from the self. Furthermore, the Other is not strictly confined to one or more people; it is no more no less than the inaccessible
thing
, which incites desire but never satiates it. And out of this unsatiated desire emerges speech.

Called away to some more urgent task, Carmen would leave the crossword she was working on for anyone to see. Either because they had nothing better to do, or out of simple curiosity, her employees would occasionally take a look. At first, when they thought they'd found the right word, they would tell Carmen, who gladly filled in the blanks.

In the case of the the haiku, tanka, and cinquain, all short forms derived from Japanese poetic traditions, the following equations apply. First, the haiku, which contains 17 syllables divided into lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables:

5 + 7 + 5 = 17

(5 + 7) + 5 = (1 + 7)

12 + 5 = 8

(1 + 2) + 5 = 8

3 + 5 = 8

8 = 8

The tanka, for its part, contains 31 syllables divided into lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables:

5 + 7 + 5 + 7 + 7 = 31

(5 + 7) + 5 + 7 + 7 = (3 + 1)

12 + 5 + 7 + 7 = 4

(1 + 2) + 5 + 7 + 7 = 4

{(3) + 5} + 7 + 7 = 4

8 + 7 + 7 = 4

(8 + 7) + 7 = 4

15 + 7 = 4

(1 + 5) + 7 = 4

6 + 7 = 4

13 = 4

(1 + 3) = 4

4 = 4

Finally, the cinquain comprises 22 syllables divided into lines of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables :

2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 2 = 22

(2 + 4) + 6 + 8 + 2 = (2+2)

{(6) + 6} + 8 + 2 = (4)

12 + 8 + 2 = 4

(1 + 2) + 8 + 2 = 4

{(3) + 8} + 2 = 4

11 + 2 = 4

(1 + 1) + 2 = 4

2 + 2 = 4

4 = 4

“Hey!”

Terry expected Pomme to announce the discovery of another peculiar object in the ditch.

“I've asked Lisa to marry me!”

“'Bout time! So, tings're goin' well between de two of ya. Dat's shockin' great news!”

“Well, I tink so, anyways. An' she's me first girlfriend, so I can't really compare now can I? Tell de troot, de only folks I can be comparin' us to is you an' Carmen.”

Terry was engaged in a tug of war with a long curved steel cable that refused to bend in a new direction.

“See dis 'ere ting? Der's times, wid Carmen an' me, it's pretty much de same.”

“You mean tings bounce?”

. . .

“Eh? Does ya mean sometimes it bounces?”

But standing now on the cable, Terry was too engrossed in trying to master it to hear Pomme's question.

The Other — capital
A
for
Autre
— is therefore nothing less than the origin of speech. It is also, by that very fact, the main protagonist of literature. Hence the close relationship between psychoanalysis, literature, and writing.

Occasionally, Carmen herself would consult her colleagues. At first, they were rarely able to help, but gradually the employees began to take an interest in the puzzles. So that when, out of the blue, she called out a clue, often someone might suggest an answer.

“Nest of birds of prey . . .

“Plate?”

True or false: the list (in parentheses) of names of survivors of the deceased Octave Vienneau (Arthance, Cléophas, Félendé, Hilarion, Irénée, Majella, and Vénérante) clearly indicates that the deceased had four brothers and three sisters.

Zed and Chico had been working for some time now.

“Has it bin a while since you seen yer dad, den?”

Chico looked at Zed without responding, because he did not know how to measure a long time in this case.

“Like, did ya see 'im at Easter?”

Chico shook his head no.

“Awh well, dat's a good while den . . .”

Chico registered this as information.

“An, how are tings at school? Dey don't bodder you wid it I hope . . .”

“No.”

“Does it bodder you me talkin' 'bout it?”

Chico replied without hesitation:

“No.”

“On account of I'd understand if it did, bodder ya, I mean . . .”

Chico repeated his answer, but with a slight difference in tone, that fraction of a second it takes to confirm something within yourself.

“No . . .”

Zed picked up his sack:

“Me sacks pretty well full. Yer's too, looks like, eh?”

Chico nodded.

“Aren't you a hard worker!”

This made Chico feel like laughing:

“Dat's wot Mister Louis says, as well.”

“Is dat somebody at school, den?”

“He drives de bus.”

Zed looked out at the sea stretched out before them:

“I'll tell ya, I wouldn't mind drivin' out der meself some time. Do ya think ya might want to come along?”

Chico understood that Zed was talking about the place where his father was imprisoned.

“Okay.”

“Does you tink yer granny would be wantin' to come as well?”

Chico didn't seem to think his grandmother would want to accompany them, but he did not explain why not. Zed let it go, let a moment pass.