“Elles viennent, les chèvres!”
The girl’s mother, in desperation at the thought of her child being trampled to a pulp by the contestants, hitched up her skirt and plunged into the water. “What thighs!” said the man with the paunch, kissing the tips of his fingers.
With a clatter of hoofs, the leading runners approached the fountain and skidded into the hay bales, showing very little enthusiasm for getting wet. Their drivers grunted and cursed and tugged and finally manhandled their goats into the water and out the other side to the finishing straight, their sodden espadrilles squelching on the tarmac, their sticks poised like lances. The positions at the halfway mark had been maintained, and it was still No. 1 and No. 6, Titine and Totoche, skittering up to the line of balloons.
No. 1, with an enormous backhand swipe, exploded his balloon first, showering the Parisienne, who stepped smartly backwards into a pile of droppings. No. 6, for all his stick sharpening before the race, had more difficulty, just managing to burst his balloon before the next runners reached the line. One by one, or in dripping groups, they staggered in until all that remained was a single swollen balloon hanging from the line. No. 9, the wayward Nénette, had not completed the course. “The butcher’s got her,” said the man with the paunch.
We saw her as we walked back to the car. She had broken her cord and escaped from her driver, and was perched high above the street in a tiny walled garden, her cap hanging from one horn, eating geraniums.
· · ·
“BONJOUR, maçon.”
“Bonjour, plombier.”
The team had arrived for another loud, hot day, and were exchanging greetings and handshakes with the formality of people who had never met before, addressing each other by métier rather than by name. Christian, the architect, who had worked with them for years, never referred to them by their first names, but always by a rather grand and complicated hyphenation which combined surname with profession; thus Francis, Didier, and Bruno became Menicucci-Plombier, Andreis-Maçon, and Trufelli-Carreleur. This occasionally achieved the length and solemnity of an obscure aristocratic title, as with Jean-Pierre the carpet layer, who was officially known as Gaillard-Poseur de Moquette.
They were gathered around one of many holes that Menicucci had made to accommodate his central-heating pipes, and were discussing dates and schedules in the serious manner of men whose lives were governed by punctuality. There was a strict sequence to be followed: Menicucci had to complete laying his pipes; the masons were then to move in and repair the damage, followed by the electrician, the plasterer, the tile layer, the carpenter, and the painter. Since they were all good Provençaux, there was no chance at all that dates would be observed, but it provided the opportunity for some entertaining speculation.
Menicucci was enjoying his position of eminence as the key figure, the man whose progress would dictate the timetable of everyone else.
“You will see,” he said, “that I have been obliged to make a Gorgonzola of the walls, but what is that, maçon? Half a day to repair?”
“Maybe a day,” said Didier. “But when?”
“Don’t try to rush me,” said Menicucci. “Forty years as a plumber have taught me that you cannot hurry central heating. It is très, très délicat.”
“Christmas?” suggested Didier.
Menicucci looked at him, shaking his head. “You joke about it, but think of the winter.” He demonstrated winter for us, wrapping an imaginary overcoat around his shoulders. “It is minus ten degrees.” He shivered, pulling his bonnet over his ears. “All of a sudden, the pipes start to leak! And why? Because they have been placed too quickly and without proper attention.” He looked at his audience, letting them appreciate the full drama of a cold and leaking winter. “Who will be laughing then? Eh? Who will be making jokes about the plumber?”
It certainly wouldn’t be me. The central heating experience so far had been a nightmare, made bearable only by the fact that we could stay outside during the day. Previous construction work had at least been confined to one part of the house, but this was everywhere. Menicucci and his copper tentacles were unavoidable. Dust and rubble and tortured fragments of piping marked his daily passage like the spoor of an iron-jawed termite. And, perhaps worst of all, there was no privacy. We were just as likely to find jeune in the bathroom with a blowtorch as to come across Menicucci’s rear end sticking out of a hole in the living room wall. The pool was the only refuge, and even there it was best to be completely submerged so that the water muffled the relentless noise of drills and hammers. We sometimes thought that our friends were right, and that we should have gone away for August, or hidden in the deep freeze.