5Raymond called me at the office. He told me that afriend of his (he’d spoken to him about me) had invitedme to spend the day Sunday at his little beach house,near Algiers. I said I’d really like to, but I’d promised tospend the day with a girlfriend. Raymond immediatelytold me that she was invited too. His friend’s wife wouldbe very glad not to be alone with a bunch of men .I wanted to hang up right away because I know theboss doesn’t like people calling us from town. But Raymond asked me to hang on and told me he could havepassed on the invitation that evening, but he had something else to tell me. He’d been followed all day by agroup of Arabs, one of whom was the brother of hisformer mistress. “If you see him hanging around thebuilding when you get home this evening, let me know.”I said I would.A little later my boss sent for me, and for a second Iwas annoyed, because I thought he was going to tell meto do less talking on the phone and more work. But thatwasn’t it at all. He told me he wanted to talk to me abouta plan of his that was still pretty vague. He just wanted to have my opinion on the matter. He was planning toopen an office in Paris which would handle his businessdirectly with the big companies, on the spot, and hewanted to know how I felt about going there. I’d beable to live in Paris and to travel around for part of theyear as well . “You’re young, and it seems to me i t’s thekind of life that would appeal to you.” I said yes butthat really it was all the same to me. Then he asked meif I wasn’t interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life wasas good as another and that I wasn’t dissatisfied withmine here at all. He looked upset and told me that Inever gave him a straight answer, that I had no ambition,and that that was disastrous in business. So I went backto work. I would rather not have upset him, but Icouldn’t see any reason to change my life. Looking backon it, I wasn’t unhappy. When I was a student, I hadlots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up mystudies I learned very quickly that none of it reallymattered.That evening Marie carne by to see me and asked meif I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then shewanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same wayI had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but thatI probably didn’t love her. “So why marry me, then?”she said. I explained to her that it didn’t really matterand that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides,she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage wasa serious thing. I said, “No.” She stopped talking for aminute and looked at me without saying anything. Thenshe spoke. She just wanted to know if I would haveaccepted the same proposal from another woman, withwhom I was involved in the same way. I said, “Sure.”Then she said she wondered if she loved me, and therewas no way I could know about that. After anothermoment’s silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, thatthat was probably why she loved me but that one day Imight hate her for the same reason. I didn’t say anything,because I didn’t have anything to add, so she took my armwith a smile and said she wanted to marry me. I saidwe could do it whenever she wanted. Then I told herabout my boss’s proposition and she said she’d love to seeParis. I told her that I’d lived there once and she askedme what it was like. I said, “It’s dirty. Lots of pigeons anddark courtyards. Everybody’s pale.”Then we went for a walk through the main streets tothe other end of town. The women were beautiful and Iasked Marie if she’d noticed. She said yes and that sheunderstood what I meant. For a while neither of us saidanything. But I wanted her to stay with me, and I toldher we could have dinner together at Celeste’s. Shewould have liked to but she had something to do. Wewere near my place and I said goodbye to her. Shelooked at me. “Don’t you want to know what I have todo?” I did, but I hadn’t thought to ask, and she seemed tobe scolding me. Then, seeing me so confused, she laughed again and she moved toward me with her wholebody to offer me her lips.I had dinner at Celeste’s. I’d already started eatingwhen a strange little woman came in and asked me ifshe could sit at my table. Of course she could. Hergestures were jerky and she had bright eyes in a littleface like an apple. She took off her jacket, sat down, andstudied the menu feverishly. She called Celeste over andordered her whole meal all at once, in a voice that wasclear and very fast at the same time. While she waswaiting for her first course, she opened her bag, tookout a slip of paper and a pencil, added up the bill inadvance, then took the exact amount, plus tip, out of avest pocket and set it down on the table in front of her.At that point the waiter brought her first course and shegulped it down. While waiting for the next course, sheagain took out of her bag a blue pencil and a magazinethat listed the radio programs for the week. One by one,and with great care, she checked off almost every program. Since the magazine was about a dozen pages long,she meticulously continued this task throughout themeal. I had already finished and she was still checkingaway with the same zeal. Then she stood up, put herjacket back on with the same robotlike movements, andleft. I didn’t have anything to do, so I left too and followed her for a while. She had positioned herself rightnext to the curb and was making her way with incredible speed and assurance, never once swerving orlooking around. I eventually lost sight of her and turned back. I thought about how peculiar she was but forgotabout her a few minutes later.I found old Salamano waiting outside my door. Iasked him in and he told me that his dog was lost, because it wasn’t at the pound. The people who workedthere had told him that maybe it had been run over. Heasked if he could find out at the police station. Theytold him that they didn’t keep track of things like thatbecause they happened every day. I told old Salamanothat he could get another dog, but he was right to pointout to me that he was used to this one.I was sitting cross-legged on my bed and Salamanohad sat down on a chair in front of the table. He wasfacing me and he had both hands on his knees. He hadkept his old felt hat on. He was mumbling bits and piecesof sentences through his yellowing moustache. He wasgetting on my nerves a little, but I didn’t have anythingto do and I didn’t feel sleepy. Just for something to say, Iasked him about his dog. He told me he’d gotten it afterhis wife died. He had married fairly late. When he wasyoung he’d wanted to go into the theater: in the army heused to act in military vaudevilles. But he had endedup working on the railroads, and he didn’t regret it,because now he had a small pension. He hadn’t beenhappy with his wife, but he’d pretty much gotten usedto her. When she died he had been very lonely. So heasked a shop buddy for a dog and he’d gotten this onevery young. He’d had to feed it from a bottle. But sincea dog doesn’t live as long as a man, they’d ended up being old together. “He was bad-tempered,” Salamanosaid. “We’d have a run-in every now and then. But hewas a good dog just the same.” I said he was well bredand Salamano looked pleased. “And,” he added, “youdidn’t know him before he got sick. His coat was thebest thing about him.” Every night and every morningafter the dog had gotten that skin disease, Salamanorubbed him with ointment. But according to him, thedog’s real sickness was old age, and there’s no cure forold age.At that point I yawned, and the old man said he’d begoing. I told him that he could stay and that I was sorryabout what had happened to his dog. He thanked me.He told me that Maman was very fond of his dog. Hecalled her “your poor mother.” He said he supposed Imust be very sad since Maman died, and I didn’t sayanything. Then he said, very quickly and with an embarrassed look, that he realized that some people in theneighborhood thought badly of me for having sentMaman to the home, but he knew me and he knew Iloved her very much. I still don’t know why, but I saidthat until then I hadn’t realized that people thoughtbadly of me for doing it, but that the home had seemedlike the natural thing since I didn’t have enough moneyto have Maman cared for. “Anyway,” I added, “it hadbeen a long time since she’d had anything to say to me,and she was bored all by herself.” “Yes,” he said, “and atleast in a home you can make a few friends.”

Then he
said good night. He Nanted to sleep. His life had changed now and he wasn’t too sure what he was going to do.
For the first time since I’d known him, and with a furtive
gesture, he offered me his hand, and I felt the scales on
his skin. He gave a little smile, and before he left he
said, “I hope the dogs don’t bark tonight. I always think
it’s mine.