4
toldI worked hard all week. Raymond stopped by and
me he'd sent the letter. I went to the movies twice with
Emmanuel, who doesn't always understand what's going
on on the screen. So you have to explain things to him.
Yesterday was Saturday, and Marie came over as we'd
planned. I wanted her so bad when I saw her in that
pretty red-and-white striped dress and leather sandals.
You could make out the shape of her firm breasts, and
her tan made her face look like a Hower. We caught a
bus and went a few kilometers outside Algiers, to a
beach with rocks at either end, bordered by shore grass
side. The four o'clock sun wasn't too hot,on the land
but the water was warm, with slow, gently lapping waves."
taught me a game. As you swam, you had toMarie
skim off the foam from the crest of the waves with your
mouth, hold it there, then roll over on your back and
spout it out toward the sky. This made a delicate froth
which disappeared into the air or fell back in a warm
spray over my face. But after a while my mouth was
stinging with the salty bitterness. Then Marie swam
over to me and pressed herself against me in the water.
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She put her lips on mine. Her tongue cooled my lips
and we tumbled in the waves for a moment.
When we'd gotten dressed again on the beach , Marie
looked at me with her eyes sparkling. I kissed her. We
didn't say anything more from that point on. I held her
to me and we hurried to catch a bus, get back, go to my
place, and throw ourselves onto my bed. I'd left my
window open, and the summer night air Rowing over
our brown bodies felt good.
That morning Marie stayed and I told her that we
would have lunch together. I went downstairs to buy
some meat. On my way back upstairs I heard a woman's
voice in Raymond's room . A little later old Salamano
growled at his dog; we heard the sound of footsteps and
claws on the wooden stairs and then "Lousy, stinking
bastard" and they went down into the street. I told
Marie all about the old man and she laughed. She was
wearing a pair of my pajamas with the sleeves rolled up.
When she laughed I wanted her again . A minute later
she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean any
thing but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But
as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she
laughed in such a way that I kissed her. It was then
that we heard what sounded like a fight break out in
Raymond's room.
First we heard a woman's shrill voice and then
Raymond saying, "You used me, you used me. I'll teach
you to use me." There were some thuds and the woman
screamed, but in such a terrifying way that the landing
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immediately filled with people. Marie and I went to see,
too. The woman was still shrieking and Raymond was
still hitting her. Marie said it was terrible and I didn't
say anything. She asked me to go find a policeman, but
I told her I didn't like cops. One showed up anyway with
the tenant from the third floor, who's a plumber. The
cop knocked on the door and we couldn't hear anything
anymore. He knocked harder and after a minute the
woman started crying and Raymond opened the door.
He had a cigarette in his mouth and an innocent look on
his face. The girl rushed to the door and told the police
man that Raymond had hit her. "What's your name?"
the cop said. Raymond told him. "Take that cigarette
out of your mouth when you're talking to me," the cop
said. Raymond hesitated, looked at me, and took a drag
on his cigarette. Right then the cop slapped him-a
thick, heavy smack right across the face. The cigarette
went flying across the landing. The look on Raymond's
face changed, but he didn't say anything for a minute,
and then he asked, in a meek voice, if he could pick up
his cigarette. The cop said to go ahead and added,
"Next time you'll know better than to clown around
with a policeman." Meanwhile the girl was crying and
"s e repeate , e eat me up. e s a p1mp. cer,h d "H b I H , 0 I " "Offi
Raymond asked, "is that legal , calling a man a pimp like
that?" But the cop ordered him to shut his trap. Then
Raymond turned to the girl and said, "You just wait,
sweetheart-we're not through yet." The cop told him
to knock it off and said that the girl was to go and he was
to stay in his room and wait to be summoned to the
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police station. He also said that Raymond ought to be
ashamed to be so drunk that he'd have the shakes like
that. Then Raymond explained, ''I'm not drunk, officer.
It's just that I'm here, and you're there, and I'm shaking,
I can't help it." He shut his door and everybody went
away. Marie and I finished fixing lunch. But she wasn't
hungry; I ate almost everything. She left at one o'clock
and I slept awhile.
Around three o'clock there was a knock on my door
and Raymond came in. I didn't get up. He sat down on
the edge of my bed. He didn't say anything for a minute
and I asked him how it had all gone. He told me that
he'd done what he wanted to do but that she'd slapped
him and so he'd beaten her up . I'd seen the rest. I told
him it seemed to me that she'd gotten her punishment
now and he ought to be happy. He thought so too, and
he pointed out that the cop could do anything he wanted,
it wouldn't change the fact that she'd gotten her beat
ing. He added that he knew all about cops and how to
handle them. Then he asked me if I'd expected him to
hit the cop back. I said I wasn't expecting anything, and
besides I didn't like cops. Raymond seemed pretty happy.
He asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with him. I
got up and started combing my hair. He told me that
I'd have to act as a witness for him. It didn't matter to
me, but I didn't know what I was supposed to say.
According to Raymond, all I had to do was to state that
the girl had cheated on him. I agreed to act as a wit
ness for him.
We went out and Raymond bought me a brandy.
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Then he wanted to shoot a game of pool, and I just
barely lost. Afterwards he wanted to go to a whorehouse,
but I said no, because I don't like that. So we took our
time getting back, him telling me how glad he was that
he'd been able to give the woman what she deserved. I
found him very friendly with me and I thought it was a
nice moment.
From a distance I noticed old Salarnano standing on
the doorstep. He looked flustered. When we got closer,
I saw that he didn't have his dog. He was looking all
over the place, turning around, peering into the darkness
of the entryway, muttering incoherently, and then he
started searching the street again with his little red eyes.
When Raymond asked him what was wrong,, he didn't
answer right away. I barely heard him mumble "Stink
ing bastard," and he went on fidgeting around. I asked
him where his dog was. He snapped at me and said he
was gone. And then all of a sudden the words carne
pouring out : "I took him to the Parade Ground, like
always. There were lots of people around the booths
at the fair. I stopped to watch The King of the Escape
Artists.' And when I was ready to go, he wasn't there.
Sure, I've been meaning to get him a smaller collar for
a long time. But I never thought the bastard would take
off like that."
Then Raymond pointed out to him that the dog
might have gotten lost and that he would come back.
He gave examples of dogs that had walked dozens of
kilometers to get back to their masters. Nevertheless, the
0 T H E S T R A N G E R o
old man looked even more flustered. "But they'll take
him away from me, don't you see? If only somebody
would take him in. But that's impossible-everybody's
disgusted by his scabs. The police'll get him for sure."
So I told him he should go to the pound and they'd give
the dog back to him after he paid a fee. He asked me if
it was a big fee. I didn't know. Then he got mad : "Pay
money for that bastard-hal He can damn well die!"
And he started cursing the dog. Raymond laughed and
went inside. I followed him and we parted upstairs on
the landing. A minute later I heard the old man's foot
steps and he knocked on my door. When I opened it, he
stood in the doorway for a minute and said, "Excuse me,
excuse me." I asked him to come in, but he refused. He
was looking down at the tips of his shoes and his scabby
hands were trembling. Without looking up at me he
asked, "They're not going to take him away from me,
are they, Monsieur Meursault? They'll give him back
to me. Otherwise, what's going to happen to me?" I
told him that the pound kept dogs for three days so that
their owners could come and claim them and that after
that they did with them as they saw fit. He looked at
me in silence. Then he said, "Good night." He shut his
door and I heard him pacing back and forth . His bed
creaked. And from the peculiar little noise coming
through the partition, I realized he was crying. For
some reason I thought of Maman. But I had to get up
early the next morning. I wasn't hungry, and I went
to bed without any dinner.
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