Dany Laferrière - Heading South

“I can tell lies if I want to, but nobody else can. That’s just the way it is.”

“Why are you being like this?” ( She is crying. ) “You know how much I love you. . I can’t live without you, my darling. . Why are you treating me like this?”

“I warned you, Simone.”

“Don’t let me go, Tanya.” ( She is spluttering. ) “You’re the only person who understands me. You’re my mother, my sister, my lover. I love you, darling. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.”

“Then why do you continue to lie to me?”

“I’m not lying, Tanya. . My love, I’m telling you the truth. It’s you I love. I love the way you love me. You’re the only one who can give me an orgasm, I swear. My body is yours whenever and however you want it, my dearest love. .”

“Come here now.”

“I’m still in bed, Tanya. . I’ll come around five this afternoon, is that all right?”

“You’re a liar.”

“I want you, Tanya.”

“Then why won’t you come right away?”

“Because I haven’t had any sleep, my dearest.”

“No, I’ll tell you the real reason. . It’s because you have someone there with you now.”

“No, I’m here alone.”

“If you tell me one more lie, you won’t even have to bring me my key. I’ll have the locks changed.”

“All right, yes,” ( she murmurs ), “there’s someone here. . He’s taking a shower.”

“Who is it?”

“Just someone I met last night.”

“What’s his name?”

“You don’t know him.”

“I’m going to count to three, Simone. One. . Two. . Three. .”

“Fanfan.”

“You slut! ”

“He was too drunk to go home. He asked me if he could sleep at my house.”

“Simone—”

“What?”

“You do what you want. You can sleep with a donkey, for all I care, but never, never insult my intelligence. Do you understand?”

“All right. . But we haven’t done anything yet. He just went in to take a shower.”

“Leave while he’s taking his shower, come here now.”

“Do you think?”

“It’s up to you. I can always call Minouche.”

“I’ll be there, Tanya.”

INTERIOR BEDROOM. 2:20 PM

Tanya and Simone are in bed.

“Fanfan means nothing to me, you know that.”

“Then what’s he doing in your house?”

“It’s your own fault, Tanya.”

“Meaning what?”

“You make me so jealous I get crazy, sometimes. . I wanted to sleep with him just so I could know what you see in him.”

Tanya smiles. Simone is the one who introduced her to Fanfan. At the time, she was sharing Fanfan with Minouche. There had been almost daily fights.

“He’s just a man, Simone. Nothing more or less. He’s available when I feel like a fuck, that’s all.”

“I don’t believe you, Tanya. That guy has driven you nuts. Ever since you met him you haven’t been the same. I think it’s very simple, what you do, Tanya. You sleep with us, and by ‘us’ I mean Minouche, Carole, Marie-Flore, even Alta, but you really only give yourself to men. You play with us, but it’s only men who can hurt you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I just said doesn’t change our situation. You know you don’t have to worry about me. It’s simple: you can have me whenever you want me. So let’s talk about something else. .”

“No, no, Simone. I want to get this straight. .”

“But it’s already clear, my love. None of us could ever get you as worked up as you are about Fanfan. For the past month you’ve neglected everyone but him, but in fact it could just as well have been any man. You get on top for us, but you go down on your back for a man. Even I can see that, Tanya. So you see, everyone knows what’s up with you.”

A long silence.

“It’s true that sometimes I feel like a man.”

“With us, Tanya. But whenever there’s a man in the house you turn into the worst kind of woman.”

“You’ve noticed that?”

“A child could see that, Tanya.”

“There no man in the house now, Simone. .”

Tanya leans over Simone and kisses her long and skilfully.

“Oh, Tanya. . Do what you like with me. .”

INTERIOR BEDROOM. 7:13 PM

Tanya and Simone are still in bed. Tanya gets up quietly. Simone is still sleeping. Tanya carefully picks up the telephone and takes it to the other side of the room. She dials a number.

“Hello. .”

“Is Simone there?” Tanya asks, watching Simone asleep in her bed.

“No, she went out.”

“Is that you, Fanfan?”

“Who’s this?”

“Tanya.”

“Tanya, don’t hang up, please, I can explain about last night. In the end I didn’t go out at all. I had one hell of a headache, my sweet.”

“Did you take that medicine I bought for you the other day?”

“No, I couldn’t find the bottle.”

“But my love, you aren’t well. That’s why I keep buying you medicine. What are you doing at Simone’s?”

“Nothing. I just dropped by to pick up a sweater that Charlie left here a few days ago, and I saw she wasn’t home, so. .”

While talking to Fanfan, Tanya stretches out her right foot and lightly runs her toes up and down Simone’s firm, well-rounded bottom.

“Are you going to wait for her?”

“No, I’m leaving now.”

“Don’t leave yet, my love. I’ll get a taxi and be there in five minutes.”

Tanya gets up cautiously so as not to awaken Simone. She goes into the bathroom, takes a shower, then puts on a short dress and leaves her apartment by the back entrance.

In her sleep, Simone smiles.

TANYA COMES IN shortly after midnight with a cigarette in her hand (its filter smeared with lipstick). The huge dance floor at the Cabane Créole is already full to bursting. The Tabou Combo is exploding on a stage decidedly too small for the group. The musicians seem to be in top form. “That’s thunder, ” as Freddy says when he’s had too much to drink. Each table has its own bottle of cognac. Rum is for the plebes. As always, when she feels the physical pleasure of it rise within her, Tanya begins to laugh to herself. She stands in an advantageous spot and scans the room carefully before crossing to the best table. She waits for the right moment to cross the room. A pause. She puts out her cigarette. Now she goes. Shoubou (the combo’s singer since the heroic epoch of Bébé Paramount), an old friend, sees her and announces her presence over the mike:

“And here we have the lovely Tanya. She is beautiful, she is beautiful, beeee-youuuu-teeee-full. .”

Tanya smiles.

“Tanya!”

She turns towards Minouche, who is sitting by the stage.

“I didn’t think I’d see you here tonight, Tanya. .”

“Why not? I go out when I want to.”

“I didn’t mean to make you angry, my dear.”

“Save your breath, then.”

“Unwind, Tanya. . I just wanted to warn you.”

“Warn me about what?”

“I was just saying. .”

“If you have something to say, Minouche, spit it out. I don’t have all day.”

“Sorry, but I thought you knew.”

“So you don’t have anything to say,” Tanya says, and continues on her way.

ALTA CATCHES TANYA near the washrooms.

“I didn’t think you’d be here tonight, Tanya. .”

“Jesus! You, too, Alta?

“Fanfan is here.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“He’s with a girl.”

“Alta, Fanfan is always with a girl. That’s not the end of the world for me.”

“Oh, I see.”

“That’s all, Alta. Mind your own business from now on.”