Eric Chevillard - Palafox

Then darkness falls again, which restores silence (a generic expression used to designate various droning insects of the order of diptera, with their stocky shapes, their short antennae, dangerous because of the microbes carried on their feet and probosces, according to the clarification of professor Pierpont). Nothing lasts, a cymbalist waiting in the shadows crushes the unfortunate black fly. Music explodes. Drums beat each other up. Pupi Luzzatto returns with light, himself radiant and twinkling, and tips his white top-hat by way of announcement, Mesdames and Messieurs, Giuseppe Luzzatto and his performing fleas! There aren’t many performing fleas left, Olympia notes. Generally speaking, the quality of primary education isn’t much to speak of these days. Most nine year olds can barely read. Then there’s the question of recruitment, Algernon observes. I don’t have an explanation but there seems to be a stunning paucity of fleas these days, even though the blood of our fathers, which used to delight them, still flows through our veins. The spectators in the first row are the most fortunate, Maureen notes. Giuseppe Luzzatto has Charybdis and Scylla jump from his right wrist to his left wrist, then back again. It would seem that they execute a series of airborne acrobatics, barrel-rolls, loop-de-loops, between the two, a first good idea worth noting for Palafox’s performance.

Darkness, silence, cymbals, top hat, Mesdames Messieurs, Polo the Clown! Polo the Clown runs along a tightwire, dances on the tightwire, descends, bows, steps on his shoe-lace, takes a spill. Polo the clown juggles three oranges, four oranges, five oranges, and a lemon, two lemons, and a pineapple, bows, steps on his fruit, takes a spill. Polo the Clown pulls a violin out of his ear, plays Brahms with great sensitivity, waves, steps on his violin, takes a spill. The crowd roars each time Polo falls.

…, Mesdames Messieurs, Perla and her wild animals! A cage has been placed in the ring. For reason x or y, Perla is in a swimsuit. The animals are released, two lions, three lionesses, a leopard, a cheetah not to be confused with the leopard, and a jaguar whose spotted coat recalls Palafox’s own. Perla produces a hoop, the eight beasts leap through, the hoop is set on fire, the eight beasts leap through, another hoop is added, the eight beasts leap through. Perla sticks to her idea, she lights the second hoop, but the eight beasts leap through. Palafox should be able to handle this trick. Then Perla sticks her head into the lion’s mouth. I could do that too, Algernon thinks.

…, the great, the fabulous Massimo Luzzatto! The prestidigitator flattens his opera hat with one fist, throws it to the ground, tramples it, pops it back into shape with the flick of a foot, from it withdraws eggs, doves, three white rabbits, in short, the old false bottom. Murmurs of disappointment from the peanut gallery. The fabulous Massimo next fills ten empty bottles from a single full one, so apparently identical to the others, and yet too apparently a matter of another false bottom, once again. “Mademoiselle if you would be so kind,” Massimo lays Maureen in a box, which he nails shut, which he saws in half, out from which Nino and Nina burst, while Maureen reappears in her seat, wearing his opera hat. Polite applause for the illusionist who, really, has to give the false bottom thing a rest. These old tricks aren’t fooling anyone, mutters the fabulous Olympia who, on the other hand, knows a card-trick that will knock your socks off. It’s actually very simple. Take a deck of fifty-two cards. Shuffle well. Have someone pick a card at random. Close your eyes while saying, Do not, I repeat, do not show me the card. Cut the deck. Let your opponent place the card on the pile of the deck of his choosing. Gather the deck together again. One by one turn over the cards. You say It’s this one, and you read the look of pristine surprise on the face of your opponent who says Why yes it is. Now, of course, no magician worth his salt reveals his secrets, but, in this case I’ll make an exception. When you reconstitute the two piles of cards, covering the opponent’s card with the other half of the deck, you peek at the card on the bottom of the deck you are covering the card with. The card at the bottom will be the card that precedes your opponent’s card. Therefore, when you are turning over the cards, you will know that your opponent’s card will follow when the card you spied arrives.

All things considered, it’s hard to imagine pulling an animal Palafox’s size from a hat. As a matter of fact, five elephants are now in the ring. While we were hanging on Olympia’s every word, we missed their entrance. They stand stock-still, huddled together, one animal. Giovanni and Noretta Luzzatto bump them, unsettle them, pile into them, palpate this fine flesh in their hands; then, at a sign from Giovanni the pachyderms prostrate themselves, before what, great gods, before whom, or does there exist someone or something worthy of such striking humility, of such reverence, of all that ivory? It would be unfortunate were the answer no, were the effort wasted. Then, they rise as one, interlace their trunks, cradle Noretta. Then they shower her. Then they groom her. Then they don’t know what to do next for a joke and turn to Giovanni who nods to a cluster of stools. Ah! Yes, the stools, they almost forgot the stools, they heave themselves onto the stools, and nothing is sadder to see than these five elephants, torn from their natural habitat as babes, and made to sit like this, ridiculously plumed, while there are old women without seats in the crowd.

In all honesty, scaling an elephant isn’t the hardest thing in the world. It’s just the sort of thing I’d be good at, thinks Algernon.

Pupi Luzzatto announces the next act with an a note of gravity quite rare coming from him — but, of course, what do we know of Pupi Luzzatto and his customary customs? What do we know of his true features? Laughter scrambles a face. Joviality only proves the elasticity of the rubber, after all. That’s Pupi Luzzatto for you. The true waxen face of this orphan, this cuckolded husband, this aging man. For Pupi Luzzatto announces the acrobats. They will risk their lives before our very eyes, without a net, Mesdames Messieurs, in a high-wire act unlike any in the world. Do not applaud during their feats, please, move around as little as possible. Rolando Luzzatto is balancing in the void, suspended by his feet from a trapeze. Rosella Luzzatto, his own wife, hangs from his outstretched arms. Twelve yards away, Nanni Luzzatto, her own brother, balances in the void, suspended by the feet from a trapeze. His own wife, Antonella Luzzatto, hangs from his outstretched arms. But that’s only the beginning: Rolando lets go or more accurately launches Rosella, Nanni lets go of or more accurately launches Antonella, Rolando and Nanni part fiercely, Rosella and Antonella execute a first spiral, Rolando and Nanni split apart, a second spiral, Rolando and Nanni grow nearer nonetheless, a third spiral again and the two brothers at the ends of the arc grab their respective sisters-in-law by the ankles nose down, Rolando Antonella and Nanni Rosella, while Algernon thinks of the harmony of a world where relations between men and women would never be more complicated than this. Then he snaps out of it, and at once he and the rest of the spectators feel the irresistible urge to crack their knuckles, as if they were afraid they had broken a bone. If we were to subsitute for the real trapeze artists above an imaginary string quartet, then all the spectators would feel the irresistible collective urge to clear their throats, as though a choir at mass about to burst into song. The spectators above all else need to remember that they are there, very much alive, they must be understood, that they exist and would be capable of such feats themselves, it’s just that no one ever gives them the opportunity for God’s sake. On the other hand, Algernon will ask all his friends to approach Palafox, to touch him, to harness him, to fight him, it will be an interactive performance. The animal will be allowed to choose his own partner for the high wire act. For this launch into the void, his partner, whoever she may be, will be at somewhat of a disadvantage. Palafox possesses over Madame Franc-Nohain or the general’s wife the double advantage of being able, primo, to glide effortlessly thanks to his patagium, and secondo, to latch onto anything with his prehensile tail.