"On 6th January 1917" "Five soldiers condemned to death were lead to the sector of Bullavent, near the river of the Somme." "The first one" "He has been a keen adventurer a long time ago He wore on his neck the number 2124" "He came from a recruitment centre of La Seine" "He was wearing boots" "He took them from a German soldier." "Before The soldier 2124," "His name was Bastoche was with a beautiful redhead girl called Véronique Passavant." "He was carpenter in the " La Bastille"" "Sometimes between two furnitures" "They went to drink a beer in the pub of Petit Louis on the street "The Golden Hand"" "He took the boots from an enemy who didn't need them no more." "in order to replace them, once filled up with straw and newspaper paper." "They replaced his former boots." "he went to a military tribunal for voluntary mutilation." "They had found rest of powder in the wound of his hand, then he was condemned to death." "The second soldier was the number 4077 from another recruitment centre of La Seine." "He worked on the Steel for the state railroads in Manille." "His name was Francis Ganière, we called him "Six Soux"" "He knew that the poor were building the cannons which will kill them and that the wealthy people sold them." "He tried to explain it during the barragings, but he didn't explain well." "In addition, the cheap wine: their friend in the misery, made the soldiers so pissed, that he didn't even know how to interrupt them." "1818 was without any doubt the bravest soldier," "And the most dangerous one." "He once killed the official of his team." "An official who hit the dead." "Get up!" "Get up!" "You, go away!" "No one knew it." "Benoît Notre Dame was a farmer." "On one morning in the month of August, they went to take him away from his farm." "and they forced him to go on the train." "Be aware of the cables!" "The phone cables were the only way to connect to the world of the living." "by that fine thread, they were hoping for the decision of the president Raymond Poincare to spare their life." "if one of them lost the faith, it would be him." "he is the soldier number 7328 recruited from the island Corsica." "Ange Bassignano" "According to the people who knew him, Never ever a name has been so dispised he was a liar, a cheater, a fake." "an informer, devious person." "Before, He has been the procurer (pimp) of Tina Lombardi" "Because of her, He has been condemned to jail for five year for a honor or love business." "it depended on the fact if they were a woman or a man." "Actually... it was a settle between the procurers (pimps) of the village." "During the summer of 1916 they recruited delinquents in order to be able to replace losses within the massacred regiments in the Verdun hell." "It was up to them." "For whom are Those tombs?" "Well Actually... well... as tomorrow they are going to attack..." "So we anticipate." "Be aware of the cable." "The fifth soldier was a kid who belonged of the section of 17" "He just needed 5 months to be 20 years old." "And now, he was afraid of everything." "of the French cannons which were shooting so much." "of the wind that spread the gas of the hunters of robbery, of the executions" "Before the war he was not like this, he was all the opposite..." "He defied storms to help keeping lighthouses working when the tide raised." "Charge!" "Then a detail will change everything." "There you go kid, you will return to see your fiancée, you just got your way out." "yep, you got your way right to the court-martial" "My sergeant, close your eyes for a change, he already suffered enough, don't you think?" "Sergeant they may condemn him to death" "Be understanding for a change!" "Shut your mouth!" "Come on Sergeant.." "Shut the fuck up!" "When Mathilde and Manech made love for the first time" "Manech fell asleep with his hand left over her breast." "Whenever he felt his wound on his hand beating, it was like feeling the Mathilde heart beating" "And each beat will make him closer to her." "If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know." "After the news of his death, she desperately clung to her intuition like a fine thread." "Still, she never gets discouraged." "Mathilde has a cheerful disposition." "she knows that if ever her thread doesn't connect her to her lover" "Well that's not too bad, she still can hang herself up with." "In June of 1920 Mathilde received a letter from a nun." "A sick man from the "Le Reim" hospital wanted to meet her." "He was with Manech in January 1917, on the front of the Somme" "In August 1912, he was a good looking man, wasn't he?" "It is of lemon, with direct gear box." "please tell me what happened to Manech" "In January 1917 they ordered me to escort five condemned men to the front." "Was He among them?" "Yeah." "I had to take them to the first line of the trench." "Gendarmes waited for us with the prisoners next to a small cemetery in ruins." "What the fuck are you doing with those German boots?" "I am waiting." "Waiting for what?" "To be spared by Poincare?" "You can dream on Dude!" "He already signed it." "Normally I should not have been condemned." "I am from Corsica, you know, not French!" "Let him be." "He loses a wee bit his head for" "Lucky him." "Are you done my lieutenant?" "That soldier, He doesn't have long time before he dies, the cold will kill him." "What about Manech?" "..." "Does his wound on his hand make him suffer badly?" "We had to amputate his two fingers, but apparently he was doing okay." "They took them to a trench called "the bingo twilight"." "Fucking hell." "Could you not make sure to kick out of the truck these useless people on your way?" "To kick their ass so as to come along faster?" "My orders were to deliver you the five condemned men, I don't care about the rest." "Then I will tell them what are my orders..." "to throw these guys to the trench and to let them die like dogs between the two firing lines." "Those are my fucking orders Sergeant!" "You understand Sergeant, with the Germans we have a species in tactical agreement." "The sector is wee bit sleepy, a kick in the ass and all the shit will explode on our faces!" "The soup guys, You are lucky it is warm." "And what would you like to get kiddo?" "A chocolate cup and a piece of bread with honey." "Unless I have to kill my parents:" "I will get that to you." "Do you mind lieutenant?" "Don't worry, he is an orphan, but he will no doubt get you what you want." "He is the chief of the kitchens." "15 minutes later, he brought everything." "Bread with salt, honey of lavagne and..." "Cacao of Nigeria." "Happiness" "There you go kid, do you have anyone to write to?" "do you have a girlfriend?" "Mathilde" "His girlfriends' name is Mathilde." "Mathilde" "I feel like her heart beats in me with Morse code." "We are about to get married." "They condemned us and we don't have to wait for the end of war anymore." "I will go Home when the execution is over." "Maybe it is better that I don't tell you the end." "I am lame, not stupid" "Tell me what happens." "We opened a breach in the wire fences and we helped the five soldiers to fight against the cold." "Célestin Poux gave your boyfriend one of his red wool gloves, so that the hand was protected." "Is it far away?" "Less than 100 meters." "Far for the grenades and close for the artillery." "And not to mention the gas." "Do you Think that they will be allright?" "If They don't fly in the air, they will very likely die of hunger and cold." "In any case the Germans will shut up for a while." "Bastoche the carpenter has been embraced by a corporal." "It was obvious they knew each other before the war." "Soon... we took them outside the trench." " Assholes." " Shit!" " Shut up!" "In September 1914, I could easily lift 70 Kilos" "Moreover I was already not in great shape like in the past." "But that morning, in January 1917 was Manech still alive?" "At the dawn, Favart shout out their names." "All, except the farmer from Dordogne, responded." " Bassignano?" " Present." " Bouquette?" " what the hell do you want?" " Langonnet?" " Yeah, I am here." "Dude you should hide in a better spot." "Notre Dame?" "Notre Dame?" "I know nothing else." "I retired to write my report young lady." "At last Soldier, the English come to take our place, we can go." "And the subject bingo?" "What is that?" "The list of the condemned signed by Favourier captain" " Do I leave It there?" " Nope give it to me." "Don't stay there like an idiot, what are you waiting for?" "You are promoted sergeant first thing in the morning and leave for the Bosbos." "Even so my commander, this mission is going away to be stuck in my throat." "Good news, there are balsamic caramels for the throat there." "The caramels of the Bosbos." "We are done." "Some months later, I have been hurt in the Somme." "I found myself in the same ambulance as Chardolot one of the officials in "the bingo twilight"." "But He just had few days to live." "Eh oh, It is me Esperanza." "Bingo twilight you remember?" "Oh sorry I didn't recognize you." "Tell me, my no man's land boys..." "How did the story finish?" "What do you think?" "No survivor?" "Do you feel remorse?" "You should have stayed with us in Bingo." "I saw the capital Ms written down ...underpants, an albatross." "You are delirious." "You got the flue." "We threw between two lines five boys alive, then we recovered five cold meat." "so..." "I lost my vision sergeant, but I imagine your face." "That makes my day." "He really spoke of capital Ms and an albatross?" "yep... and of underpants." "There you go Young lady, everything the condemned men in Bingo ever possessed." "They asked me to send everything to their families." "My health didn't allow me to do it." "It is a copy of the letter of the farmer Benoît Notre Dame to his wife." "I sent the original one to her when I left Bingo." "His health is due to the gas in the lungs right?" "Nope, it is because he got the spanish flue." "You can notice, the death is lurking and catches us totally by surprise." "Mathilde You don't have to be pissed off, you can talk to me," "If you can't talk, just stay quiet." "But sometimes when we start speaking, it's when we start crying." "and when crying we talk about what you didn't want to you know what I mean." "I will not have to bear anymore that silly face" "Petit Louis tell to Vero that I will always think about her and that it is too bad she doesn't want to talk to me, I met again Biscotte and we made up." "Good bye my friend." "Bastoche" "Benoît Notre Dame Numero 1818 I will not be able to write again for a while." "Tell Berney I will pay everything by the month of Mars." "he sells his instalment too expensive" "You have to be careful." "tell my Bagtistan that I hope nothing bad will happen to him" "I have never known such a nice person." "I love you." "Benoît" "For Tina Lombardi from Ange Bassignano." "If The dog enters the room before they call me for the dinner, Manech must be still alive." "I am not hungry." "The dinner is ready." "Come Malthide, let's go to eat." "I'm coming." "Mathilde was born on the first of January 1900" "That's very easy to determinate one's age." "In 1903 hers parents passed away in the accident of the bus 44." "Since then Mathilde kept telling" "Late parents..." "late parents..." "Her uncle Sylvain and her aunt Bénédicte took care of her, thanks to the life insurance managed by the lawyer of her parents;" "Pierre Marie Rouvières." "At five years old, Mathilde contracted the polio virus." "She stayed several months in the bed in spite of the mustard cataplasms, the pendulums, and the infusions of shamrock with four leaves." "Today Mathilde is 20 years old, she plays tuba, because it is the only instrument that seems to give the distress signal." "The dog always farts when it sleeps" "Whenever Bénédicte hears the dog, she says" "The farty dog betrayed." "Mathilde needs to get daily massages for her legs." "Georges Cornu the champion of Britain in free style swimming gives her massage." "At the beginning she was anxious." "but she got used to it." "When Mathilde was in the mood, she imagined that Georges Cornu admired the shape of her body." "and he couldn't repress his desire." "As a matter of fact, one day he dared to remark:" "You have very beautiful curves young lady, and I can assure you that I have touched lot of women." "So Mathilde didn't know anymore if she could call him:" "My dear Gorge..." "My loved Gorge..." "Gogo" "Sometimes, before sleeping she imagined herself in hot situations" "Mathilde never had to use all her imagination to succumb to the pleasure." "But since he disappeared, she cannot think about her fiancé when she seeks pleasure." "If I was you I would forget everything Mathilde, it is of no use to look for nothing," "Moreover if he were alive why did he not give any sign huh?" "Because he had been made a prisoner" "He stayed with a German girl with two blond tresses with big tits." "A Breton eating sauerkraut every single day... impossible." "Are you sure you don't want me to help you?" "Oh no but I prefer you to keep your feet on the ground." "Well I will need to feel my legs for that!" "What did you say?" "Nothing" "I did hear you." "what you just said doesn't make any sense." "Manech cannot be a prisoner in Bingo, because" "It is where we find the enemy lines." "Generally Winners can take the prisoners." "Maybe he lost his direction, or he hides somewhere so as not to go to jail" "My sweet Mathilde you read too many novels." "You have to go back to reality." "You are young and beautiful, you could easily find a husband in spite of..." "In all that story there is something that does not add up." "I must find the plunderer of kitchens..." "Célestin Poux" "What would you want kiddo?" "Or maybe the prostitute from Corsica, maybe she knows things more I do." "Tomorrow I go away to Paris." "what?" "What's for?" "To look for a survivor of Bingo twilight." "...I have archives all the way up to the ceiling," "You can't imagine the number of cases which never saw the day." "if Germain Pire did not come in hand." "Have a look at this," "A big case, an extremely delicate one." "In 1917 a train with soldiers derails 427 deads." "thanks to the investigation we discovered that the official gave the order to leave although the brakes did not work." "It was a concealment manoeuvre from the government of Poincare" "The only option for the victim families to find back the official..." "Germain Pire." "The spy that chirps." "Oh way worse, young lady." "And I found the official" "For the sorrow of the high military spheres." "Allright, in the cemetery of Craon." "As soon as I made my suitcases I left go after them, Poux Célestin and his lover from Corsica." "And what about the fees?" "Look my lady, The spy that chirps knows to whom he should pluck." "For you It would be 20 francs per day" "Without the expenses of course." "And why would you do me that favour?" "Hélène come on to say hello!" "About the expenses of Germain Pire, don't worry, he eats little, does not drink and he is very sparing in gratuities." " Good morning" " Good morning" "Notre Dame de Paris?" "no, not Notre Dame de Paris, I call you from Paris about Notre Dame, Benoît" "Ah Benoît Notre Dame yes, a strong farmer and of great heart." "He died for the mother country, we say that the mother country has cleared me of good people." "His wife and her small Bagtistan still live there?" "Madame Minne I can't hear nothing!" "No, a day she sold everything and they went away without leaving direction." "is it a choir that I hear behind your back?" "it's a choir indeed dear lady, I am in the church." "However that is not an excuse for not hearing you well." " Thanks Father, Good bye." " welcome." "Bingo twilight." "That does not have feet nor head." "This is a scandal." "I thought that your vocation was to defend lost causes." "when you were 10 years old your your insolence had grace, not when you are 20 years old." "As a matter of fact, it would be time to take me seriously." "Mathilde, Mathilde, you squander your inheritance in an absurd chimera." "Bingo twilight, and why not Yupi Tralalala..." "I want to consult military files." "Mathilde let's say there were any truth in there and if one of the condemned men ever survived he would face forced works." "And you know it!" "Your investigations would cause him very dangerous problems." "Be sensible, they trusted the interests to me your parents" "Late parents" "Actually, my happiness was one of their interests." "Good bye, and thanks." "My sweet Mathilde do not be like that please." "I think about your future, it hurts me much to see you got worse despise your massages." "All right all right I will see what I can do." "I can't put that though in Lourdes.." "Good morning lady I look for Tina Lombardi I know her since she was a kid and.." "Pardon ladies I am a political uncle of Tina Lombardi and I would like to erm..." "Please, I am in charge of the interests of the Lombardi family in the continent, and I look for Tina." "It is about a small heritage..." "Are you the man who is looking for Tina Lombardi?" "No, in fact no" "Don't you know Corsica?" "It is very pretty place very colourful." "But Tina Lombardi went away after bad business" "Luckily a member of the police found her whereabouts in the bar in the city." "Valentin Emilia Maria Lombardi, called Tina, has been registered in 1916 near the quarter of regiment 23 of Marseilles." "After that she flew away." "I lost her tracks in Lyon, and trust me I didn't stop working." "She has disappeared in the district of the Croix Rousse." "What you mean is you give up" "Not at all, Pire never lets it go." "Pire is obstinate, a detective who gives up, he doesn't exist young lady." "Perfect, thanks." "Not the eyes, no" "What do you drink?" "This is my fiancée, and there it is the carpenter" "I believe that you know him." "No." "I am suddenly thirsty, do you mind a wine glass?" "It gives force and it cheers the way." "My great aunt told me the same thing." "she died in Besançon in 1911 at the age of 99 years old." "and she had never been ill." "Good luck." "I touch wood." "The war." "No, a hyena in the botanical garden" "I wanted to stroke it to be a smart ass." "Bastoche and his friend did this for me." "Biscotte?" "His best friend." "They met in 1910 by saving a woman from drowning in the flood." "Bastoche was skilful, but Biscotte..." "He was an artist, the king of firmer chisel." "He did all the joints." "It is a wonder!" "It is for you." "Petit Louis tell to Vero that I will always think about her and that it is too bad she doesn't want to talk to me, I met again Biscotte and we made up." "Good bye my friend." "Bastoche" "If they made up, they must have had a fall out." "Do you know the reason?" "A mystery." "But to tell you the truth, they went through so much together," "And out of the blue, they can't bear each other." "Biscotte went away to another army." "and he died in the bombing of one military hospital where he was injured." "Anyway, I am glad they made up before." "It seems that it will not be very busy here today." "Do you serve a drink?" "It seems you are again thirsty huh?" "Maybe he has a wooden hand but he still has a big heart." "Let's drink to love." "The true one!" "Do you know who is that Véro?" "Véronique Passavant." "His girlfriend, his lover." "He often came here with her." "What could have happened as she didn't want to talk to him anymore?" "I suppose he has been unfaithful and she never forgave him." "Voila, here is the place for the year 1917." "what are the red files about?" "Top Secret Defense" "We need higher clearance for them." "This way please, upstairs." "Go to help him" "Oh right." "Suppose that the highest person is yourself ...then Mr. Rouvières and I would have clearance right?" "If I had that kind of mind" "I would not be an Official." "Mathilde please consider yourself lucky to have been able to come here." "Normally it usually takes months." "Like I told you, they say everything is in order but actually it is totally a chaos" "To see... in front of the Somme" "Sector of Bullavent, trench 108." "You know what I mean." "This is a chaos!" "It is a real mess." "Can I help you?" "I thank you for the management ...with the General, I say." "Good, he is a great friend mine." "I know the sector very well two friends of mine died there." "Then it has been a very bloody war..." "I don't think that things will get better It is very difficult to find a maid nowadays." "It seems like a lie." "We would like to know that passage in trench 108." "...104, trench 105, 107, where is the 106 one?" "See?" "A mess." "Trench 108... this is a bloody mess." "Good 108, here these Taken by us in October of 1916 and renamed Bingo twilight." "And why not trooi Tralala?" "on 6 January there is nothing on 7 January great confrontation with numerous losses..." "Favourier captain, the professor of history die in combat..." "The lieutenant..." "An advisor of insurances!" "The caporal..." "Good that but it gives..." "That is weird, a part of the losses are classified confidential." "Confidential?" "It means..." "I am sorry" "And we can do nothing about it?" "No nothing" "Up to here we can arrive." "I am sorry" "Not even the general himself could do nothing about it" "Even so, I thank you for your time" "I am sorry, there is nothing which can be of any interest for you, really ordinary files." "It was one possibility." "everything is a chaos!" "you are incorrigible Mathilde...!" "...no lady, that is totally impossible no, without the seal of the ministry it is impossible." "I hope that this leaf is not secret of defense." "Pierre Marie, if it is important You must tell me." "nope that is nothing. only one permission." "Of the president?" "So what, every so often the president can give it to the soldiers but who deserve it." "That is it." "I take both of you out" "Corporal Bouquette Clevert, Ganière Francis" "Soldier Notre Dame Benoît, soldier Bassignano Ange" "Soldier Langonnet Manech" "By voluntary mutilation the sentence to capital punishment." "I count up to 7 and if the train doesn't enter a tunnel" "Or the conductor does not come." "Manech is dead" "One, two, three, four, five, six" "Tickets please." "April fool!" "As soon as you finish eating your meal, we will pay your announcement." "It compensates all information referring to Bingo twilight. is that okay for you?" "Yes, try to encourage her, it would give her appetite." "you would have taken her to the camperre festival." "What for?" "To distract you a wee bit." "Not to mention you could find a nice boyfriend." "But what's for?" "So you can marry and raise a family!" "Tell her!" "Can I have some too?" "Do you drink wine now?" "A wine glass gives force and cheers the way." "Where did you get that from?" "On the street "the gold hand", the owner of the bar, with his died hand, He has a wooden hand," "His great aunt said that before dying, at the age of 99 years old in Besançon in 1911." "Can you say that again?" "In Besançon, in 1911 ...one old lady lived until 99 years, who died leaving behind a little nephew who has a wood hand" "He is the owner of the died hand, a bar on the street the gold hand." "You see it?" "Already pissed off." "Look!" "This is the Albatros." "It knows that it can use the wind at will." "Oh my gravel!" "my gravel!" "Véronique Passavant on July 17th 1920" "Lady, I write you from the bar of Petit Louis who told me about you." "I have to tell about about a meeting I have had which gave me a fright." "I was coming to the factory of Bastoche because I was melancholic." "I would like to speak with Bastoche" "Bastoche but he died in the front of the Somme, you didn't know?" "But I am looking for something else." "What exactly?" "In the hospital where I help the patients, there are terminal syphilis." "One of them has given this to me for you." "if you don't want to die covered by purulent abscesses, you would do better answering me!" "The companion with whom Bastoche hides" "Tell me, tell me who is he?" "Well well I would not let myself be upset by some young lady" "Tina Lombardi knows something we don't" "What did you say?" "Tina Lombardi knows something which eludes us." "Something that would prove that Bastoche is still alive." "And the other condemned men." "it is obvious she believes I am his angels." "But if Bastoche has been saved, then I am sure that he protected Manech." "If he ever survived it is." "Wait." "It can, but if not outside for that reason, single I would have left to hang to me." "Are you winding me up you smart ass?" "Whenever you come here I must fix the gravel." "As for the gravel, it is a question about style." "A letter for the young lady." "Ironworks R. Leprince, Paris 1920 July 25." "Young lady, I take advantage of Sunday today to write to you with respect to your announcement where it says that you are looking for Célestin Poux and other survivors of Bingo twilight." "I knew that guy very well, he was the best go-getter that I ever met." "Thanks to him I never starved myself." "Olivier Nergeton mechanical toys manufacturer." "Célestin Poux was our provider, we called the terror of the kitchens" "He falsified the numbers of losses, so as to multiply the money in order to get the soldiers more foods." "If you ever meet him, Tell him that the veterans of Fontenau will never forget him." "Etienne Mauriaux, Professor, August 3 of 1920" "He made us laugh ours heads off, to get us food, he would even tame the mascot of the company." "Good morning Madam, Germain Pire private detective." "Oh yeah, Mathilde told us about you." "Sylvain Tell Mathilde to go downstairs, the detective wants to see her." "The great Pire moves like hell, he can spend a day in each site." "In any case we will need luck and patience to get him." "A shame." "Mathilde I got you some salty cakes." "You will see if you like them." "You won't be better in the kitchen?" "Thank you Bénédicte." "Allright, I leave you alone." "Poux is a mystery, whereas Tina Lombardi that is another story" "She misleads us with dead end leads." "And to make matters worse she changes identities." "Anything new about Biscotte?" "Wait!" "Look at this, this is Benjamín Gordes it is the day where they got the carpentry prize, for sixth consecutive year." "But!" "And yes, young lady." "Biscotte, the best friend of Bastoche, is no one else but Benjamín Gordes and a soldier of the company told me that they were close-knit before they fought." "Leave me alone." "I do not want to fight with you." "Leave me alone." "Calm down!" "Bastard, Asshole." "Who got that idea?" "Me?" "It was your idea." "It was just for a skirt matter." "Véronique Passavant broke up with Bastoche in June 1916 and immediately afterwards, Bastoche fight with Benjamín Gordes." "You don't have to be a lynx for that huh?" "So they didn't see each other till in Bingo twilight?" "Bingo twilight is where everything finishes." "No, it is where everything started, Mr. Pire" "Where everything starts." "Tina Lombardi is sure Bastoche is still alive." "What made Bastoche different from the others in Bingo twilight?" "That he was the only carpenter, no?" "There is a thing that differentiates Bastoche from the others the German boots." "He was the only one to wear German boots!" "But of course!" "You are right!" "Tina Lombardi just knew that her man by wearing German boots he could have got away with it." "It would suffice that they had seen him with some companion." "I met two Frenchmen they looked like tramp ...One of them got boots." "He got them from a German soldier" "In addition to the German boots, we know that Bastoche made up with his best friend." "Exactly!" "who knows if it doesn't make any change during that night." "If I can peel that apple without breaking the skin then" "Gordes found a way to help out and save Bastoche, and Manech." "At that rate I won't put the cake in the oven before the next year!" "I must return to Paris" "What?" "I have to return to Paris." "Again?" "The inheritance of your parents will go away like smoke." "Late parents." "Excuse me, where is Elodie Gordes?" "That's the woman with the carrots." "Ah, thanks Sir." "Elodie Gordes?" "Here for you." "I do not know him." "Which person don't you know?" "Would it be that one by any chance?" "Because Bastoche and Biscotte had a fall out?" "Was it because of you?" "You exaggerate, I do not have anything to tell him." "No, I just need to know." "Leave me alone!" "They saw each other for the very last time in the bingo twilight" "My fiancée was there too with Bastoche in that excrement trench." "I need to understand." "I need to understand!" "It is not what you think." "I can tell you everything." "Give me your address, although I have misspelling," "I will put everything in a letter." "I promise you." "No letter for me?" "What did you say?" "There is no letter for me?" "Only the newspaper..." "It talks about the all world but not about Elodie Gordes." "Very funny." "You are wrong." "You can learn a lot of interesting things." "The president has opened an investigation on the condemned men of Bingo twilight?" "A man fell out of the train in the middle of the night and in pajamas" "At least him, he sleeps with pajamas." "Eh?" "He sleeps with pyjamas!" "...and we recovered five cold cuts" "You are already a thief, and now you are pyromaniac." " Did you hurt yourself?" " No I am fine." "For a change I don't have to gather the gravel, but to collect the mailman." "You took away the gravel!" "A good war!" "There is no good war." "Do you want to drink something?" "Yes please." "Miss, please keep secret my little secrets" "When I met my husband, he had four children from a first marriage." "No one kid was his." "By generosity he married with a young tuberculosa widow of Polish nationality, like me." "He considered the children as his before she died." "Myself, I was unmarried mother of a girl of 3 years." "So we found our self with a family with 5 children," "We had four years of happiness." "We had many plans." "We dreamed to be able to see the sea once in life." "But then the war started." "At first I thought that his Bastoche friend would take care of him because they were together, but when he came back for the first time, in September of 1915" "Right after the campaign of Artois," "I understood right away nothing would be like before." "This gives us the force to get on in life." "A day in a battlefield in flames I saw my companions exploding like if they were firecrackers." "One time we even used the body of a companion, to make of him a shield." "He had been thinking about something for a long time it was in the second night that it started" "You will understand that if I desert they will arrest me" "The only way of getting away is to have a sixth child." "When we have 6 children, they send the soldiers back home." "As I already told him, He can't have children." "I could not imagine what to think." "But voila, he brought up again the subject." "But it is me who asks you, Elodie, that is not adultery." "And even less if it is with Bastoche." "Don't touch!" "No of the five children is mine, who cares about another one?" "Although it embarrasses me, we would have wait 9 months ...by then the war would already be over." "But no It will never be over!" "Those nine months will represent a hope for me." "Don't you have more compassion?" "Then some day I found a letter of Clevert Bouquette, AKA Bastoche in the letterbox." "I put something colourful at the window so he knows where to show up." " Good morning." " Good morning." " I made some coffee, do you want one?" " Oh yes it would be nice thank you." " Come in" " No, You first." "Thank you very much." " Do you want sugar?" " No, thanks." " It is of nacre?" " yes Benjamín made it." " It is curious we never met" " Yes, before." "Are the children not home?" "Yes, they are playing in the backyard." " A digestive with the coffee?" " Yes please." "In fact not..." "I am sorry." "I don't need it" "I don't need it too." "Elodie look, we tell him we did it." "So we are on peace for a while." "That is for the best." "For you, for me, for everybody." "It is funny, when you smile it looks like a bracket." "It will close but the possible thing late." "The day after tomorrow, in the station." "Time to go, a very last smile okay?" "In order to close the bracket." "I never have been pregnant." "But soon after, it was not the fear which were tormenting my husband, but the jealousy." "Where?" "When?" "Whichever times?" "In which positions?" "Did you enjoy yourself?" "It became an utter torture for him and me." "Now Bastoche died..." "And my husband died in the hospital bombing." "It made me good to be honest with you Miss." "Sometimes I am scared to become crazy." "Elodie Gordes." "Mathilde hurry up, This Mr. Rouvières on the phone waiting for you." "Move, Move." " Hello." " Mathilde, It's me Pierre Marie." "Erm, I have bad news for you," "Good or bad news, You were expecting for them, ...and that from now on, you will not be able to continue ignoring." "The bottom line is, you were right about one thing" "Manech and his 4 companions were indeed in that trench." "They are buried in the Tertullian cemetery" "They were first buried below a canvas in a crater" "There there, my little Mathilde" "In June of 1909 Mathilde was 9 years old," "Manech Langonnet... 10" "Does it hurt when you walk?" "It must have been friday or saturday." "Mathilde doesn't remember anymore." "Do you have friends?" "If you want I could be your friend." "What is wrong, do I smell like fish?" "Have you ever gone up the lighthouse?" "I can carry you up there!" "...my father is the lighthouse keeper." "As you wish, you are a stuck up little girl!" "Hey!" "do you want me to kick your ass?" "How far can you see from the top of the lighthouse?" "Lunch." "If dogfart stinks - fortune will come!" "Manech Loves Mathilde" "Manech Loves Mathilde" "Manech Loves Mathilde Mathilde Loves Manech" "Manech Loves Mathilde" " Take this" " But I don't smoke!" "I know I know, just take it." "It will help you make friends." "If I get to the curve before the car" "Manech will come back safe" "If I get to the curve..." "If I get to the curve before the car Manech will come back safe." "If I get to the curve..." "Good morning." "You used to brag about being a year older than me." "Now I am older." "The name of the one that gave you the glove is Poux" "Célestin Poux." "He is very slippery" "The detective I hired is called Pire." "Germain Pire." "He hasn't found neither him nor the prostitute from the Corsican" "The thread has been broken Manech ...but I will not quit." "I have faith in Tina Lombardi's clue." "I need to know." "Do you understand?" "That is why is important that i find Célestin Poux." "Well it's really a great pity, you know?" "We would be very happy by now" "Let's go Mathilde." "It's getting cold." "Killed in combat June 7th, 1917" "Thouvenel?" "What do you want?" "Who are you?" "Are you the one who called me?" "Who are you?" "The days passed without news from Celestin Poux" "Mathilde was overwhelmed with sadness" "She has to eat or she'll get sick." "Then leave her the best part." "She'll end up leaving us a taste for tragedy, you'll see!" "At last, on September 15th, 1920, at midnight." "The thread connected again..." ""Victory!" "I have finally found that slippery Poux"" "I'm sending him with God's blessing and Harley Davison's" "Expenses included, of course." "Germain Pire." "Célestin Poux, Road Terror." "Is this your announcement?" "Mathilde clenched her fists together, was all she could do to avoid shaking, crying or look like an idiot." "I didn't see your fiancé fall, I had gone to look for the ranch" "Then I met with Levert, a guy I met at the Boscos." "A neighbour of the Mosa Valley." "More a jerk that a neighbour!" "But he knew how to distinguish Arabic coffee from any other medicine." "We had a big problem when we mixed coffee with charcoal" "To trade it for Dutch tobacco." "The last time you saw Manech, was he alive?" "It was impossible not to see him, instead of hiding he was carving an M on the trunk of a charred tree." "He had time to carve three M's before the albatross took him down." "The albatross?" "Albatross." "Big sea bird that follows like a travel companion without worries, the ship that sails the bitter depths. "" "It's a poem by Baudelaire" "But in 1915, it was also a German plane, with a machinegun on the back." "Back then, it was impossible to shoot through the helices" "Did you give him the glove?" "Red, thick wool." "I had a girlfriend that used to knit scarfs and gloves." "I traded them with the Senegalese that had frostbite on their fingers for gold teeth that they took out of dead German soldiers." "I melted them and thanks to them i could buy the Harley." "But, are you sure Manech is dead?" "a mate that saw the body told us, that with a wound like that, there was no doubt about it." "Of the 5, I only saw 3 of them get killed, with my own eyes" "I give up..." "I give up..." "Don't shoot." "Mercy..." "I give up..." "Let me through!" "I'm on your side..." "Mercy!" "I'm not french!" "I'm Corse" "I have nothing against the German." "Poor man." "So you are not french." "Then lets nullify your birth certificate." "It was one of our soldiers who shoot." "Thouvenel" "He had an itchy trigger, with a heart of stone and eagle's eye." "Poor man." "Do you want the truth?" "I'm an easy man, I would kill my whole family for a stew" "Don't worry, he is an orphan!" "As well as for pickled meat and truffle puree" "I just came from..." "Ok!" "Who did you see die with your own eyes?" "The one infected with gangrene." "Six-Soux?" "Yes, the welder." "Comrades, before I die" "I have a last wish." "I would like to pee standing up." "like a man!" "After that, comrades, fire at will!" "Good bye to life" "Goodbye to love" "And to all the women it is over it is the end" "I curse this damn war" "This is the end" "We will lose our lifes we are all condemned they are sacrificing us" "And Bastoche?" "He was very well hidden and we couldn't find him." "The morning when we called all the names he answered but no one could find him" "He was like a ventriloquist." "No, he was a carpenter." "For what I heard, the albatross shoot him down at the same time than your fiancé." "The explosion set on fire the albatross that went down on the German line, at home." "And what happened to the farmer of Dordoña" "He faked death from the beginning, but it didn't do him any good." "The Germans didn't like what happened to their plane." "When I came back with the ranch the shooting had begun." "Then they started bombing." "Those that haven't lived it don't know how it is." "Your legs shake, they don't respond." "The heart beats like that of a terrified animal." "Then I saw the farmer from Dordoña get killed" "We have to attack before they kill us" "Prepare bayonets!" "Prepare bayonets!" "Prepare bayonets!" "What I'm telling you is music compared to what happened" "For France..." "Attack!" "We had left behind the prisoners' bodies when the shooting of the machine guns started, the Maxim." "...It was a masacre." "Lavrouye kept the paper..." "Bring the stretchers!" "A paper?" "What paper?" "There wasn't time to say anymore." "That night there was triple soup servings." "Favart and Chardolot were doing the report of casualties." "Why do the five condemned are listed as soldiers of the batallion?" "We are following orders." "That sounds like fiddling" "Fiddling!" "C'mon, the soup is getting cold!" "It is already cold" "But out of the 5, you only saw 3 die." "With your eyes." "Lady, false hope can only cause pain." "No, it is not false hope." "Will you taste my plum pie?" "I don't think I should!" "With a little cream." "I like it when people appreciate my cooking" "You better lie down" "We all need to rest" "Easy, easy!" "You need more dignity, style!" "It is clear that farming is your thing." "Hope in Mr. Mailman, I'll take you to the next mailbox" " But my bicycle." "I'll take care of it I'm no quitter I have been in the war" "Let's go!" "...is not my fault, I have asthma" "Yes, and asthmatic that rides a bicycle!" "But near the sea." "Oh sure, near the sea!" "Careful Célestin, you are not on a sidecar." "Men, they are like children, eh?" "As long as they don't play at being soldiers ...tell Barney I want to liquidate everything by the first days of March." "Sell the manure very expensive..." "I can't believe this is about such trivial things." "Don't you think?" "It might be in code." "But the code of lovers cannot even be solved with divine inspiration." "And Bastoche?" "If he was seen with the German boots, he had to come out alive!" "Not at all, miss." "Private Gordes didn't want Bastoche to come out of the trench with the enemy boots" "If the German see you with them" "They will know you took them from one of them" "Then Tina Lombardi started with a wrong clue." "Her soldier with German boots... wasn't Bastoche!" "It was Gordes, exactly madam" "He was accompanied by a young man from the class of 17 called Derochette." "I ran into some stretcher-carriers that had just seen them." "Eh, are you from Bingo?" "Why?" "Tell that Private Gordes was wounded on the head that we saw him next to young man in worse condition." "His name is Derochette, they were going to the aid station." "Hooray for anarchy" "Anarchy!" "What's wrong Mathilde?" "Mathilde, open up!" "Please, be reasonable!" "Could you tell me what you did to her?" "Nothing..." "You have known for three years that Manech is dead" "That's what I call stubbornness" "No, it is called hope, and Mr. Poux just killed it." "Can I do something to make it up to you?" "Yes" "Take me to Bingo Crepuscule." "You look like an Indian princess riding an elephant." "With her court, riding her sadness." "Here it is!" "There it was, 100 meters ahead the German trench." "And the tree, the charred tree, where is it?" "Oh!" "the trunks and all the bodies were used to cover both trenches" "The five of them had one hand wrapped, we found them there, 20 meters ahead, below a canvas with a little dirt thrown on them." "It was not a pretty sight." "I can imagine!" "The youngest looked like a boy." "Do you remember if he had a glove?" "A red glove, of thick wool?" "All of them had one hand wrapped, i can remember that but nothing on the other hand, i didn't see a glove." "Athos!" "I don't like him removing the dirt." "On this zone you remove the dirt a little and you could find a mine that could blow an arm or leg in the blink of an eye." "That's a crypt, there was a chapel between the German line and ours all is left is a bunch of ruins" "I can't rememeber anything!" "I can't recognize anything!" "Is it possible that Manech lost the glove when he fell?" "It was made of thick wool, tightly woven it fit very tight, the other one lasted me until the end of the war." "Maybe he took it out to write on the trunk" "That I don't know, but I don't think so." "And what kind of red was it?" "Bright red?" "Intense red." "It had white dots woven in it, it looked like an apple with worms." "Excuse me for approaching you like this, but my husband's family suffered a lot during the war... and I don't want anyone to see me get near the table of a french veteran, do you understand me?" "What do you know?" "Before he died, my brother saw your fiancé carve three letters on the trunk of a tree" "He had a red glove with white dots." "A friend of his told me everything." "When one of our planes shoot to your fiancé he got disgusted by it." "And just after that all hell broke loose." "That day, God save the life of that french soldier twice" "Suddenly, your men returned the attack they killed my brother!" "He was 23." "I have come to see his cross at the cemetery." "I'm very sorry." "Time heals everything." "You'll see!" "I have to come back, or they will start to wonder." "Then I haven't completely killed it!" "What?" "...hope!" "Now what?" "Tina Lombardi." "She is going to be beheaded." "They are calling her the Officer's Killer." "She killed Lavrouye and Thouvnel amongst others!" "She had intended to kill Mariscal Piton." "When I think you used a wheel chair to get my pity... you are the only one I have agreed to talk to because I know we are alike." "Fine!" "Let's leave it." "What I did, you could have done too." "No, I don't think so." "I would have been too scared." "I am not afraid." "nor do I regret anything." "Except my hair they will cut it before executing me" "I will look like Joan of Arc when I meet my Ange." "Why the Mariscal Piton, what did he do?" "It was his idea to throw out the mutilated soldiers from the trenches." "And why not Poincare, he denied the pardon." "What, you don't know?" "He had pardoned them, the five of them." "It is only a license." "Lavrouye kept the paper..." "And why did Lavrouye do that?" "Because pigs act like pigs!" "But don't worry, I took care of him" "We have carried out the same investigation" "Each one on her own way." "Looking for any Bingo veterans i found a sick man that had healed my Ange and the others" "This sick man, Philippot, had seen one of the five." "A strong young man, wounded on the head" "He was strong, wounded on the head, he had German boots." "According to him, he had German boots." "And was carrying a thin young man." "I think so i mean, I'm sure!" "...strong, wounded on the head." "his boss suggested he kept quiet." "You, better than anyone, can understand the hope I felt" "But some time later I met the one who killed all my illusions." "First Sargent Favart" "He told me how that Thouvenel pig murdered my Ange." "With a single shot." "I also took care of him." "I only had one thing in mind eliminate everyone that hurt my Ange" "Your Ange left this for you." "Revenge is useless, try to be happy and don't waste your life for me." "Ange" "...Gordes, the one that traded the German boots with Bastoche..." "Was he strong?" "Biscotte?" "No, he wasn't athletic, he was like you or me." "And, have you heard anything about Jean de Desrochelles?" "Desrochelles?" "Ah yes, he was not very sociable, he lived alone with his mother." "I'm sorry, I have to leave you." "I'm leaving in one hour to Venezuela." " Good luck Célestin." " Same to you" "When I think you didn't tell me about Poincare's pardon..." "It would only have made things worse, please understand." "I have a last favour to ask of you Pierre Marie." "I suppose it has to do with Bingo." "Son of the bookshop owner Paúl Desrochelles dead February of 1897" "Jean Desrochelles that's it!" "Wait!" "." "Yes in Somme." "Yes, fine." "Thanks" "Tell me Mr. Pierre, Tina Lombardi, you must have known what she had planned!" "It was wiser not to interfere with her." "If things get ugly, the spy disappears?" "No... that who spies tries not to be seen." "By the way I have a last clue to give to you" "Jean Desrochelles evacuated from Somme Front on January of the 17th, only relative, her mother." "Widow of Paul Desrochelles." "Rue de la vie 22" "And what do you want me to do?" " Did you want to talk to me?" " Yes" "My brother's friend, the one i talked to you about, he remembered something that could be of interest to you." "The two french soldiers that escorted him, that Monday morning, wanted to go again through "No man's land"" "They saw the bodies of the condemned, one of them was in some kind of cavity and the two french seemed surprised" "I don't know if that could be useful miss?" "Thanks." "...tell Berney that I want to liquidate everything by the first days of March sell all the manure really expensive, you better be careful with him." "sell all the manure really expensive." "Well, it has to be in code." "Mr. Pire called." " He didn't find anything in Saenz..." " I know" "Hello, who is it?" "Yes miss, I remember you" "Berney?" "No that doesn't sound familiar" "I don't know anyone with that name." "Benoit Notre-Dame fertilizes his lands with his animals' manure, he didn't buy any." "Thanks father." "I have to decipher that letter" "I'm getting close." "I will be..." "Berney... march... sell... everything" "Say... nothing... no one" "Benoît." "Excuse me sir, the farm at the end of the world?" "The last house, at the end of the road." "And what if he doesn't come?" "He'll come!" "Don't worry." "Come back in two hours" "Hello Mathilde" "Is dangerous to bring back the dead." "When I saw your announcement on the paper" "I knew it was a matter of time until the gendarmes catch me." "Don't worry, I could have killed you but I didn't" "You're not only a thief, but also a pyromaniac!" "I couldn't kill you" "When we need to kill a rabbit or a chicken my wife takes care of it." "War has left me unable to do so." "You know what I want to hear!" "Is Manech alive?" "The last time I saw him he was not well" "But he is stronger that he seems." "We have to stay together" "When the fighting ended, I rested to gain back my strength" "What do you want?" "Notre-Dame?" "Then the Corse decided to surrender." "After that they killed the welder from Paris" "Then your fiancé carved some letters on the trunk of a tree and the German albatross arrived." "I regained my consciousness when the earth trembled" "I still don't understand what happened the only thing I saw was a trap door that the projectile uncovered." "...For France!" "Attack!" "They got into No Man's Land and on the second line they were all killed by the shotguns." "A few hours later, I was awaken by some voices." "Oh my God!" "Bastoche is dead!" "We can't leave him here." "We will come for him later, he won't go anywhere." "Oh Bastoche is dead" "Look!" "That one is moving." "That one is the kid, he is going to die too." "The explosion destroyed the trap door." "One of the soldiers was badly wounded." "Bastoche is dead!" "We are all going to die." "He was Bastoche's friend, the one who had taken the German boots." "After eating I smoked his tobacco." "Then I heard more voices." "Oh shit!" "Isn't that the kid!" "What is he doing here?" "And the farmer from Dordoña, where is he?" "Sir!" " I'm cold!" " Be calm!" "Although he was badly wounded, your fiancé wanted to live, i could see it in his eyes." "I carried him on my shoulders and started walking by the trench." "He had a high fever, i could feel it on my back." "He was delirious." "He talked about a heart beating in his hand." "Private!" "The hospital is 500 meters ahead" "Do you want us to carry him on the stretcher?" "No." "If you find any Bingo sub-officer" "Tell him that Private Gordes went to the hospital with Soldier Desrochelles." "Ok, as you wish" "I arrived before the explosion" "I have to say that the major state didn't have a better idea than to place the hospital in a hangar with a blimp full of hydrogen" "The kid was evacuated in the convoy that just left" "Will he be ok?" "The wound on the hip is not bad but the pneumonia doesn't look good" "I listed you by the name on your tags" "I don't want to know anything else Good luck" "The lever!" "The lever!" "Please!" "Then I arrived at Berney, on foot." "I couldn't have known if my wife had received the letter" "So everyday i waited for her at the station" "With the money of the sale we bought this farm" "The farthest we could find" "I called it "The end of the world"" "Goodbye" "Is curious, you punctured your life line" "Is normal" "I died... at Bingo Crepuscule just like your boyfriend" "If you ever find Jean Desrochelles alive" "Let me know." "You know where to find me" "Come on in!" "Feel at home, in Christmas you can enter through the chimney" "For Miss Mathilde" "Ok." "I'll give it to her later." "I think you should wake her" "What is going on?" "He is alive!" "Don't move Mathilde, whatever happens, don't move" "I'm on my way." "Germain Pire" "I'm such a fool!" "Nicer as the marten and much faster than the gazelle" "He is alive and well but he can't remember anything." "His amnesia is total." "He even had to learn to read and write again" "The psychiatrist that treated him since the 17th doesn't have much hope." "but everyone knows that there are as many amnesias as amnesiacs." "Where is he?" "Orphan for the second time." "He just lost his adoptive mother" "Pierre Marie, do you know Mr. Pire?" "Only by reputation" "Nice to meet you." "Mathilde I'm telling you I won't believe it until I see it." "With your own eyes!" "When Jean Desrochelles was born, her mother was 40 years old and she had no other children" "When the gendarmes came for him to support the front" "Yes" "She fell into a depression" "One day she received the visit of a mate of his son, his name was..." "Chardolot!" "...sadly it was Jean" "A bullet had reached him, and he had been dead for hours." "I also have to tell you..." "It is possible that the youngest of the condemned stole Jean's identity" "Exchanging their tags." "I think she lost her mind the day they called her to the hospital to tell her that her son was there." "He is asleep." "I'll leave you alone." "Good morning!" "Who are you?" "Your mother, little one." "I am your mother!" "I have conducted the official investigation and Mrs. Desrochelles died two months ago" "She was hit by a truck after having a discussion with a merchant and this is not a lie." "we know that!" "Mam please, calm down." "Mrs. Desrochelles didn't suffer, she died immediately." "I'm not crying about that" "I'm an idiot." "I didn't believe you little one Please forgive me!" "I should've known" "What she later would call the Millie expedition:" "the sun, the sky and all of nature, were on her side." "Flaunting her femininity, she fixed herself as best as she could." "Dressed in white, the color of purity, she painted her lips for the occasion." "She outlined her eyebrows and without rimel to extend her eyelashes" "She knew what would happen if she lost her composure" "We told him about your visit." "We told him that a young woman that he loved very much was coming to see him" "He asked your name and thought it was beautiful" "He is waiting in the garden." "Does it hurt you when you walk?" "Do you want to see what I'm doing?" "I'll let you see it when I'm done" "Why do you cry?" "And Mathilde sat there with her back straight against the chair's back with the hands on her skirt and looked at him." "Under the harmony that enveloped them, Under the light of the garden," "Mathilde looked at him, looked at him looked at him"