"THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND THE MEDIATHEQUE" "OR THE SEVEN CHANCES" "Subordinate conditional proposals." "Do you all know how to express the condition?" " With the conditional." " That has nothing to do with it." "Language is illogical." "Let's look at a very simple example." "You want to ride a bike but there is a condition, for example, to do good, you follow?" "If to do good was the condition, what would you say?" """I'll go for a stroll..."", complete that with the condition to do good." "Very well!" "This is a conjunctive locution." "But that's something complicated." "We're accustomed to using a simple conjunction, of only two letters, which ones?" "We're going for a stroll..." " If it does good." " Very good!" "Bravo!" "If it does good." "Those are the subordinate conditional proposals... and you begin them with..." " If!" " Very good!" "Chapter One" "If before the regional elections of '92, the presidential majority has not become the minority..." "Paris for All in France With Solidarity" "Because the great importance that the action has... that, of subterranean form and also visible, produced by your newspaper, one must know to decipher it, to understand it, and to interpet it... according to the sense that perhaps, or perhaps not, it motivates action." "The events will determine it." "We will see what the president does, what the party does... and then will come the imponderables." "They aren't there." "The imponderables are part of the special services." " France is of the right." " And all the better!" "The president is, even, of the far right." "That's your opinion." " It's not yours?" " Of course not." "Let's be serious." "We are serious and our meeting is too, because who knows if it won't have been predetermined?" "I usually read your letters." " Good afternoon." " Hello, mayor." " How are you?" " Very well." "Thanks." "Chapter Two" "If Julien, after his defeat, was not enamored... with the novelist Bérénice Beaurivage..." "You're wasting time here." "It's true." "Even though you want to be a regional representative, it is not only here where you should act." " What's important is Paris." " Very much so, to my sorrow." "But it's vital to situate myself on a national scale." "and before I can, I must situate myself on a local scale, as I've done." "But not so much here... where you isolate yourself from all the intrigues of Paris." "I detest the intrigues!" "I prefer to convince my electors... before those of the party." " And if the party no longer wants you?" " Here I'll have support." " I've learned to obtain allies." " The ecologists?" " Don't flatter yourself!" " They're good people." "Ah, yes, the whole world wants them." "Sooner or later I'll get elected." "I prefer to fight doing what I like, living where and with whom I like, to doing boring things with people I don't like." "If the bigwigs hear you!" "I refer to politicians in general, friends or rivals." "I want to be a different politician." "The people are fed up with bigwigs and slick talkers." "Why are you laughing?" "I was thinking... have you never grown a beard?" "No, why would you ask that?" "It just occurred to me." "The beard is clear proof:" "if you're a swine, you seem one all the more, and if you're an idealist, it makes you seem like Christ." " Then, in my case?" " Good..." "Look!" "They're extraordinary!" "Don't run." " Should I imitate the turkeys?" " Yes." "Incredible!" "Now I'll do it." " These white flowers!" " They're clematides." "Clematis armandi, the unique perennial clematide." "Apple trees!" "They're pear trees, darling." " And they don't have pears?" " Not until July." " Not a single tree has fruit?" " No, think a little!" "They haven't flowered at all." " In the market there are always pears." " They're from a greenhouse." "Lettuce!" "They're planted!" "I always see them with cellophane." "I'll plant them by every wall." "What's that?" " Lily of the Virgin." " Precious!" "I'll put some in my hair for when I leave." " Precious." " You'd look like a monkey." "This is salvia." " And that?" " AItramuces, salvia and sorrels." " Sorrels?" " Pretty, no?" " They're not meant to be eaten." " And strawberries." "They're extraordinary!" "It's incredible!" "These are calfskins." "They eat corn, look." "They seem like prehistoric animals." "Seriously!" "I have parsley." "They like it!" "Take it." "This one has little horns." "At birth their horns are burned." "This one has been done badly." "No. 280 likes the parsley." "Lambs!" "They're like monkeys!" "We aren't carrying bread!" "How little!" "Monsieur PiIIaud!" " Hello!" " Hello!" " How quickly you bring them." " Now they go to the farm's corral." "I'm bringing all of them late." "And they'll leave tomorrow?" "Yes, they're confined for a while here." " They'd be better off in a prairie." " No." " They eat better in the highway." " There's more herb." "It's better in the fields." " Yeah?" " Yeah, it's better." "Sure, the fields are trimmed." " Look at those little flowers!" " Yes." " Purple." " Precious." "They're called fritiIIarias or imperial crowns." " Shall we take one?" " You can't rip them out!" "They're protected." "There'll be a ministerial order that prohibits ripping them out." "There are only three places in France with this land, and as mayor, I'd be able to have an order put in writing." " What do they have that's special?" " They're very rare." " More than orchids?" " There are many orchids." "How pretty." " Do you like what you see in the field?" " Yes." "It's precious and relaxing, but after more than four days I would get bored." "Because you don't do anything." "I don't do anything at the beach, either, and I don't get bored there." " Neither do I write." " Write here." "Impossible!" "I need the noise, the movement, the chaos." "The lack of life kills my inspiration." "This place is bursting with life!" "Yes." "The lives of cows, birds, and frogs." "You'd also get bored without politics, and your daughter would prefer to be at the beach." "She could go to the beach with her mother." "Over here, she's bored because her friend isn't around." "And she will find another." "I doubt she could find one here." "Perhaps a peasant." "If there weren't already enough peasants!" " Don't you know anything of the actual field?" " You do?" "Yes, it's my element." "The electoral field, no?" "You're Parisian from head to toe, in voice, gestures, attitude, clothes... in everything." "I am a landowner, like my family for generations." "The land means nothing now." "It doesn't give identity, or power, or wealth." "The people who think they have roots in a land usually have a more reactionary spirit than there is here." "You see everything from a localized point of view." "Modern man should broaden his horizons, to be a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world." "And to carry a pin that says Made in USA?" "My antithesis is that that man is lacking in vitality." "Many city people conserve... the rural roots of their ancestors." "Yes, only to forget them." "As soon as they save a little they go on vacation... to the other side of the world, to Greece, to the Caribbeans..." "Listen, you should sell your land... and buy yourself a house on the coast of Breton or Normandy." "Please, that's the height of vulgarity!" " You're a snob?" " Oh?" " You're the biggest snob in the world." " They don't think so here." "More than a snob, they'd say you're a dandy." "Because "snob" comes from sine nobilitate, which means "without nobility."" " And I'm not noble?" " Yes." "You used to say you were "From Chaumes"... and you changed that to seem like you were from the working class." "My great-grandfather decided to write it in two words." "and I hated it, it seemed ridiculous to me." " The snob fears ridicule." " No." "The problem is that France was... an agricultural country until the principles of the 20th century... and is becoming a country solely industrial" "What will become of the field?" "Everybody in the world will have a house in the country." "No, now there are fewer second residences." "People are settling down in the country for life." "In 50 years, many people will move to the country." " It'll be a rural demographic." " No." "It will be dedicated to specific activities in the city." "The rural demographic is no longer agricultural." "They're bricklayers, carpenters, or they work in nearby businesses." "And who will farm these fields?" "Soon they won't exist." "There are 36 agricultural operations now... and in five or six years there will be eight." "Sinister!" "In 20 years there won't be artisanal activities, except from tertiary sources or vanguard industries." "With the video, the fax, and the computer," "Clerical work will be done at home, you understand?" "Yes." "Accounting will support itself with a business with Paris headquarters." "We will mount in the home an airplane motor or nuclear center." "Yes, it could be." "How pretty!" "It seems like marzipan." "It's poisonous, resin from pollutants." "These activities will put to a halt... urban overcrowding and rural desertification." "Then, there will be a harmonic distribution of the population." "And the duality of the country-city will disappear." "You don't believe it?" "No." "It's utopian, it won't function." "Nature will return to the city:" "the parks, the botanical gardens, but the city won't return to the country as you suggest." "No, the city has a very strong attraction." "Much less than before." "To you perhaps, but the majority live in the city... because they find work there." "That's not how it goes!" "What fascinates them in the city are... the infinite opportunities to know people." "And even though they don't know anyone, the charm of passing by people fascinates them, the crowd, the human variety:" "tall, short, young, old, pretty, ugly, its charm, its ridicule..." "That fascinates them." "There are a thousand possibilities." "In the country, the young, for entertainment... go to have the only coffee available... or the dances with the same old friends and the same music." "In Paris, although life is harder... and there's less free time, there's emotion, there are a thousand possible projects, a thousand neighborhoods, a thousand movies, restaurants, fests." "It's exciting to know everything is possible." "But here..." "You are Parisian, a novelist, and you believe in Balzac." " No, ask them." " And I do." "What do the young prefer?" "They aren't bored, they don't want to live in the city." "They dream of staying here." "You see it from outside... and so everything seems sad, inanimate, and in Paris, everything seems exciting, but at the bottom of the people, at the bottom of their heart, what do they truly feel?" "The emotion, the city." "No!" "They feel solitude, that's all." "I prefer anonymity, solitude... and dreaming of being able to know people... to always see the same ones and feel that I'm observed." "You won't believe it, but in Paris your circle is more restricted than here." "I can change my circle there." "They're shits there!" "Listen." "The opportunities to know people... are greater here than in a city." "The relations surpass the masses, there are parties by the outskirts, and that's nothing new." "According to historians, before, in the country... the possibilities for one looking to be married were... greater than now in the city, by the festivals and the ferries... where they could meet people from different cities." "Perhaps, but after getting to know one another, what would they do?" "Entertain themselves, and to work in positions that they like," "that interest them." "They know to be entertained." "Let's make a toast." " I would have wanted to offer..." " To you!" "No, to my electoral victory, but it'll be in the next legislation." "The region is reactionary, but the district is of the left." " And that will not change." " You had good results." " Yes." " Thank you." " To all of us!" " To us!" "To future victory." "Yes, and that it won't fail us." " To the mayor!" " To the mayor!" "To the mayor!" "We'll build in a protected zone." "But the project is of public interest... and those from Historic Monuments will support it, because this project respects the environment." "Many laborers from the zone... use traditional techniques." "We'll turn to them instead of people from outside." "This work will put local fashion on a regional scale... the techniques of regional construction... that, with luck, will survive." "and there have been private initiatives seeing to this, but a public one will make an example." "You see?" "Here a library will be built, good, the mediatheque, then we'll have a video library, record store, expo center, and there will be a theater and a pool." " It's enormous!" " It's an ambitious project." " But it'll cover the whole town!" " Not at all." "It won't be very tall, like much of the two plants." "It'll be built with stones from the zone, it'll conserve the style of the zone, but it'll be a modern building." " It'll be covered with stone?" " Yes." "I don't know." "This place has stayed very well, because it's an authentic farm with enormous ceilings." "It'll seem artificial, it'll become very false." "It can't be built of steel next to an old church." "Maybe there will be another option." "Acquiring stone from an aritifical form..." "I doubt that would keep very well." "Chapter Three" "If the communal white willow... won't have resisted the passage of time..." "Notice!" "The jury of the concourse... for the construction of the center for culture and sports, with a record store, pool, and theater, has failed in favor of the project of Monsieur Antoine Pergola." "The plans will be displayed in City Hall... so that all may see them." "The mayor, Julien Dechaumes." "It's precious!" "Precious!" "And they want to destroy it!" "What has happened?" "Have they gone crazy or am I the crazy one?" "I won't be able to look at this photo when they've devastated it all." "It's like photographing a dying man." "What's going on, by god?" "And what's happening to you?" " How violent you are!" " That's not me." "But before these barbarities I'm capable of anything." "I would even kill!" "I would kill the architects." "If I had a gun, when they destroy the works..." " Quiet!" " Do I frighten you?" " It's a joke." " Don't say those things." "Only the death penalty should apply to the architects." "It's more the fault of the mayor." "It's normal." "He's a politican." "An architect should have good taste." "They will be respectful of the environment." "This is the problem!" "In the name of respect, atrocities are committed." "If they built a mass of cement, the people would protest." "But as it is they won't be able to do anything." "It's a lesser evil." "Why not a greater good?" "The evil is the mayor." "Yes, but what surprises me more is... the architects, who have studied art, fail to see that this spot is untouchable." "They would never touch a Ruysdael picture for fear of damaging it, but they dare to devastate a landscape... comparable to large works by Dutch painters." " Listen!" " That's beautiful." "How do they dare touch it?" " It's not a work of art." " Yes, a place is just that." "Perhaps not before, when there were a thousand landscapes like that, but now they're scarce and they should all be conserved." "All of them." "This landscape, with the field, the tree," "the town, the church..." "A masterpiece of nature and of man." "Who marks the boundaries of this, constructd the houses and plants the trees are the artists." "The peasants of long ago were artists, more than any architect." "They won't cut down the tree." "If they destroy everything!" "They promise to conserve them, but then they destroy them." "There's always an excuse:" "the exits, the irrigation systems, the views covering the area." "How ironic!" "Because even if they don't destroy it, it's old... and in the long run they will destroy it." "It replants itself." "Before it replanted itself for future generations, like in the fable by La Fontaine." "They tell the old: "Even that plant, but to build at that age"" "or the reverse: "even that construction, but to plant..."" "You know what will happen?" "Even if the building is acceptable, respectable, or is founded with the landscape in mind, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg, but they hide from us what will be most visible of this construction." " The exits?" " Yes." "The exits!" "To the freeways, to parking lots..." "The exits disfigure the country!" "200 cars won't come if they can't park." "That many cars won't always come." "No, but the mayor will bring the theaters of Paris... and there'll be 200 cars there, even if they don't come, and there's the matter of where to park them." "So they'll construct what is called a "parking lot"" "in a space of artistic interest." "They will want to make it subterranean and fell the trees... but the land will be rotten." "Then, they'll make a parking garage... a parking garage for free air... and plant hills of thin, emaciated bushes... and to finish it all off, those horrible, red, puny little trees," "a species of prunus... of a sinister, cadaverous violet." "Death fascinates them!" "They promise us death and it'll be mine!" "If I can't see the tree in the coming days," "I'll have to leave this place!" "I'll go!" "I shout, yes, but only because the people are deaf!" "You shout to an empty space." " And where if not here?" " I don't know, but not here, and it's better to act." "To act?" "How ingenious!" "A teacher cannot fight against political interests." "The mayor works to his whim, as supported by the party." " What about the elections?" " Legislation?" "I would only have my vote." "And mine, perhaps." "Thank you." "Besides, all parties are the same." " Then don't shout." " Zoe, no!" "No, I like it very much." " When you grow up, be a rep." " Why not?" "That'll be quick." "Within three legislations I'll already be 21." "You look forward to it now." "But you'll be studying... and you won't want to come back here to fix our problems." "You did it." "Because I was born in the city and loved the country." "Besides, in ten years, the country will be just like the city, with all the negatives." "You're very pessimistic!" "The country-city opposition will no longer be like you say." " And how will it be?" " I have a theory." " Tell me." " I haven't finished it yet." "Look, we were here the other day." "And there's the tree." " This model is nice." " With the perspective of the church, and the houses are here." " Is the proportion exact?" " Yes, exact." " This is the pool?" "Yes, at the top, and the buildings alternate by the slope of the land." "There's a big pool and another small one." " It's discovered?" " Yes, and there's a solarium more closer to this." "It'll only be used three months of the year." "No, five months." " Yes, it should be out in the open." " There's a microclimate." " That's the parking lot?" " Yes." "There are two: one up and another down." "The pool is at the top... and down, semidetached from the pool, the theater is out in the open, as we see in this plane." "Here can be seen the view from the theater, the entrance to the mediatheque... and here is the tree." " What will the steps be made of?" " Of concrete." " And this too?" " The stage, yes." "But here we'll put a lawn, or conrete, although we haven't decided, and the details still need to be worked out." "Here little trees have been drawn, no?" "They'll have grown in 15 years, but I don't know if I like the idea of planting little trees here." "We're in a village surrounded by fields and centennial trees, and to put trees in this modern context, I don't know..." "Look at the stone, Bérénice!" "I'll take a photo." "The trees are small because they'll be recently planted." "They'll cover the parking lot." "Look at the stone." " Until then, it'll take years." " Yes." "The stone is from the zone, and the facade will cover it like so." "It's pretty." "The exterior facade of the side of the school." "The theater will only be used if it does well." "Yes, it's an outdoor theater." " And if it snows in winter?" " It doesn't snow here." "It barely snows." "It could be covered." "Although there have been very cold winters." "If this is done to scale, it ultimately won't be very tall." " The building?" " Yes." "The building is six meters high." "And should the parking lots be done?" "Of course!" "So much space full of horrible cars!" "They're not horrible." "Yes, many cars together are horrible." "If it's empty it'll be horrible, and if it's full, worse." "But if there's a spectacle, people will want to park." " So there'll be a subway." " That's complicated." "I don't know if the budget has arrived." "I think it's essential to hide those horrible cars." " It'll be frightening." " In Paris, there are thousands of cars." "But they're separated, not all crammed." "Nobody likes the parking lots." "The parking lot is the least of it." "There will be two: one 70 plazas up... and another 20 some down." "I don't know if it will suffice, you should find another solution." "This ridiculous one destroys a project, that, certainly, strikes me as very functional." "There's nothing imaginative, everything is functional." "What do you want to do?" "Put in decorations or statues?" "No, but in the abbey of Thoronet... there are very high ceilings, with spaces that have been designed without an end." "Yes, they have an end." "They are very useful." "They were built to facilitate the sonority, the song, and the exercise of spirituality." " Spirituality, that's it." " Spirituality here?" "Yes, because it's a cultural place." "It's symbolic." "The spirituality is also present... in this enclosed space, set against the mediatheque." "It's inspired in the old theater, the Roman theater, with the front door to the amphitheater." "The theater out in the open." "It'll be possible to act on the footbridges, around the building, and this will remain bare outside." "There will only be stone in the porch of the entrace... and on some sides, and then, there are the views to the village." "The view is very beautiful." "You don't want a build a place that's not functional?" "Everything is useful for something!" "Then why does this serve no function?" "That's modernity." " All is functional." " Here, all should be." "It's always the minimum, neither lost surfaces nor large walls." "Yes, there are lost spaces." "Look." "Yes, those in the parking lot." "I like it because it has a very Vendean style." "I love this project." "Chapter Four" "If Blandine Lenoir, editor of "After Tomorrow," won't have, won't have disconnected her answering machine... to record a France Culture radio program..." "It would be possible to explain the apparition of certain currents, and again there is something that oscillates, that we can call chance, and that causes a new type to occur." "What we call chance in history is... the coincidental convergence... of needs of diverse kinds:" "economic, political, social..." "It's the unexpected convergence... of those needs that are crossed... that trigger an event, that we will qualify with the concept of chance." "It's evident that that... doesn't explain what has occurred, but only what has occurred given certain conditions... that permit us to obtain an explanation a posteriori." "Never has it been deepened in the chance in history." "It's a notion to which we only resort... to make it disappear, therefore we use it to explain some fact, but a posteriori." "Does the notion of the imponderable make sense?" "Yes." "I believe the imponderable exists." "But the surprising thing is that upon reading history, the imponderable does not appear in the historic explanation." "The imponderable makes us live history in an intense form, but it's also something that we don't find in history... because it's something that we don't want to admit." "We live with the imponderable thing, but we don't reflect on it or know what to do with it." "Therefore we don't find this dimension in history." "In history books, the imponderable thing has disappeared, because to introduce it would be to make... a certain type of philosophy of history." "For the historian would be impelled to make certain bold claims... that would be science fiction." "The contrast would rest between having a conscience... that the imponderable thing exists... or to a certain extent, that only the imponderable thing exists." "Taxi!" " Good morning." "How are you?" " I've tried locating him." "I forgot to turn on the answering machine." "What's happening?" "I'm sorry, but it's already been an hour." "No, this is the second missed appointment today!" "We'll meet tomorrow at this time if possible." " I'm busy." " I know." " Tomorrow at 5?" " Yes." "Some would say I was doing them a favor... and they arrive late!" "A cousin of my sister-in-law wants to introduce me to his girlfriend, the novelist Bérénice Beaurivage." "She wants me to write about the journalistic world." "She wants to use me as a guinea pig, but I won't help her, I hate to talk about my work." "I don't have anything to say." "Can you believe it?" "Neither do I." "You shouldn't generalize." " I'm going." " No." "Stay a little... and if they're even later, then they can wait." " I don't care to return tomorrow." " Stay." "I can't stand appointments with only two people." " It wouldn't hurt for you to talk, either." " Marvelous." "You would interest him." "He belongs to a group of young reformists, something in the village." "We regretted the lack of leftist youths." "This guy has political ambition, although little force." "Observe him." "He's mayor of his village, in La Vendée." "He lost in the regionals and is presenting to the legislation." "Observe him." "What's his name?" "He's not famous, nor will he be:" "JuIien Dechaumes." " They're here." " Yes." "JuIien!" " How are you?" " Hello." " Bérénice Beaurivage." " Hello." "BIandine will accompany us." " She's our best editor." " Very good." "An expert in sociological politics." "Let's go." "Sorry about your defeat." "You'll have more luck in the legislation." "That will be if they count on me." "The party?" "I counted on their investment." "In La Vendée the majority tendency belongs... to a minority of the party on a national scale." "Will the tendency last?" "Yes, I'm with the young." "But the national instances deny... the names proposed by the Vendean Federation." " Then?" " I'll wait." "They should see that if they impose other men, the right will win a typical socialist feud." " You're that popular?" " I am there!" "and in La Vendée that's vital." "They're royalists there." "Not that." "Yes, you are one." "You pretend to be a socialist, but you're a royalist." "Come on now!" "But yes, you are one." "He'd want to be a great man with a right of pardon." "No!" " If the women are attractive." " You'll have to endure, because they're ugly." "But it charms him to be flattered by them... and they listen to him as if he was their protector." "I'm not sure about that, my relations are on equal terms." " As a great man would say." " Enough!" "I'll be quiet, don't get annoyed." "To be a royalist isn't an insult." "It's compatible with socialism." "Many countries with royalism," "Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain," "Belgium, Holland, have socialist governments and are going well." "And in England, the laborers will win." "Why not in La Vendée?" "In the North perhaps, but not in the South." "You ignore history and geography." "The South, where my district is, has always been republican." "An ancestor of mine, a plebeian, acquired the castle with the revolution, that went on to be national patrimony." "That's monarchical tradition?" "You think they'll elect you if you're a candidate?" "It'll be difficult, it's not yet clear." "I'm not in a hurry and the situation is complicated." "The party should find new people, if the right won't benefit from the situation, and luckily, the ecologists too." "Luckily?" "At least, their votes will be for the left." "But if they're reactionaries, they've never been for the left." " You think so?" " Yes." "Me too." " The green will devour you." " No." "The ecologists are allied with the National Front." "That's absurd." "It makes no sense." "During the elections, the green went to see me and told me:" ""What's done here is that we preach, not only on the ecological plane, but on the social as well."" "They still go very far." "They believed that if working hours are reduced, the rent should descend." "That's a Fourierist utopia." "It's unthinkable." "It's a utopia of '68, Maoist, totalitarian." "Any kind of totalitarianism is the same." "The green should have left politics... and occupied themselves with pollution, with rivers." "I need ecology." "I have a house in the country..." "It's threatened by gasworks and the ramp of a freeway." "The engineers dominate France." "All over the world, automobile production is being reduced... and here freeways are built." "What madness!" "The engineers direct France's bridges and roads." "and excuse me, but the mayors are worse." "Decentralization gives them so much power... that they're permitted to plunder the country." "My farm will be joined on one side by a gasworks... and a useless freeway by the other, and around the beautiful village, like in all of them now, there will be premade houses in lands... that belong to friends of the mayor, or speculators." "That brings us decentralization." " Although I know this isn't your case." " It isn't." "We'll build a great work there... by an architect very respectful of the environment." " What will you make?" " A sporting and cultural complex." " You have the permissions?" " It was costly, but yes." "You manage well." "We need more politics with big projects." " Make the most out of little." " A minimum cultural guarantee?" " And the ecologists support you?" " Yes." " Surely, the project is very timid." " It's respectful." "It's respectful timidity or timid respect." "I would build a great big crystal bubble." "The pinnacle of respect!" " Seriously?" " No." "In general, political ecology is dangerous... because it's conservative and even reactionary." "For the green, the world should not progress, but rather regress." "Since our origins, we continue an evolutionary process... that nobody should stop." "It's a fundamental truth of evolution, indisputable." "Everyone should agree to that." "And if this evolution goes a bad way?" "What's good and what's bad?" "If the planet became radioactive, that's bad." " We won't come to that." " It could happen." "If we should die, we'll insulate ourselves!" "If life doesn't advance, the pain of living won't go." "I refuse to live in order to organize my survival." "How horrible!" "If survival is the only option, long live suicide!" "Suicide can be beautiful, but survival is degrading, lamentable." "I don't believe those ominous prophets." "Man still has a future and the world will live, progress, develop in a good way." "Living beings have always adapted to the environment." "Man will adapt to carbon gas and radiation." "As fish adapt to water." "You confuse two things." "The natural evolution of the universe... and the damages caused by man, that introduce his harmful will." "But natural law yields before technology." "As a remedy to technology, more technology is required." "That formula doesn't convince me." "It's simple." "Nothing is simple, evidently." "Indeed, the ecologists confuse us with their simplicity." "A natural disaster is more cataclysmic... than one caused by man." "But nature activates its defenses!" " Not always." " Then how not?" "No, long ago there were eruptions, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods or falling boulders... whose effects have been much worse... than, for example, ChernobyI." "The problem is that we impede on nature using its defenses." " The forests are devastated." " They are reforested." " There's more than ever." " Not in the Amazon." "And we are with the Amazon!" "I'm in favor of the Amazon." "Seriously, the Indians, the primitive life, the savage animals." "I'm in favor." "But who says that... the green lung of the world lies." "Chlorophyl removes carbon gas at night... that absorbs during the day." "Not all of it." "It uses the absorbed carbon to help form... the vegetable substance that sets into the land... as carbohydrate." "I've spoken." "But very little, the minimum." "If we burn coal and petroleum underground, the planet will return to its original state, surrounded by an atmosphere of carbon gas." "C + O2= CO2, no?" "Calcium also fixes carbon." "The calcified rocks are... an accumulation of the shells of prehistoric animals." "In order to return to a primitive atmosphere, we should extract... the carbon of calcium carbonate from the crust of the earth." "They confuse me, ladies." "We're losing time with these digressions." "I'm sorry, but I'm very busy." " Can we pay a visit to the house?" " I can show it to her." "How nice!" "You don't mind?" "We won't take much more time, it's very nice." " And the castle?" " No, they're houses." "No, look, the windows are those of a castle." "Begin." "Yes?" " Can we change the appointment?" " Again?" "Monday, good." "That's how it goes!" "No, it was very good." "and I have a representative of the new political class." "Yes." "I will write an article about Julien." "But if he isn't up to standard." "I find him very interesting." "Nothing, therefore, and there are quite good speakers who know it all." "Speaking is not his strong point, that's true." "What he says isn't forceful, but it seems meditated." "The majority of politicians seem to have speeches without content." "He has a certain hidden mystery." "Even etter." "He's persuasive, and that's vital." "He told me about his village and he wants me to visit." "It seems like an exemplary place." "And so go there!" "They didn't want it, she's not their type." "Thank you." "Don't be offended by my first question." "Shouldn't you use the money... for the mediatheque in another way?" "The cultural animation doesn't seem necessary... for such a small town." "There will be more serious problems." "You suggest the reverse." "The money was given to me for that, not some other thing." "I have good relations with the Ministry of Culture, and they gave me a hefty subsidy." "It's not a personal favor, but rather a political question." "In the north of the department, the right defends traditional culture and even monarchy." "The government is interested in a republican replica in the South." "It'll be a type of culture less traditional, more open and modern." "Tradition is only understood if it evolves, if not, it's folklore for tourists." "There is not a financial problem, the state and the department give out a lot of money, but the money of contributors will also be used, what do you think?" "If it doesn't cost anything!" "We made a good operation... selling to a small business... a land that was handed down to the municipality." " You bought the land to build?" " But it was cheap." "Industries are setting up... with commercial movement and also culture and sports." "People won't go to the city for the theater or swimming, and people from the city will come to see spectacles here." "It will serve to settle the population... and attract a new one." "We should save the country from desertification." " You seem like an ecologist." " I agree with many of them." "And why don't you join with your comrades... who formed the Ecological Generation?" "I doubt that my arguments are theirs." "If I did, I would be unfaithful to the party, which has supported me, and to the green, who helped me in the election." "If I presented myself under that name," "I would betray both them and myself." "It would benefit the right." "Ecology is something for all." "You can't label it as a political thing." "That would be negative, and would achieve nothing." "The ecologists can neither have political programs, nor economic, nor cultural." "But their leaders propose concrete solutions... for unemployment, delinquency, or immigration." "But they're utopian." "We should be realists." "It surprises me to hear you speak of realism." "That's of the right." "The right is less realist than the left." "Because the left itself is moving to the right." "I'll play the devil's advocate." "Your proposal is something paradoxical." "On one hand, you're situated in the far left, out and out, and on the other hand, you talk of realism, you preach traditional values... and you have your humanism about... the young dissidents of the right," "and since that distinction between right and left... has not been so clear for years, why do you strive to situate yourself on the left?" "It's a diabolical question, but not embarrassing." "The distinction between right and left is still in force." "I grew up with leftist ideas, there's my traditionalism." "If one day I disagree with my party, it will be in the defense of durability, not opening up." "Opening up is treason and a tactical error." "The opposition between right and left is still in force, but it has been devalued... because the typical values of the left... the right has claimed." "In this age, a certain dogmatism in the left, and not only the communist, has provoked the right to adopt values of the left, like civility, equality, and tolerance, that hoist the liberals." "There was a time when democracy... and the replubic were judged." "But that and the motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,"" "they're not of the right, they're of the legacy of the French Revolution, and it's indecent that the right makes them theirs." "What do you want?" " Can I play the piano?" " Yes." "Your problem is that the right doesn't speak seriously." "They can't be considered of the left." "If democracy isn't more social, I would say socialist, there will no longer be a democracy." "I stand firm in that." " You've lived here long?" " Some 20 years." " And has the town changed a lot?" " Yes, for the better." " For the better?" " Yes." "Above all, I respect the ambience, nature, everything." " Does the type of clientele change?" " Not much." "The habitual clients come." "Some have passed away, but it changes little." "Are the people different who come... because they have their second residence... than the people who live here?" " Have you seen a difference?" " No, none." "Are they satisfied with the cultural activities that are done here?" " Yes." " Yes?" " Would you want there to be something more?" " Yes." " Would you want there to be a theater, or a cinema?" "That would be progress, yes." " Do you need anything?" " No." "But I'd want to have more activities to meet people." "What are you referring to?" "Activities that join people together, little parties to make friends." "An association where you could meet... and do things together?" "Yes." " Do you imagine living here always?" " Yes." "But perhaps I should move a little, because I don't know what awaits us at the end of the century." "We don't have to because we can stay here, without moving, in this charming town." "I'm an objector and I do a social presentation at City Hall." " What will you do later?" " I want to teach English." " Yes?" " That opens up an ample field for me." "Perhaps it's not the ideal profession... if you're staying in a small town." " Would you be able to teach English here?" " Just here, no." "Although now I teach adults... and children in the school." "In Paris, there isn't English in all the schools." "It's a pilot school." "Before I felt... very worried about... the problem of the farmers, it's real." "Yes, it is." "Farmers will have many problems in six years." " Why is it?" " Why?" "Here the problem is unirrigated lands." "The farmers should irrigate in an excessive way, and even though I would say it's completely absurd, they should invest a lot of money." "The water reserves are exhausted and there's too much productivity." "They cultivate corn and wheat, and that's not advisable here." "What's the solution?" "Trying to find more modern means of growth... and to do innovative things." " That would be possible?" " Yes." "You should help them... so that they won't take risks alone... to cultivate cucumbers, for example, and there have been initiatives to that." " Have you always lived here?" " Yes, I was born here." "Are there things that you miss or that you would want to know?" "I don't know what you're referring to." "There's a lot of talk about culture, of a library, a record store, and a theater..." "We're not accustomed to that." "Before we worked a lot, and later, we only wanted to rest." " The days were long." " Very long." " That's certain." "The land consolidation was positive?" "In part, to enlarge the properties, something that required the modern material, but in certain places they would be able to leave pastures, that were very good." "Is it better to cultivate corn for the cows... than to take them to graze?" "Taking them to graze costs more, but if they ate fresh herb, it would be better." " For the quality of the meat." " Yes, and the milk." " It's better if they're eating fresh pastures and vegetation." "You can see a big difference." "Why do we do something so illogical?" "For progress, evolution, perhaps it'll stop one day, I don't know." "Progress brings us nothing good?" "Not for me." "But I'm old, understand?" "I'm not modern." " Do you have fields too?" " Yes." " Many?" " 14 hectares." " Do you have cattle?" " Yes?" "Really?" "And few remain, right?" "Few are left, but I still have some." " Yes?" " Yes." " Can you show me?" " Yes." " I'd like to see, is it far?" " No." " How far?" " A kilometer." "A kilometer!" "They are embarrassed." " They're not used to seeing journalists." " No." "Thanks for showing them to me." "I'll tell them and they'll be happy to know it." " Is it unique to still have cows?" " Yes." " And you bring them here?" " Yes." " And do you think you'll be able to continue this?" " For the time being, and we'll see about the future." "How does the future look?" " What problems does it have?" " All kinds." "It has changed in the past 10 years, it's tremendous." "The people aren't understood, there's less camaraderie." "and the farms will quickly disappear." "Yes." "I have 40 hectares, but it's not enough to make a living." "My wife has worked for the past month." "And without that, we wouldn't be able to continue farming." "Sure." "Has the extensive farming caused these problems?" "I don't know, but there are many expenses, not like before." "Before, the people lived better." "There were farms with three cows, not more." "And now in the remaining farms, they have locked cows." "And so, in six years, they'll be of no use at all." "Mine live more than double the typical lifespan," " and they continue very well." " Yes." "But they eat herb, which has good nutritional value." " Do you like them to be happy?" " Sure." "What future awaits this town... when the positions disappear?" "What happens here?" "Where do the people live?" "The environment has changed." " How was it before?" " Before, you could see people." "Today, with the tractors, they all go for the highway." "Before, they had went down to the source of the river." "Many people went down." "Before, they went with oxen or horses, depending." "They would go into houses to chat, but now people go in the tractor." " There's no time for talking?" " Not now." " It's very sad." " Yes." "And now there aren't any bakers." "Do they bring bread in the trucks?" "Is there any bread coming in?" "They bring it from Sainte-Hermine by car." "Or from Saint-Martin." "From before it was finished." "What do you think?" "What can be done to maintain life in the village?" "Yes, that's the question." " Do you have some idea?" " No." "They're not going to construct a building... for the few lectures in the library." "The one there suffices." "and if one day it doesn't suffice it can be moved... to one of the farms that are sold inexpensively." "They don't want to satisfy our cultural needs, but rather those of other people." "From where, whom?" "It's very vague." "Or perhaps there's not so much at the bottom of it." " I have a theory." " What?" "It's the politics of the mayor, supported by the minister of culture and by the president of the republic." "They should create animation in the country." "Animation!" "For those of the city, the country is dead." "They should revive us." "It's a perverse effect of socialism." "Although it's an outdated concept." "It's a perverse effect of the state, that overprotects us by making decisions for us, some decisions that impede on our existence as individuals." " Do you want to stop talking about this?" " No." " I understand." " Not necessarily." "Well, I'll show you something related, but much more general." "Pity, because it's an argument clarifier." "Tell me." "You'll see." "This work, whether it's done or not, and I expect that it won't be done, not only is a deceit to the electors, it's part of a political agenda to urbanize the town." "The mayor foresees that in 50 years, there won't be farmers in the municipality." "It'll be an urban zone, a suburb of a city, Luçon, that will belong to Nantes, which is already a suburb of Paris." "The mayor isn't obligated to cater to the farmers.." "I'm not so sure." "What will happen in 40 years?" "What will happen?" "Was what happened in these past three years predicted?" "Not in the political environment." " In the economic environment, it's easy to predict it." " Not much more." "We make mistakes and we will continue to make mistakes." "Did they predict the damages done to the agricultural system, by those fertilizing chemicals?" "Will the Third World keep practically giving us their materials away?" "Why buy pears from far away when they're better here?" "So that the transportation functions, the airplanes and trains, which contaminate," "and they continue to build more highways." "Almost all the disasters in the world are caused by... human displacement and merchandise." "The country should be cultivated!" "The people who like the country, if it is urbanized, will not go." "At least, I won't." "If they build that, I will go." "Although he doesn't create it, the mayor is a man of the city." "If he were a landowner, he would establish here and cultivate his lands." "His castle is his second residence." "The majority of mayors have a second residence." "Illogical!" "It seems like the old state." "The man with his castle in La Vendée... and his palace in VersaIIes." "They begged me to present to the municipalities... and I refused, and not just to be peaceful." "Not because of that, but rather because I wasn't born here, and those who were have more of a right... to be in charge of their matters." "But after living, working, and knowing people here for ten years," "I have more of a right to present before Dechaumes." " Present!" " No." "Why?" "It's normal for teachers to present in City Hall." "They won't elect me." "From my family, I won't be the one to present." "Then who will?" "Your wife?" "No, my ten-year-old daughter." "She lives for politics." "Chapter Five" "If it was printed in a magazine," "That Blandine had not been with UNICEF in Somalia..." "Hello." " How are you?" " Very well." "Take this." "I'm so exhausted!" " How'd it all go?" " Well." " Has he been good?" " He's sleeping." "You stayed up late?" " Mom?" " Yes!" " How are you?" " Good." " Did you have fun?" " Yes." " Manuella lets you do everything." " No." "How not?" "And this?" " You've done it?" " Yes." "After Tomorrow" "Did I wake him up?" "I just arrived home and I called because..." "About the magazine?" "You're angry." "That's normal, I'll explain it." "Why have they cut so much of it?" "Because it was too long and it wasn't..." "I decided for you." "But what's left is irrelevant." " I went on about new politics." " Julien wasn't what we wanted." "and the teacher was much funnier." " Yes, a clown." " He was moving." "I love his tree." "You're easily moved by ecology." "Ecology isn't only for ecologists." "The articles on the fight against tobacco, pollution... and the tree go well together." "The tree on the cover sheet was bold." "He's my cousin, not yours." "And I'll explain it to him." "The honor of the profession doesn't depend on you." "I'll know how to explain it." "And I'll do you a favor." "What you said would have damaged his party." "JuIien!" " How's the article?" " Scandalous." " Look at the cover sheet." " The tree!" " It's not bad left in the cover sheet." " And the title?" ""The teacher prefers the tree to the library."" "If it's your problem, it's mine too." " You can't leave this in the article." " What are you saying?" " Have you read it?" " The two pages." "Are there only two?" " There will be a continuation." " No, that is all." "Here it is." ""The mayor JuIien Dechaumes, with his airs of a colonial landowner, seems right out of a novel by Fenimore Cooper." "He'll give his town a sociocultural and sporting center... and a big one." "This project, financed in part by the state, will cost the municipality little... and it will put to a halt the exodus of the population." "It has been designed by the architect, Antoine PergoIa." "But the director of the school, Marc RossignoI, doesn't like it..."" "That's all it says of him." "I didn't expect them to cut so much." " They have to have something left." " Yes, Fenmore Cooper." "That wasn't giving them credit." " And you haven't read all of it." " And I know about their tree!" "It's precious, but it's rotten." "It won't last another three years, it'll fall to pieces." "I'm furious!" "It's the typical journalist, manipulative and malicious." "Certainly!" " Use it for your novel." " I will." "It's the archetype of the newspaper director... in search of sensationalism, capable of anything for novelty's sake... or a photo to provoke shock." "Yes!" "But it lowers the reputation of a good journalist." "Yes." "There are various explanations." "The first, and least probable, is that he's faithful to his clan... and is a kind of spy of a certain current of the party, camouflaged by the ecologists" "No, silly, that's not plausible." "There's another, more credible answer." "The second hypothesis... is that he's trying to situate himself." "Before the defeat of the party, he wants to be with the ecologists for certain personal ambitions." "That's more credible." "He wants to flatter the ecologists for personal interests." "For his farm threatened by a freeway." "Yes, you mentioned that." "His motives are opportunistic." "The third hypothesis, and the most cynical, is that one day he decided... that I don't help politics... and he doesn't want to yield." "I don't think so." "At least the teacher will be happy, although, at the bottom he says he'll serve me." "He's so reactionary that, by comparison," "I seem like a leftist." "Yes, and how you still need it..." "It's perfect!" "Chapter Six" "If Vega, the mayor's daughter, won't have kicked her ball... where it passed by Zoe, the teacher's daughter..." " Thanks." " Hello." " You live here?" " Yes." " Your father is M. Dechaumes?" " Yes, and yours?" "Mine is M. RossignoI, director of the school." "Mine is the mayor." " The major?" " No, the mayor!" " With "y," not "j."" " Sure, I'm not an idiot." " What's your name?" " Vega." " And you?" " Zoe." " Are you alone?" " Yes, well, with my father." " And your mother?" " In Strasbourg." " They're divorced?" " Yes." "I've gone on vacation... and on Monday I go with my mom to Britain." " Do you have friends?" " Not here." "If you want I'll introduce you to mine." " And do you play alone?" " I'm alone, yes." " If you want, I'll play with you." " Yes!" "I can show you the orchard." "It's beautiful." "There are cherries over there, but I prefer to go around here." "Let's go!" " So, do you see?" " I don't know what this is." "It's so big!" "What's over there?" "There are strawberries, wild strawberries, flowers, and lettuce." "Where are we going?" "You'll see." "You can walk all around there." "It's enormous." " You like this color?" " Yes." " And you?" " No." "I don't like anything." "It's horrible!" "The next day..." "Saved!" "Dad!" " How are you?" " Good." " You have a friend?" " Yes." "Zoé RossignoI." " Hello." "Are you the director's daughter?" " Yes." " How'd you meet?" " She rode by in a bike." "Have fun, bye!" "Monsieur!" "Can I talk with you?" " What about?" " The project." " For the mediatheque?" " Yes." "I know that your father doesn't agree, but that's his opinion and I respect it." "Tell him that we can talk about it." " Has he spoken to you...?" " No." "Tell him that if he wants to see me, I'm at his service." " But he doesn't want to." " He doesn't want to talk?" " Is he afraid of me?" " He says that it would be useless." "Talking?" "I'm in favor of a dialogue... and a teacher should be, too." "He has his opinion and it was made very clear." "I prefer to say things in person." " In the magazine, they cut a lot of him out." " Yes, of me, too." "But I'm not going to change my opinion." " He doesn't want to speak." " So we won't speak." " I want to speak!" " For him?" " For him, and for myself." " So you want to speak for yourself?" "What do you want to tell me?" "I don't agree with my dad." "He's too pessimistic." " Do you support the project?" " No, even less than him." "That's difficult." "He does nothing and I fight." " Against me?" " Against the world, and people." " Like?" " Discussion, as you say." " Are you in a hurry?" " No." " Will you be very late?" " A little." "Tell me." " This project is unnecessary." " Wait a little." "You will have a private pool." "You won't travel five kilometers." "It's only a bike ride." " And the mediatheque doesn't interest you?" " It's very big and ugly." "And the video library?" "You'll be able to see movies that you haven't seen." "It's idiotic to destroy a field... to put something that can be... in one of the houses that are sold." "I'll tell you something you're ignoring." "It's easier to get money for building if you're in the restoring business." "I obtained money for a coherent project, and I wouldn't obtain it for something punctual." "The project interested the Ministry of Culture... because it regroups activities." "So the ministry is mistaken!" "It's pointless to want to regroup everything." "A theater, what for?" "There's a room for parties." " It's a ship." " It adjusts." "It's expensive." "And the theatrical companies would not come... to an uncomfortable place without acoustics." " Is it better out in the open?" " There's no echo." "Like in the old theaters." " And if it rains?" " It doesn't always rain." "Here it does often." "You are also very pessimistic!" "No, but instead of in the field, you could make it in another place." "The field was yielded for use." "Now there are cows, but not next year." "What would you put?" " You wouldn't understand my proposal." " Why not?" "There's something that the town needs much more." " What?" " Green zones." "Green zones?" "Green zones are everywhere!" "We're in the country!" "In the city there are, but not here." "You have the park, but what about those of us without one?" "I've read that before, the children played in the parks, they caught flowers, butterflies, ladybugs... now everything is surrounded, and if we manage to enter, there are dogs that chase us." "People with children will not want to go to the country... if there are no fields or forests or anything left." "What you say is hardly foolish." "But there are forests nearby." " About five kilometers." " A bike ride." "I don't want to make you angry," "But what's done is done." "The mediatheque will be done." "But, in general, your demands are very legitimate, and I congratulate you for thinking about something that not many do." "It's certain that if the fields start to disappear, recreation zones will have to be made," "and one must be optimistic." "In the future, there will be fields sold cheap... and they will be transformed into recreation zones, but thanks for your proposal." "It's adjusted to my ideas, and the municipal project, and all of it." "I love that you dared explain it to me." " How old are you?" " Ten years old." "At your age, I would not have thought of that." " What do you want to be?" " I don't know." "You'll think about it." "If you see your father, tell him I'm willing to talk... about the mediatheque, and the pool, and the tree." "Good..." " I'm going, goodbye." " Goodbye!" "Chapter Seven" "If a functionary, completing his work, won't have been so jealous..." "Mayor!" " Hello." " Do you remember me?" " How are you?" " Good, thanks." " Sorry about the article." " It was Régis's fault." " How do you know?" "Has he told you?" " No, it's just a guess." "I quit." " Now I work for UNESCO." " Oh, good." " How is your project?" " It's going very badly." " Is the article to blame?" " No." "The process has been paralyzed." " Did they remove it from the subsidy?" " No." "There's a functionary of Equipment... who said the land wasn't reliable." " He didn't test the subsoil?" " Yes, it was dry as a rock!" "There's an aquifer exhausted by irrigation... and that won't recover in a thousand years." "Even still, I should reinforce the foundation." " Is it expensive?" " Not even 5% has come in." "But I don't have it and neither does he." " Ask the ministry." " They won't speak!" "and they regretted giving me so much... and they prefer not to do it." "I thought about selling part of my lands... and taking a loan from City Hall, which will have already refunded it for me." "But there's only a buyer, an Englishman who wants to make a golf course." "I would lose my park... and it would go against my idea of creating popular leisure." " You have no reason to be ruined." " Ruined, no!" "If it mattered, I would be." "But politics should be realistic, not quixotic." "A politician should be a pioneer, and have followers." "If they don't follow me, what can I do?" "Shall we have drinks?" "Zoé, go get my geography book." " For your father." " Thanks." "Thanks." "The mayor's." ""The Municipal Counsel has renounced... the project of a cultural and sporting center... for lack of sufficient funds." "The direction of equipment requires certain works... that surpass the cost of the credit received."" "Yes, I knew it!" " If I hadn't talked with him..." " Bravo!" "You will be a representative." "Applause!"