"SUNSHINE FOR THE SCOUNDRELS" "Mister!" "Hey, Mister!" "I'm looking for ounaye shepherds." "Have you seen any, by chance?" "I see them every day." "Can you tell me where to find them?" "Straight ahead." "There's a shepherds' village a few kilometers away." "You can't miss it." "Straight ahead is easier said than done." "Can't you walk straight?" "But how can I be sure in this vast open space?" "Maybe you'd like me to put up road signs!" "Isn't there a road?" "Roads just lead to other roads." "Never to villages?" "To find the shepherds, you have to get off the main roads." "You call this a main road?" "I call it a road that doesn't lead to shepherds." "Just walk straight ahead." "How hard is that?" "Hey, Mister!" "Did you see a man?" "With a hat?" "With a hat, on his head." "And a flask?" "A flask for drinking." "And a jacket... to here?" "Which way did he go?" "Hang on!" "What now?" "Where can I find ounaye shepherds?" "Sorry, I'm not from around here." "Tell me, sir, can you tell me where to find ounaye shepherds?" "Why?" "I want to meet them." "That doesn't answer my question." "I could say the same to you." "You first." "Well, I want to know the ounaye shepherds." "What an idea!" "I've got ideas, I'm a big girl." "But what an idea anyway." "Why is it important?" "Why is it so hard to get an answer?" "My child, it takes work to find the ounaye shepherds." "I want to know them." "Sometimes in life you want things and you can't explain why." "When you see one, what will you say to him?" "Questions, questions!" "I don't know what I'll say." "Perhaps you should know." "To start with, I'll say hello." "That surprises you, doesn't it?" "Alright, my turn." "Hello!" "Yes, hello." "Now will you tell me where to find these shepherds?" "I said hello." "It's your turn now." "Will this game last long?" "Are you telling me that you..." "But where are your ounayes?" "They ran away this morning." "I'm looking for them." "You have a strange way of looking for your animals." "I deserve a bit of a rest." "Get up, we'll look for them together." "Chaouch Malines will get me for this." "We'll find them." "He'll banish me to the Randolasque mines." "Which mines?" "You never come back." "Men live and die 10,000 feet underground, never seeing the sun." "That's terrible." "And that's not the worst punishment." "What could be worse?" "Once, when Chaouch Malines was angry, he cut off a shepherd's feet." "That's awful!" "What had the poor man done?" "Went mad, killed his ounayes, and ran off on the Causse." "Still, that doesn't justify cutting off a man's feet." "Your boss seems horribly unfair." "Chaouch Malines manages the best he can." "He can't tolerate his shepherds killing their herds." "Punishment is fine, but that's too extreme." "Cutting off a man's feet is almost like killing him." "It's worse." "I don't know." "Maybe the shepherd is grateful to still be alive." "That's not what he says." "If he really felt that way, he would take the necessary measures." "You have a cure for unhappiness?" "He would have ended his life." "But that's forbidden." "Forbidden?" "Who can forbid such a thing?" "I don't know, but it's illegal around here." "But you can't punish a dead man." "So?" "So how can the law be enforced?" "You don't need punishment to make a law." "Strange logic here on the Causse." "No stranger than elsewhere." "It's completely different where I come from." "If your feet were cut off, you'd kill yourself?" "That's beside the point." "I'd still want to live." "Actually, I don't really know." "But if I wanted to kill myself, I wouldn't worry about laws." " You'd wonder if you had the right." " But that wouldn't stop me." "Anyway, I don't consider it forbidden." "Well, we do." "Well, we don't." "Hey, Carol Izba!" "What has you running thus?" "Chaouch Malines sent Pool Oxanosas Daï after me." "So?" "Don't tell me you don't know Pool Oxanosas Daï?" "The greatest warrior here below?" "It was bound to happen." "I'm leaving for Montpellier." "On foot?" "Got a horse to lend me?" "It's so far away." "I can run for days on end." "That's impossible." "Not when I've got Hébanjaha in my flask." "You'll go mad, Carol Izba." "So they say." "But take a good look at me." "I drink 2 gadins a day." "Do I look mad?" "Djema Gaouda Lon is right." "You soon will be." "I say I won't." "So why is it sold only on prescription now?" " Some cannot handle it." " You see?" "But I can." "And I don't need pharmacies to find it." "Tell me, Djema Gaouda Lon, where has your herd gone?" "My ounayes ran away." "Nathalie Sanchez is helping me search." "What bad news!" "Don't I know it!" "If I didn't have that warrior on my heels, I'd help too." "But my life is in peril." "I must hurry to Montpellier." "You're going dressed like that?" "What's wrong?" "You'll stand out like a sore thumb." "I know, I've been warned." "People there are strange." "But do I look like a man who'd worry over such trifles?" "Adieu." "Where I'm from, ounayes are the stuff of legends." "You think a legend did this?" "Does it hurt?" "Bites are never pleasant, but you get used to them." "Does it hurt when I stroke it?" "No, it's nice." "Do they bite you often?" "When they are ill." "Are they often ill?" "Depends on the seasons, but they're fragile animals." "After a cold spell, or even a bit of rain, they get a fever." "But using human blood to recover..." "That's unbelievable." "But it is so." "I thought such creatures only existed in our imaginations." "It's like another world, full of monsters!" "Nathalie Sanchez, ounayes are not monsters." "In my book, a blood-thirsty beast is a monster." "On the contrary, they can be quite gentle." "But they bite you!" "Because we reach out to them." "If you reach out to me, I could bite you without seeming mean?" "For them, it's survival." "What about your well-being?" "My well-being has no great importance here below." "That's insane!" "You put an animal's life before your own." "Mustn't shepherds care for their herds?" "My father?" "My father worked for Foulquier." "Driving trucks." "But they closed." "He's out of work." "How does he live?" "My mother works in a supermarket in Millau." "My father still receives monthly unemployment payments." " That's great." " If you say so." "Isn't it good to live without work?" "Well, at home things aren't very rosy." " Wouldn't you like to?" " Are you kidding?" "For nearly a year, I've been idle." "It's no fun." "Sure, if I had money things would be different." " Though I wonder..." " You wonder?" "I wonder if one can stay idle long, money or not." "You'd find plenty to do, at your age." "No more at my age than at yours." "If you had nothing to do, what would you do?" "I'd do nothing." "But you'll be retiring soon, what will you do then?" " Around here, we don't retire." " You don't?" "So you'll die on the job?" "Around here, we die young." "You're already old, and you're lively." "Depends on what you call old." "Where I'm from, it's around 60." "Then I'm still young." "You must be close to 60." "If all goes well, I'll be 45 at year's end." "Is that all?" "Many others haven't made it this far." "My neighbor Rigado Spatola died last year." "He was 38." "Of old age?" "Of borondale." "Borondale?" "An illness the ounayes give us when they suck our blood." "It's the worst there is." "Dying is the only cure." "If you call that a cure..." "Have you seen that fellow from this morning?" " From this morning?" " You know who I mean." "Yes." "But I won't tell you where he's gone." "If you like protecting murderers..." "Carol Izba, a murderer?" "Surely you jest!" " Who did he kill?" " Don't tell me you believe him?" "You know him, then?" "Everyone here knows him." "It was a lady, whose name I always forget." " She's called..." " Astana Jovira?" " You know about it?" " It was bound to happen." "It happened yesterday morning, and Chaouch Malines wants me to bring back the murderer." "Alive?" "There's a large sum of money involved. 300,000 krobans." "He can't have it on him." "How are you sure he's the killer?" "I get called in to capture a certain bandit, so I capture him." "That's my job." "Some job!" "In 6 or 7 months, I make 50,000 dollars." "I spend the rest of the year in the tropics." "Who wouldn't like that?" "Hunting down those poor people..." " They're murderers and thieves." " Or innocents." "We could discuss justice forever." "So let's discuss it." "If Carol Izba didn't commit the crime, you'll look a fool." "I have no desire to begin a discussion on this subject." "I've just come from the Russian Steppes." "Let's wrap it up." "Yes, Nathalie Sanchez, we must also continue on our way." " So?" " So what?" "Which way did he go?" "He went that way." "But you know, with Carol Izba, anything's possible." "Anyway, you're paid to do the job." "So do it." "OK, I get it." "I'll have to get by on my own." "That's alright, I'm used to it." "The week should be shorter." "39 hours is too long." "Especially in my line of work." "One customer is late, then another, then another..." "And closing the salon takes time." "We go an hour over each day." "By the end of the week, we've worked 45 hours." "At least you're paid." "I should hope so!" "Anyway, I don't want to be a hairdresser anymore." "I never really did want to." "But a friend of my mother's needed an apprentice, and I wanted to learn some kind of trade, and it made everyone happy... so I took the job." "You can't imagine the patience it takes." "Cutting hair doesn't seem that hard." "It's not the hair, it's the customers." "One time, a young man wanted his head shaved." ""Totally?" I asked him." "He said, "Yes, totally"." ""You won't regret it?" "No, I'm used to it."" ""Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure."" "So I shaved it all off." "And he was angry because I shaved too close." "Who got yelled at?" "Not him." "They didn't cut your hands off." "Let me tell you something, Djema Gaouda Lon." "It's hard for you but that doesn't mean it should be for everyone." "Anyway, these things happen once in a while." "You adapt." "But the work is boring." "Shampoos, haircuts, permanents, blowdrying... and then there are the conversations." "They're the worst." "You have to talk to the customers." "What are you doing here, Carol Ibz a?" "It's hard to leave one's homeland." "I thought your mind was made up." "It was an hour ago." "But now I'm not sure." "You don't have a choice." "You've got to understand, I was born and raised here." "You'll come back to see us." "The shepherds here are good to me." "We eat, drink, play cards..." "I love this life." "And now I'm forced to move on." "Why?" "Because a great warrior is hot on my tail?" "Hardly." "If he's really that hot on my tail, he'll get me, wherever I am." "But here you can be seen from far away." "Nathalie Sanchez is right, in Montpellier you could hide." "You don't know Pool Oxanosas Daï." "He's tenacious." "So, I go to Montpellier, and then what?" "Leave for Marseilles, then Paris, then London, Los Angeles..." "Where will it all end?" "I might as well stay here on the Causse." "Plenty of people will give me refuge." "What about Astana Jovira?" " She got what she deserved." " What an awful thing to say!" "Only Chaouch Malines is sorry for her." "Was she his wife?" "Far from it." "But together they ruled Ménoas-kolar." "They enjoyed creating hardship for others." "Don't tell me you killed her to save the shepherds." "I killed her simply to steal her krobans." "Why did you want so much money?" "So I could leave this miserable land." "2 days ago, everything was clear." "I decided several years ago to be a roving bandit to ease my shepherd brothers' pain." "If a warrior molested a shepherd woman," "I snuck up behind and clubbed him." "That cooled him off and I was pleased with myself." "But as time passes, I realize I'm not easing any pain." "Don't say that." "Any shepherd would be grateful to you." "But there were many shepherd women I couldn't save." "And there will be many more." "It was pointless." "I was just seeking glory on this wretched Causse." "Now I want to get out, meet other people, learn a trade, find a house." "A house is an important thing." "Even just a cabana somewhere." "The important thing is having a home." "Being a bandit is OK for awhile." "Always on the run, hiding out in a different house each night." "Some days I want to stop and settle down for good." "Yesterday was one of those days." "So you must leave." "Yes, but I can't imagine leaving Ménoas-kolar forever." "Montpellier's not far." "Why leave if it's just to come right back?" "Wait until tomorrow." "No, I must leave today or stay forever." "With that, my friends, I bid you farewell." "Adieu!" "Now we need to find my ounayes." "Usually my ounayes don't stray far, but I'm beginning to worry." "Maybe your wife and children have found them." "My children?" "Don't you have any?" "They moved away long ago." "Chaouch Malines sent them to the green mountain." "He took your children away from you?" "The harsh law of my trade." "Chaouch Malines is a monster." "He has no right to do such things." "Didn't you protest?" "What could I do?" "Rebel against him, appeal for justice!" "My poor child, justice is not of this world." "You could settle it man to man with your owner." "He's too powerful." "Nobody is more powerful than an angry man." "He pays warriors to repress rebels." "How many warriors?" "About 10." " How many shepherds are there?" " 100 families." "Don't you see?" "100 families against 10 men, even armed..." "If you united, instead of leaving it all to Carol Izba, the problem would be quickly resolved." " If only things were that simple..." " It's not complicated." "Tell me, Nathalie Sanchez, are hairdressers united?" "That's different." "Hairdressers are happy with their lot in life." "I didn't get that impression." "Unhappy hairdressers can always do something else." "Like what?" "Any number of things." "It doesn't seem like they can." "Hairdressers' children aren't sent away to work elsewhere." "That's a significant difference!" "Ever thought of leaving this wretched life behind?" "To go where?" "To do what?" "To go elsewhere and do something else." "I bet you've never thought of it." "Around here, it's the way things are." "You're born, you live and you die a shepherd." "It's like that where I'm from too, but kids are sacred, aren't they?" "Kids are born to live their lives." "You call that living their lives?" "I've heard about the shepherds since I was little." "My mother used to threaten to send me out on the Causse where the shepherds would happily feed me to their ounayes." "Parents don't realize the harm they do with such tall tales." "Just to get a little peace." "Though in my case, the stories made me want to meet you." "Ever since I could ride a bike, I've wanted to come here." "Where is your bike?" "I'm too old for that now." "I hitchhiked." "Before, I'd get on my bike and head for Ménoas-kolar." "But when I got to Molandorque pass, I got scared and turned back." "You were scared but kept trying?" "And I could never get past that cursed pass." "Until today, when I overcame my fears." "I must say, I'm quite proud of myself." "What a crazy notion!" "Why come to a place where you're out of place?" "Who says I am?" "I wanted to see the great Causse and its famous shepherds." "But you were afraid." "That's the way I am." "I'm attracted to what frightens me." "So, has seeing an ounaye shepherd changed your life?" "I want to stay here now." "I love this Causse." "And I love you, too." "I want to make love with you." "You can't be serious!" "Yes I am, because I've told you." "I've got a wife at home." "She doesn't have to know." "I'm not young anymore." "Exactly." "I've got to find my herd." "Listen, Djema Gaouda Lon, there are so few men I desire that if I worry about their family, age and occupation," "I'll never get anywhere." "It doesn't work that way." "I see!" "So how does it work?" "Come on, let's go." "We must find the ounayes first and foremost." "I haven't a drop of water left." "Could you help me out?" "I don't get it." "Carol Izba is running every which way." "We think he's the best roving bandit around." "Usually, you want to get far away from your pursuer." "The best way is to run in a straight line." "But he isn't doing that." "Strange, don't you think?" "In any case, it's working for the moment." "Trust me, it won't work for long." "Because you have here before you the world's greatest pursuer." "If that is so, go catch him and stop bothering us." "I need to understand his strategy." "And beyond that," "I need to understand his personality." "That's the hardest part." "How can you understand someone you never see?" "I'm very talented." "Even the most disorganized roving bandit can't beat me." "It'll take a while, but at some point," "I'll see things the way he does." "Once that happens, he can run but he can't hide." "But he may outrun you." "I'm not worried about that." "I'll be a patient warrior, crouching behind a rock..." "He's bound to show up at some point." "Wait for him!" "I know what you're thinking." "Alas, that's not my style." "I can't sit still, I love to run." "When I run, my thoughts become clear." "Well then, go on and run!" "Last time you saw him," " because you saw him, I know you did - which way did he go?" "I won't help you." "You're still protecting assassins." "Even if he killed Astana Jovira, I wouldn't help you." "Do you know who she was?" "She built a fortune destroying shepherds." "And you defend her?" "So, we can kill someone if we don't like what they do?" "When there is extreme injustice, yes." "All the world's people suffer injustice." "But they don't kill." "Because they fear punishment." "Because they don't want to." "Maybe not." "But why do you care that Astana Jovira is dead?" " I don't." " So it's not about justice." "I told you, I'm earning a living." "Can't you find more meaningful work?" "Sure." "I've been a teacher." "And even a wine grower." "That's better than headhunting, no?" "First, I'm not a headhunter, I'm a pursuit warrior." "Second, you'll soon learn that here below the best-paid jobs are rarely the most meaningful ones." "Don't you like me?" "Of course I like you." "But if I slept with every girl I like" "I'd collapse." "But not every girl you like likes you back." "How do you know?" "It doesn't take a brain surgeon!" "You like me, but you don't think others do." "Not lots of others, anyway." "So why do you like me?" "It's a mystery." "Anyway, I don't care why." "We barely know each other." "You think people have to know each other to be attracted?" "At least a little bit." "I think we know each other pretty well already." "I can't seem to leave the land I love." "What will you do?" "Some question!" "I'm going to stay." "You won't last long." "You can't run like this all your life." "Pool Oxanosas Daï doesn't seem so tough." "What about the other warriors?" "Chaouch Malines' men?" "Don't make me laugh!" "They've never been able to catch me." "That's why he called Pool Oxanosas Daï." "You seem to forget that you killed Astana Jovira." "Chaouch Malines will show no mercy." "He's right." "You must leave this place." "I don't know anymore." "When it's life and death, you don't think." "Yes, you do." "Even more so than usual." "But you don't think about missing your homeland." "I don't need to think to know I'll miss it." "Listen, Nathalie Sanchez." "A simple thing." "I love drinking Hébanjaha." "Here, it's no problem." "Golonda Ramos and I gather rhéante in summer, distill in winter and we're set for the year." "In Montpellier, no Hébanjaha." "You can find it contraband." "Not the same as ours." "OK, so it won't be as good." "And it'll cost a fortune." "Carol Izba, there's more to life than Hébanjaha." "I know, Djema Gaouda Lon, but it's very important." "I also know that it's just a dirty habit I'm accustomed to." "I wonder whether a man of my caliber should be guided by habit." "I wasn't looking for an answer but you're right." "It's no." "If I stay, I'll end up like Clamodis Arondola." "Just a joyous drinking companion." "So?" "I'm off to Montpellier." "Adieu." "It's me." "I'm not handling Barichnikoff." "You want to know why?" "I'll tell you why." "First, you could have told me that this Barichnikoff is the leader of 50 bandits." "That means work for combat warriors." "No, I'm a pursuit warrior." "Of course I fight." "When I must." "But that's not my line." "I'm not even armed." "We could have done it differently." "I find the bandits, and we send in combat warriors." "Now it's out of the question." "Sorry." "For 10,000 roubles?" "Siberia's too hard." "My banker said 10,000 roubles is worth nothing today." "You won't even find a combat warrior at that price." "That's my final word." "I've got to go, I've got work to do." "It was the end of the war." "Gives you an idea how young I was." "After the great battle of Ménoas-kolar, they needed shepherds here to replace the crippled and dead." "My parents' owner, Mando Ondola, sold me to Chaouch Malines and I came to this miserable Causse, far from my loved ones." "It's all very unfair." "So, once I was in this new family, good shepherds who hadn't enough blood to save their ounayes," "I swore I'd leave this place fast." "You never ran away?" "One morning, I set out early, determined to go home." "I walked at a brisk pace, then ran, because I figured by running, no questions could cloud my mind." "But it didn't stop me thinking." "Quite the contrary." "And man is not built to run endlessly." "So I stopped." "I gazed at the faraway horizon, and imagined my parents were no longer waiting for me." "Parents always wait for their children." "They miss them for a while, then forget them." "Even a dog would never forget her babies." "Dogs forget them too." "OK, so be it." "After two litters, dogs forget their little ones." "But you shepherds are human beings." "I didn't know where to go." "I'd be caught." "My parents themselves would have booted me back to the Causse." "Go elsewhere?" "And find myself in an unfamiliar world where I was out of place, where nobody wanted me?" "Suddenly, this Causse I so despised looked like the only place I could be." "I had grown up, it was time for me to live my life." "I was born ounaye shepherd and I'll die ounaye shepherd." "If I learned anything that morning, that was it." "If that's what you learned, you should have stayed in bed." "I'd have learned sooner or later." "Later, OK!" "A child should be able to believe in many things." "Otherwise you're no longer a child." "We die young here." "We have to accelerate things." "You are a real pain with your defeatist attitudes." "I'm not going to change." "Not today." "What happened next?" "Nothing very original." "I'd still like to hear about it." "I went back to the shepherds and got yelled at." "Then I went to work." "And after that?" "What do you mean?" "What did you do from that day to today?" "Nothing in particular." "I can't believe it..." "There's never a moment's peace with you!" "Sorry to disturb you, but I found water, and as you gave me some earlier," "I thought that maybe..." "Thank you." "I didn't have a drop left." "Keep it." "I've got another one." " I'll fill mine later." " It's my pleasure." "Thanks a lot." "Is that all you wanted?" "No, in fact, there's something else." "Carol Izba wants to go to Montpellier, but he's afraid to leave his homeland." "What do you make of that?" "You learned that pursuing him?" "Not bad, huh?" "I saw a similar case in the Burmese jungle." "I was pursuing the great Mithridat Lumpur." "Rather than running far away, he stayed within his territory." "It took a while to catch him." "It's harder in the jungle." "We often see roving bandits who are attached to their homelands." "Actually, the combat warriors are more like that." "They go far away, then return to their land." "But a roving bandit who doesn't rove..." "This is the second one I've encountered." "Why should we care?" "It's over for him." "I wanted you to know." "So we can tell him?" "That won't change anything." "He doesn't want to leave Ménoas-kolar." "Last we heard, he was leaving for good." "Right, he decides to leave, but he always returns." "That's what threw me at first." "Now, I guarantee you he'll stay." "OK, he'll stay..." "Why are you telling us this?" "You know, even a valiant warrior likes to talk with local people." "And you have to admit it's too bad." "Why doesn't he leave?" "OK, right now I'm not working, so of course I'm poor." "But when I worked, I made 5,500 francs a month." "I paid 2,000 francs rent, plus electricity and phone bills." "Then there was food, because you have to eat." "I swear, I only had about 500 francs left over to buy smokes or records or to go out for a drink." "OK, nobody's forcing us to smoke or go out to bars, or listen to music..." "But we need to do something!" "And I didn't do anything." "ljust worked, then went home." "I don't call that living." "I was expected to shut my mouth and be happy I had work." "Life where I'm from has become totally idiotic." "You begin to wonder what we're living for, what we're doing here, don't you agree?" "If at my age, I'm supposed to live just because I'm here..." "I might as well lock myself in my apartment and stay there." "That's not what I want." "That's why I came here." "Ménoas-kolar is like a secret garden that I saved in the back of my mind for a rainy day." "It was always present in my mind." "It was good I kept it at a distance." "It was somewhere else;" "it didn't really exist." "This Causse I was so afraid of helped me live." "Everything's so strange sometimes." "Maybe I should have stayed home, because I must admit, I'm a bit disappointed." "It's like making love with an ounaye shepherd." "You can't imagine how often I've dreamt of this moment." "And now that I've done it, well," "I'm asking myself, "OK, now what?"" "I'm not saying it wasn't good." "But maybe it's not such a big deal after all." "Or maybe it is, I don't know anymore." "But what can we hope to attain now?" "How can we take it further?" "We can make love all we like, we'll still be in the same place." "Why deprive ourselves of good times?" "Sure, but living just for the sake of living..." "Even for the sake of good times, it isn't enough for me." "I love you so, I want to stay with you, but what would be the point?" "That's what troubles me in life." "Passing time agreeably is the best we can hope for." "Listen to you." "That wouldn't be so bad." "But I'm not here to pass the time." "Then what are you here for?" "I do pass the time, I have no choice in the matter." "But if we've been put here as decoration, as if to say:" "there are men, dogs and snakes on earth, and they exist just to pass the time..." "Don't you find that idiotic?" "Have you thought about having children?" "If I have to repopulate the world so humans can continue passing the time... that would do my head in." "Still, you're lucky to be able to give life." "Only a man could think such a thing." "You're crazy to come back here!" "Guess what, Djema Gaouda Lon?" "I found your ounayes." "They're at Rixo Lovodon's." "Thank you, Carol Izba, for coming back here to tell me." "I was already on my way back." "Are you saying that..." "I'm not leaving anymore." "Ménoas-kolar has won another round." "Nathalie Sanchez is right." "Your life is in danger here." "Run, far away." "I have no desire to." "Let's stop talking." "There's too much chatter in this cursed land." "Let's get your ounayes." "But Pool what's his name..." "Pool Oxanosas Daï." "Right." "He knew you'd be back." "You can't stay." "It's mad." "I know for a fact that our great warrior will not pursue me before tomorrow." "You might want to go home, Nathalie Sanchez." "It's a long way to Rixo Lovodon's." "I came all this way!" "I can't leave without seeing the ounayes." "Night will soon fall." "What if I feel like sleeping in Ménoas-kolar?" "That may not be a good idea." "But I can't go home." "Not tonight, anyway." "Nathalie Sanchez is right." "If she wants to sleep here, let her." "That's easy for you to say." "But she's not going to sleep outside." "We'll take her to your house and tell your wife she's with me." "So, you want to sleep at my house?" "You've never refused me." "You seem to forget you killed Astana Jovira and Chaouch Malines knows the shepherds like you." "You can't let me down at a time like this." "How can I face Daouma Dolonda with Nathalie Sanchez at my side?" "Djema Gaouda Lon, you'll have to face her sooner or later." "Admit it's wrong to bring one's afternoon mistress home." "Let me add that it is also wrong to sleep with just anyone with a wife like yours at home." "Listen to you two!" "First, I'm not "just anyone"." "Second, I have no desire to meet Mrs. Djema Gaouda Lon." "Don't worry about me," "I'll find shelter somewhere." "The nights are mild during this season." "Not here." "Do you think that I, Carol Izba, would abandon you here?" "Why not take Nathalie Sanchez to Golonda Ramos' place?" "Out of the question." "His house is surely under surveillance." "What about Mélo Canon?" "Who'd look for you at his house?" "He's hardly delicate with young maidens." "OK, he is a boor, but he's never molested or raped anyone." "You don't know him." "I can defend myself." "Yeah, but I know the beast." "He's a friend of mine." "If we sleep there, I'll keep close watch over you." "As you like." "But I must say, you've got strange friends." "Virtuous friends are rare these days." "We must sleep together, otherwise I will go crazy." "OK, we'll sleep together." "After all, you're not half-bad." "I'm really not well today." "I don't know what's wrong." "Perhaps Siberia wore me out, or it's jetlag." "No, he's not running fast, but he's got endurance." "I'll get him tomorrow." "ljust need a night of rest." "I promise." "I'll wrap it up tomorrow and be home by Saturday." "We'll leave Monday, what's the difference?" "Oh no, not Borneo." "It's full of snakes." "And too big." "It won't feel like an island." "Off the top of my head?" "I have no idea." "We'll find a peaceful spot, with sunshine and the sea." "How hard can that be?" "OK, we'll sleep on it." "I'll call you tomorrow night." "I love you, too." "No, I swear to you, I had no intention of killing her." "I knew she kept her krobans at home." "And Chaouch Malines always left her the worst warriors." "I managed to go over the whole house with a fine-toothed comb, and just when I found the stash," " in her bedroom, naturally, I should have checked there first - just then, she woke up, as if she were wired to her money." "Unbelievable." "For her, 300,000 krobans is nothing." "But no, she had to jump me and sound the alarm." "Whereas if she'd stayed asleep or pretended to sleep she'd still be with us." "She got what she deserved." "May she rest in peace." "You're the one who's got trouble now." "It makes no difference." "I was a bandit anyway, so how could it be worse?" "What bothers me, is that" "Malines wouldn't care if I killed every last warrior." "But I touch Astana Jovira, who isn't even really his woman, and he spends a fortune on Pool Oxanosas Daï to catch me." "It's like they can't stand it that 300,000 krobans have gone missing." "Think whatever you like." "Malines will hang you in Motihua's town square." "Let him hang me!" "He'll never get the krobans." "I will be faithful to my post." "I won't abandon Ménoas-kolar, or Hébanjaha, or Golonda Ramos, just because Malines wants me dead." "If living means roaming the world without ever finding one's place, searching for the impossible, well then, living doesn't interest me." "At least I'm at home here." "I even feel safe." "Don't expect me to run all my life." "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." "You'll still confront the warriors?" ""Confront" is a big word." "I'll still knock them out from behind, or trap them when they're drunk as skunks, but no regular combat." "Oh really?" "I would have thought..." "I know, you would have thought I'd take them on solo and triumph every time." "People always imagine me like that." "Especially girls." "But the only thing I care about when I attack a warrior is finishing him off fast, without getting hurt." "You can be sure I won't stop while I'm ahead." "And let me tell you, as soon as I feel up to it, I'll take Chaouch Malines on myself." "Let him try to hang me at Montihua Place." "Just let him try." "Are those ounayes?" "It's funny, I thought they'd be bigger and more... more bizarre." "Actually, they're awfully cute." "Don't pet them." "You're crazy!" "They'll bite you." "Aren't you worried about borondale?" "Subtitles:" "Sionann O'Neill" "Subtitling Titra Film Paris"