"Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes" "Did you see?" "Those hooded cloaks look great on them." "Yeah, you're right." "Did you ever find cheaper ones?" "Yes, but they still cost 10,000 francs." "The duffle coat was in style." "Hiding our old clothes would make us look better in the winter." "I was wearing a coat a neighbor gave to me years before." "Although old fashioned, the jacket still looked good." "He didn't have a coat." "I can't remember him without a cigarette hanging out of his mouth." "Aren't they cold?" "No, no, it's heated with infrared." "It works very well." "I never dared go to Le France." "I didn't know anybody there and my buddies didn't want to go." "I was waiting to be dressed appropriately to be accepted in." "Meanwhile we were tolerated at The 89." "Hey, look who's here!" "This is the first time I see him on the promenade with a girl." "What an asshole." "If there's something that she's not afraid of, it's dick pounding." "Despite the cold, some people were still hanging out in the promenade." "Hey!" "To justify to girls my outfit and lack of money, I made up a story:" "My father was weapons manufacturer," "And we didn't see each other because of our different political views." "I didn't want to want to owe him anything." "So I was living by myself." "I couldn't find any work because he was paying private detectives to give out bad information about me." "However, I was determined to go on my own." "Some girls believed it." "For a few days we thought we could afford a duffle coat for Christmas." "But the end of the year was coming and we had neither money nor work." "However, out of habit, we were pretending to still believe." "In Narbonne, Dumas had a bad reputation." "He was proud of it." "With him there was no question of picking up girls." "We knew he had troubles with the police before." "He was living alone in his parent's home who were working in another town." "With him, I had stolen some books that I would sell back once I had read them." "Do you have Cell 2455 by Chessman?" "I don't think so." "No, we don't." "You can pick something else." "Yeah, we'll look." "Did you find what you're looking for?" "No, not yet." "I never tried to steal anything bigger." "In spite of how easy it seemed." "You see at night, it stays like that." "At night when I come back and there's nobody, often I think..." "If I had a lookout I would risk it." "You good?" "Hey." "Let's go." "In the mornings we would walk down the markets." "Staring at the floor in case we found a fat wallet." "Often we found enough coins to go to the movies." "Once we found a thousand francs." "We went to the fair at Bezier with it." "Last night, they robbed Biette, the stationary." "Really, how do you know?" "The owner's son went to Cafe Contis and told my friend, the waiter." "Did they still a lot?" "They didn't find any money, so they stole all of the expensive pens" "The gold Mont Blanc." "They'll have trouble getting rid of them." "Yep." "How are they going to do it?" "They'll have to go Bezier or Perpignan and still, they won't get much." "Or they could get caught." "We also went to Dames des France but we never found anything there." "[The 400 Blows] [Woman of the Dunes] [Pinocchio]" "Hey, Daniel!" "You wanna go to the movies?" "No." "What are you doing?" "I'm going to the cafe." "What are you doing these days?" "Nothing." "You didn't find anything yet?" "Bastards, they could have kept you." "Usually, someone was there who would play a record." "Are you going to smoke that?" "It's gross." "Why gross?" "Maybe if I kiss you, then you could say so." "Her name was Martine, she had been Narbonne for a bit." "I went with a walk with her once." "I had my chance but it didn't work out" "Today is the 30th, right?" "It is my birthday." "So I'm giving you kiss." "We always kiss girls for their birthdays." "She was there every night." "Waiting." "Every once in a while, a guy would pick her up." "And each time, the room went silent." "People say he had been a boxer." "He was a little bit older." "I don't know if she likes me or not." "Each time I think it's going to work out, he comes." "You have bad luck." "Do you know the other day he tried to beat me up." "Really?" "How did it happen?" "I was there and she was by herself." "Why are you smiling?" "You're funny." "Me?" "Why?" "You pace." "What are you doing for New Year's Eve?" "I don't know." "Do you want to celebrate it with me?" "Why not?" "I can't." "You just told me you didn't know what you were doing." "Yes, but I still can't." "That's not nice." "For once I was asking you something." "Did you wait long?" "A little." "You slam the door instead of saying what you think?" "I didn't slam the door." "It always does that; haven't you noticed?" "Is it because of Martine?" "Tell me." "I'm not trying to pick up your girlfriend." "And then he didn't say anything else and let me go." "You got lucky." "He beat up Fabrice." "You should have seen the chase on the promenade." "Fabrice went to hide at The 89." "He didn't go out for two weeks." "Yeah, yeah." "I heard." "You never know." "You should be on good terms with a guy like that." "But you saw that he said, "Hey."" "Have you tried to flirt with Rosette?" "Why, she's not your type?" "She is." "The other day I could've gone to the movies with her." "Would you try to make out with her if you went to the movies?" "Yeah." "I would like to but I don't know where to start." "We know her too well now." "It would make a scene." ""I bought you a ticket and now you don't want to make out with me?"" "Maurice was the opposite Dumas." "With him I felt comfortable picking up girls." "What do you want to do?" "I'm going to go back." "Each time I see you, you always want to go home early." "So for you, life is like this:" "work, go home, sleep." "It's not just that." "There's something else." "It's simple." "We need to go back and that's it." "No, no time to stay." "Why don't you have time - because you have to go back?" "But I have to go." "You have to go?" "Why?" "We have time in life." "Now we walk, we talk." "There's night." "I don't know." "Is that because it's cold?" "No, it's not that." "I have to go." "So if it doesn't bother you then..." "What do you have to do that's so special?" "My parents asked me to go back." "Yeah, yeah, what about freedom?" "I can go home if I want to." "Ah..." "Ah..." "What are you going to do now?" "I don't know." "I don't have anything to do." "If you don't have anything to do, then stay with me." "It's not what I meant:" "I don't have anything to do." "I'm not free, I can't do whatever I want." "It's always like that." "..." "I don't know why it bothers you." "Are you meeting someone else?" "No, I'm not." "You have five minutes." "It's still early." "No, I have to go." "That's it." "And I don't really fell like staying." "You don't feel like it?" "Why?" "Is that because you don't like me?" "No, I want to be alone." "And what about tomorrow?" "When I see you, will you say hello to me?" "Of course I will." "Why wouldn't I?" "Really?" "Certainly!" "It's as simple as that." "There's nothing else to add." "Please, sit down." "It's late." "Just 5 minutes." " No." " Come on, 5 minutes." "Just sit here." "No, I really have to go back." "But are going or are you staying?" "If you're not going then come sit with me." "You look like..." "Good night." "Good night." "In the afternoon, I'd go to The 89." "We would wait 'til the week before Christmas to earn a little bit of money by selling lottery tickets." "A game that we played every year in the main cafes of the town." "Have some cigarettes?" "You ask everyone for cigarettes but you have some in your pocket." "No, but I don't have any today." "Stop it." "You played the same thing yesterday." "Yeah, but today I don't have any." "Do you have any?" "I'm sure you have some." "I'll give you one because you gave me one yesterday." "You win." "I had met the people at this cafe not long ago." "I saw you with a girl." "What's her name?" " Yvette." " Yvette?" " Is it going well?" " Not bad" " Not bad?" " Are you in love?" " No." " No?" " Yes you are." "You always say that!" " And why do like her?" " Why" "I like her..." "You think she's pretty?" "Yeah." "Yeah, she's not bad." "I don't know how to get girls." "Did you go to the movies?" "How did you meet her?" "How did you do it?" "I met her at the dance." "At the teen dance." "Have you slept with her?" "What?" "Have you slept with her?" "Private matter." "You're in love if you don't want to say so." "I'm not going to sing it in the bars." "That's something you don't say." "Oh, I don't know." "As friends we have to help each other." "You worried about your reputation?" "Oh this is nothing, once in Algeria a guy told me:" ""Hey Delaye, I fuck the donkey and you take the picture!"" "We were here when he came in." "I knew him because I saw him taking pictures of the Sunday strollers on the bridge." "We noticed him because of his suits." "He was one of the only men in Narvonne who knew how to wear them." "What's up?" "He was looking for two Santa Clauses to be photographed with children." "His colleague would be on the bridge and he on City Hall square." "He was looking for someone on Thursday and Sunday until Christmas." "It's 1,000 francs a day." " Is that ok?" " Yes, yes, yes!" "Do you remember my address?" "4 Capital Square." "Very good." "See you tomorrow." "A quick calculation and I knew I could get 6 or 7,000 francs." "With the money from the lottery at the end of the month at 3,000 francs." "And without spending anything I could maybe buy the duffle coat by Jan 1st." "A few moments later, I regretted my excitement over the news." "The summer before I was hired as a worker by a bricklayer business." "My mother allowed me to keep half of my salary to buy a scooter." "I was starting to hope." "I was fired without any reason at the end of the first week." " Oh hello." " It's your client." " Hello." " Hello." "Get a long shot." "For the newspaper." "I was trying the best I could." "But I didn't know what to do." "I was worried I'd mess up." "However, I started to feel good and he stopped worrying." "He said he would call me back next year." " What is it?" " Is that for me?" "That's a nice coat." "How much did you pay for it?" "15,000" "Where did you buy it?" "In Paris." "Do you want your picture taken with Santa Claus?" "Little by little, on our breaks, we started to talk, eventually..." "About the girls passing by." "He knew a lot of them." "Under my beard, I started to feel confident." "I could see friends and enemies walking by." "I would call them out." " Hey, Marechal!" "You know me?" "I know everybody." "Let's take a photo." "Hey!" "Rene!" " Ah, I should have known." " How are you." "Let's take a picture." "That guy over there doesn't get his picture taken?" "You see, he puts on his outfit to be recognized." "What an asshole." "He looks like a Cuban anarchist refugee in Narbonne." "Would the ladies want a picture with Santa Claus?" "Let's pull out his beard." "The girls who had never looked at me before were now paying attention." "The ones getting their photographs taken were pressing close." "They were looking my eyes trying to figure out who I was." "At first, I was timid, and I was holding them by their shoulders," "And then I realized I didn't have to hold back." "I grabbed all the girls that got their photos taken and none resisted." "Miss, photograph with Santa Claus?" "It was my hair dresser's daughter." "I didn't dare touch her;" "However, I had seen her kissing a boy." "I knew her name." "Hello, Christiane." "Later, her mom came by." "She knew the photographer." "I saw your daughter earlier." "Yeah, she told me she saw you this morning with a blue eyed Santa Clause who knew her." "Martine, a picture with Santa Clause?" "I called her and she came." "I had the feeling she abandoned herself against me." "Do you know her?" "What's her name?" "She came and said hi to him, she was the friend of a girl I had often seen with him." "I thought she was ugly." " Do you want a picture taken with Santa Claus?" " No." "She didn't want a picture, she was about to leave." "Don't you want to say hi?" "Huh, Janine?" "Who is it?" "It's a young man" "Do you know him?" "A young man I hired to work with me." "She was surprised." "It wasn't my first time pulling that trick." "In general, girls didn't insist too much." "This one wanted to know;" "she was guessing ..." "I told her:" " You still don't know who I am?" " No." "Too bad." "Now I want to know who you are!" "You really want to know?" "Yes." "No, no, not that." "I'll meet you tonight at 8pm at the "Palais du travail," on top of the stairs." "I asked her; just like that..." "without thinking about it." " Okay, You will be there, won't you?" " Yeah, yeah." " It's not a joke?" " No, of course not." "See you tonight!" "Do you really think she'll come?" "Certainly, I know these girls..." "At night, I ran to the "Palais du travail"" "I saw her coming." "I stayed in the shadows." "Hey hey, here!" "Are you there?" "Come out or I'm leaving." "Is that you?" "Santa Claus?" "She recognized me." "Obviously she was expecting somebody else." "I wish I'd known." "This way." "So, we see each other tonight?" "No, I'm not going out." "Yes you are." "No, I'm not going out!" "But why?" "Yes!" "No!" "Shut up!" "Stop it or I'll scream!" "Yah no!" "You're not going to scream..." "Come on, come back! Are we going to see each other again?" "Come on, come back!" "Come on... come here." "Come here!" "Come here..." "Look what you did, it's all wrinkled." "Are we going to see each other again?" "Don't count on it." "Suddenly I started to regret not having taken advantage of my Santa Claus costume." "My return to the civil life looked difficult." "It was time for me to leave the country." "I still had to work two more days until Christmas" "But I didn't have any enthusiasm left, these last days seemed long and tedious." "I had put aside the 1000 I got at the end of each day" "And I was buying cigarettes with the coins I found at home." "I was happy after all that it didn't work out with that girl" "I would have had to take her to the dance or to the movies and use the money I saved up." "And I wouldn't have liked being seen with her." "We're going to start the first game at "quoin."" "Two cards 50 francs, four cards 100 francs to win the turkey." "Attention, attention, here comes the first one!" "89 81" "44" "I registered at the bingo game." "I thought I would still have time to go and celebrate Christmas eve at Martinez who had asked me to join him." "Fabruce taught me how to cheat." "You needed two people." "We had 30 cards." "If the card cost 100 francs and if we had at least 20" "We gave 2,000 to the cash register." "The inspectors, who were ex-policemen, were checking by counting the cards we had left." "We had to be very quick to come back and collect the next game." "Despite of the surveillance we could manage to pass cards during the game between collectors." "Fabruce would go to the cash register to pay" "And as he was coming by he would slip me 5 or 6 cards." "It was then my turn to go to the cash register and collect 500 or 600 francs." "We would do that only during the special 100 francs games" "The 25 ones would have been too dangerous for almost nothing." "With the help of this little profit I quickly got the money I needed." "I couldn't wait for Dumas and I bought the duffle-coat December 26th." "So you bought it?" "Yes." "It's not bad... but I'm not sure I'm going to buy it after all" "Really?" "Why?" "Next year it won't be in style anymore." "I'm going to buy a "loden"." ""Lodens" are way more expensive!" "I don't care." "Suit yourself." "I'm going to celebrate New Year's Eve with Martinez, do you want to come with us?" "No." "Why?" "I don't celebrate New Year's Eve." "Why?" "What's got into you?" "NothingÉ but I'm fed up." "It'll be fun, we're going to the brothel." "That's not really fun." "It's up to you." "Let's go." "The cafe "Le France"" "Here you go sir, a martini and some olives." "Thank you." "Are you coming with us to the brothel tonight?" "Come on!" "I'm happy to wish you, because it's midnight, great health, happiness and prosperity for you and your families." "Attention, the first one!" "6 2x3 -7" "Don't mess around" "If I had a hooded coat I wouldn't mind." "Hey, shut up." "Look at that girl over there." "That one?" "You have to handle her well or she'll run away." "About time." "Done?" "Nah, I'll finish later." "Let's go." "Let's." "Remember when we went to the Brothel with Roubiaud and met his father?" "His father and his grandfather;" "three generations at the brothel." "So long, I'm out." "Not coming with us?" "No, no." "What's with him?" "Where's he going?" "Don't know." "Asshole." "At the restaurant when we took off my coat, I was a little embarrassed" "I was the only one who wasn't wearing a suit." "Watch out!" "Hey!" "Who stole the alcohol?" "Me, so what?" "On New Years Eve?" "Are you crazy?" "Don't you know we're all friends?" "Come on, let's all have a drink." "We had a lot to drink." "Damn, I can't stand up" "Hey guys, come and look at that!" "What a bunch of jerks" "Damn." "They didn't leave anything behind." "It looks like it's just been done." "Shall we?" "To the brothel?" "TO THE BROTHEL!" "TO THE BROTHEL!" "Translated by Amelie Chunleau for Spectacle."