Terra Amata

GESTICULATING

Another time, Chancelade and Mina spoke in deaf-and-dumb language. They went into a café in the town centre and sat down without saying anything. When the waiter came Chancelade merely pointed at the ashtray, which had PHOENIX BEER written on it, and put up two fingers. The waiter gave him a queer look, then went to fetch the two glasses of beer. It was easy to make yourself understood without speaking. Then, as he lit a cigarette, Chancelade looked at Mina, and started to make signs with his right hand, just moving his lips:

C: Open hand profile little finger down. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Closed hand thumb up. Hand profile index pointing up. Closed hand thumb and little finger up.

M: Open hand profile fingers touching. Hand profile two fingers up.

C: Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Hand closed little finger up. Open hand profile little finger down. Closed hand profile. Hand profile outside thumb. Closed hand thumb and little finger up.

M: Two fingers pointing down. Open hand profile fingers touching.

C: Open hand profile. Open hand profile fingers touching. Three fingers pointing down. Hand profile forefinger inside thumb. Closed hand thumb and little finger up.

M: Closed hand thumb and little finger up. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Closed hand profile. — Closed hand thumb up. Two fingers pointing down. Hand profile index pointing — Closed hand thumb and little finger up. Open hand profile fingers touching. Two fingers together pointing up.

C: Three fingers pointing down. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Open hand profile fingers touching. Open hand profile fingers touching.

M: Hand closed little finger up. Three fingers pointing down. — Hand profile two fingers moving down. Closed hand thumb up. Hand profile index pointing. Hand profile index pointing. Closed hand thumb and little finger up.

C: Three fingers pointing down. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Open hand profile fingers touching.

M: Closed hand profile. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. hand profile two fingers moving down. Hand closed thumb up. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. — Hand profile forefinger inside thumb. Hand closed thumb up. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. — Three fingers up. Open hand profile fingers touching. Three fingers pointing down. Hand closed thumb up. Two fingers pointing down.

C: Three fingers up. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Open hand profile little finger down. Hand closed thumb crosswise.

M: Open hand profile fingers touching. Two fingers pointing down. — Closed hand thumb and little finger up. Open hand profile fingers touching. Two fingers up. Open hand profile little finger down. — Open hand profile little finger down. Hand closed little finger up. Hand closed index pointing. Hand closed two fingers moving down. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb.

The waiter brought the two glasses of beer and put them down on the table. Chancelade signed that he wanted to pay and held out a note. The man took the money and gave another rather disgusted look over his spectacles. Then he handed Chancelade his change and went away without saying anything.

Chancelade stopped talking for a moment and looked round the café and out of the window. Nothing was happening. Outside the sun beat down on the pavement and people went to and fro, in and out of shops. Inside the bar everyone was drinking and talking all at the same time, but what they were saying wasn’t very interesting. Mina took a sip of beer and said:

M: Three fingers up. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Hand closed thumb up. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand closed profile. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand profile two fingers down. Hand closed thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand closed little finger up. Three fingers down. Hand closed thumb crosswise.

Chancelade looked at his watch, then lifted four fingers and crossed his hands, Then he said:

C: Hand profile forefinger inside thumb. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Forefinger up. — Forefinger up. Hand closed little finger up. Hand profile two fingers up. Hand closed thumb crosswise — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Hand closed thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefinger inside thumb. Forefinger up. Hand closed little finger up. Open hand profile. Hand profile two fingers up. Hand closed profile.

M: Three fingers up. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Closed hand thumb up. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. — Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Open hand profile fingers touching. — Hand closed profile. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Hand closed thumb crosswise.

C: Closed hand thumb up. — Three fingers up. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Hand closed profile. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. Hand closed thumb crosswise. Open hand profile little finger down. Two fingers pointing down.

M: Open hand fingers touching. Hand profile two fingers up.

Inside the café, between the voices, you could hear the sound of a fly buzzing about or the monotonous hum of a fan stirring up the warm air. Chancelade throught it would be fun to have a café like this, in the centre of the town. You could come and spend your afternoons sitting behind the zinc counter watching people. They’d come in and sit down quite trustfully at the tables that were set out for them, and chat as they drank their beer. All you had to do was write BAR over the door and they just came in, without thinking that it might be a hairdressing saloon or a funeral parlour; without thinking that you could easily put cyanide in their glasses or their cups of coffee. They would arrange themselves in the café, go to the cloakrooms and put their ash in the ashtrays, all without asking any questions. And it would be really interesting to watch and listen to them. They’d talk about politics, racing, women, cars, illness, all together, with the same words and the same gestures. And it would make a level incomprehensible din that would echo through the room together with the bursts of music from the jukebox. It would be even more interesting than a film or a novel, and the hours would go by, the days and the years would go by pleasantly, quietly, inside the bar.

Then Chancelade went on, his hands moving nimbly:

C: Three fingers pointing down. Hand closed little finger up. Two fingers pointing down. Closed hand thumb up.

M: Open hand profile. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Closed hand thumb up. Two fingers pointing down. Open hand profile. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Forefinger up. Closed hand thumb up. Hand profile index pointing up. Closed hand thumb crosswise.

C: Hand closed little finger up. — Forefinger up. Open hand fingers touching. Two fingers up. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Closed hand thumb and little finger up. Open hand profile fingers touching. Two fingers together pointing up.

M: Three fingers pointing down. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Hand profile forefingers outside thumb. Open hand profile fingers touching. Open hand profile fingers touching.

C: Hand closed profile. Closed hand thumb up. Closed hand thumb and little finger up. — Hand closed little finger up. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb.

M: Two fingers pointing down. Open hand profile fingers touching.

C: Three fingers up. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Closed hand thumb and little finger up.

But the girl didn’t answer. She only glanced round her as if she was afraid someone might understand what they were saying. Chancelade said:

C: Hand closed profile. Hand profile two fingers moving down. Closed hand thumb up. Forefinger up. Forefinger up. — Three fingers up. Closed hand thumb crosswise. — Hand closed forefinger pointing. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Hand profile forefinger outside thumb. — Three fingers pointing down. Closed hand thumb up. Open hand little finger pointing down. Open hand little finger pointing down. Hand closed little finger up. Closed hand thumb crosswise. Hand profile index pointing up.

The girl looked away again, then signed that she’d like a cigarette. Chancelade held out the packet and she took one from the right-hand side. She lit it with a metal lighter with her initials engraved on it: M.M. Chancelade watched her smoking for a moment. To his right the big drunk woman was sitting at her table, her great legs stuck out in front of her, trying to get into conversation with everyone. She kept saying disconnected snatches of sentences, like:

‘Little women adore me, they can’t get enough of me.’

‘Yes, they show me their little lace slips, and their little panties, and even what goes inside!’

Then she’d turn to the bar:

‘A glass of absinthe’s what I need!’

‘My grandma always used to say that everything comes right in the end.’

Then, lifting her glass of Ricard:

‘Love walked right in and stole my troubles away …’

And towards the bar, which was being repainted orange:

‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may … My old time has flown!’

Then Mina put on her dark glasses, Chancelade put his cigarettes in his pocket, and they went to look for a cinema showing a silent film, in which the people really were dumb.