For Sure (32 page)

The 48 English verbs that begin with the letter
a
that appear only in
The Official…
are:
aah
,
abduce
,
abode
,
abscess
,
abseil
,
absterge
,
abstrict
,
aby
,
abye
,
accouter
,
acierate
,
activize
,
adeem
,
adz
,
adze
,
aerify
,
affray
,
agatize
,
age
,
agenize
,
agent
,
agnize
,
ah
,
airproof
,
airth
,
alkalify
,
alkalise
,
alkalize
,
amp
,
anagram
,
anear
,
anele
,
angulate
,
ankle
,
antick
,
appall
,
argle
,
aroint
,
aroynt
,
astringe
,
atticize
,
attrit
,
autolyse
,
autolyze
,
autopsy
,
avianize
,
azotise
,
azotize.
The 47 verbs listed in the
Woxikon
and not in
The Official . .
. are:
a-bomb
,
about-face
,
about-turn
,
abend
,
achromatise
,
actualise
,
ad-lib
,
affranchise
,
air-condition
,
air-cool
,
alchemise
,
alkalinise
,
alphabetise
,
aluminise
,
Americanise
,
Americanize
,
aminate
,
anaesthetize
,
anagrammatise
,
analogise
,
anathematise
,
animalise annualise
,
anodise
,
antagonise
,
anthologise
,
anthropomorphise
,
anthropomorphize
,
apostheosise
,
arabicise
,
Arabicise
,
Arabicize
,
arabise Arabise
,
arabize
,
Arabize
,
arborise
,
aromatise
,
atom-bomb
,
automatise
,
automonitor
,
autorestart
,
autosave
,
autostart
,
autotomise
,
autotrace
,
axiomatise
. Twenty-two of the verbs above that appear in the
Woxikon
and not in
The Official . .
. are verbs ending in the British spelling –
ise
rather than the American –
ize
.

“Baska de mare had bin almost her whole life deep inside a salt mine in Poland, when some folks decided dat was no life fer a horse. Baska herself never complained, on account of de miners treated 'er nice. Anyway, by den dey wasn't workin' 'er all dat hard down in de mine. In de beginnin', she was after haulin' little carts full of salt along a track but, in de end, machines were doin' dat. So dey decided to take Baska out of de mine. First ting — on account of it's dark all de time down in a mine — Baska had a whole lot of trouble gettin' used to de normal light of day. And, seemed like she couldn't get used to walkin' around in a field, on account of she'd been all dat time in de tunnels, see. Plus, anudder problem: no salt, and Baska, well, she really loved de salt. An' not just fer lickin' neither. She liked de vi-bra-tion of salt. So, dat little block of salt dey was leavin' in a corner of de field to make Baska feel at home only made 'er sickly, on account of wot can she be doin' wid a little chunk of salt? She was comin' out from a salt mine dat was 700 years old!”

Terry stopped there, because Marianne was fast asleep. He planted a kiss on her forehead and left the room. Étienne, who'd been listening from his own room, did not feel that this was a real ending for a story, but he had no right to protest since Terry had not told it in his room.

I would complete the section “Literature in Pieces” with
Self-portrait with Radiator
by Christian Bobin.

Terry had noticed the great variety of subjects among the books The Cripple bought. He always began with a book from the series
Que sais-je? (What Do I Know?)
, which introduced readers to a particular subject. Then he would look for more specialized books on that particular subject, books Terry always had to order, since neither their covers nor their contents were of the sort to attract the average reader. Occasionally, when The Cripple ordered two books from the
Que sais-je?
series at once, Terry would amuse himself by trying to find a possible link between them. Between
Le Droit Naturel
(
Natural Law)
by Alain Sériaux and
La Sociologie du corps
(
Sociology of the Body
) by David Le Breton, for example. But today Terry could find nothing to link
Le luxe
(
Luxury
) by Jean Castarède and
Les Algorithmes
(
Algorithms
) by Patrice Hernet, although once he'd read the back cover of
Algorithmes
, the distance between the two subjects seemed to shrink by a hair or two. He went up to The Cripple's apartment to deliver the two books, along with a third.

“Dis one 'ere's only for you to browse. It's about all kinds of collections. I tawt it might interest you. I'm not layin' on no pressure 'ere to buy it. I know I can sell it no problem in de store.”

The Cripple leafed through the book, which did indeed seem to interest him.

“Dat's right nice of you. Tanks.”

The error, in this case, consists in having overestimated the value of the numeral 12 compared to the 7, of which we have retained only its statistical aspect. And yet, nothing could be more false. A closer look reveals that the symbolic value of the numeral 7 is by far more established than that of 12. Such a fundamental error shakes the very foundations of this novel, which claims to be rife with accuracy. As though accuracy were a guarantee of serenity, of plenitude.

Bent over a drawer in his filing cabinet, Zed is pretending to look for a file of sales and rentals, when in fact he's only looking for some way to prolong Élizabeth's presence in his office.

“We've nuttin' free just now, only could be, between now and a year from now, one or two might be comin' up fer sale. From wot I'm hearin' anyway.”

“In any case, I'm in no hurry.”

“I can't be promisin' you'd be de one gettin' it, neider. We've a waitin' list — dat's wot I'm lookin' for. Only de waitin' list changes. Lots of times, folks'll put der name down, an' six months later dey buy a house in some udder place, on account of dey lose hope.”

Zed decides he's pretended to look long enough — he doesn't want to appear too disorganized either — and makes believe he's found the document at last.

“Ha! Der it was all along, exactly where 'twas supposed to be.”

He consults the waiting list, though he already knows what he'll find there.

“See, der's seven or eight names here, only I know at least two or tree of dem're not interested any longer. De udders I'll have to check.”

Élizabeth concludes that she better not get her hopes up.

“I'll see wot I can do. I'll take yer name an' phone number, just in case sometin' comes up. You never know . . .”

Élizabeth gives him the number.

“'Ave you bin round here long, den? You don't have to say, I's just bein' nosey is all.”

Élizabeth liked his frankness

“Around ten years. Since they opened the Oncology Centre.

“Awh? You work der?

“Yes. I'm a doctor.”

“Awh!”

“But I was away for a few years, then I came back.”

“Awh.”

Zed is silent for a moment, just looking at Élizabeth, trying to think of something elegant, something intelligent to say.

“Is there a problem? Are doctors not allowed here?”

Zed laughed:

“No, no! Come to think of it, 'twouldn't be a bad ting at all. We got none yet.”

The comparison between verbs beginning with the letter
a
in Bescherelle's
L'Art de conjuguer
and those in
L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble®
took more time than an overview of all the words beginning with the letter
a
in
L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble®
.

“Me, I hate wastin' me time.”

. . .

“I know it don't sound like a fear, but it is.”

Complete the “Tales of Travel and Exploration” section with
The Way of the World
by Nicolas Bouvier.

“Étienne, come on over 'ere a minute . . .”

Whenever he accompanied Terry to the bookstore, Étienne was always quick to respond to his father's call in the hope of receiving instructions for a task to undertake.

“I want to show you dis 'ere kind of book. See how some of de pages doesn't open?”

Étienne watched, nodding.

“Times past der was a whole lot o' books like dis 'ere. You were wantin' to read it, youse had to take a knife an' cut to separate de pages yerself.”

Terry demonstrated.

“Nowadays, books like dis are sometin' rare. Everytin's cut an' trimmed at de printer's.”

Étienne nodded again.

“An' de paper's more like… coarse. Go on an' touch . . .”

Étienne touched the page.

“… so de paper don't cut even. It's more like torn.”

Étienne had already noticed the ragged edges, and thought his father was a bit clumsy.

“Der's folks like dis 'ere kind of book better dan de udders. An' dey're more expensive.”

Étienne took note.

“When yer older, if ever you works in a bookstore, you'll already know dis kind o' book exists.”

“But, Dad! I already work in a bookstore!”

But to be consistent, if chance does not exist, neither can error.

At first, I wasn't sure what it was. Proof of identity, legal document, a bunch of whereas this and whereas that . . . I copied it all without really paying much attention, I have to admit. Until I ran out of paper. While they were restocking me, I had time to see, flat up against my glass, a child's drawing of a sun and moon in the same sky. The colours were bright and dense, a drawing by someone who did not retreat before the thick materiality of things. At the bottom of the sheet, an adult's hand had written in quotes: “It's because of the sun that I like the moon, now. Before, the moon frightened me. It's as though the sun shines everywhere inside me. The moon only makes me think. And often I fall asleep.” It wasn't the first child's drawing that had come my way, not by a long shot, but there was something special about this one, I don't know why. Something decisive, and at the same time spontaneous. A life, what! After I'd emblazed it with my light, I continued to look at it, until it went away, without knowing that I had etched it in my secret memory.

Complete the “War” section with
The Notebook
by Agota Kristof.

Because he adored potatoes, and he was often the one who cooked their meals, Terry had built up a small inventory of potato-based recipes. The whole family appreciated most of these dishes, especially his potatoes fried in bacon grease. The ingredients could not have been more basic — potatoes, bacon grease, salt, and pepper — but the trick was in getting just the right amounts, and in the cooking, because the crunchier the potatoes the more cheerful the family gathered round the table.

If all the verbs beginning with the letter
a
in
L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble®
and in Bescherelle's
L'Art de conjuguer
are recognized as being part of the French language, a study of other dictionaries and lexicons of the French language would certainly increase the total beyond 557.

At the grocery store, Terry would not buy just any sack of potatoes.

“No, we don't want dose in de plastic bags. Has to be in a paper bag. An' it's best if der's a little window so's we can see if de potatoes're good-lookin' or not.”

Étienne gave his father a questioning look. Good-looking? Potatoes?

“Potato has to be hard, doesn't it, an' we don't want a wrinkled peel. Look, stick yer finger in de hole here . . .”