Balconville. David Fennario

my leg, I don’t know.

      PAQUETTE

      Why don’t you read the sign?

      THIBAULT

      Eh?

      PAQUETTE

      The sign …

      THIBAULT reads the sign on the balcony. It reads, “Prenez garde.”

      THIBAULT

      Prenez garde. Okay, prenez garde. So what? Tiens, ta bière.

      He puts the case of beer down next to PAQUETTE, who gives him some money for the beer.

      PAQUETTE

      As-tu fini pour à soir?

      THIBAULT

      Oui, fini. C’est mon dernier voyage. (shaking the change in his pocket) Hey, des tips.

      JOHNNY

      Had a good day, eh?

      THIBAULT

      Hey, Johnny. Johnny B. Good. Long time no see, like they say.

      JOHNNY

      Yeah.

      THIBAULT

      Bye-bye, Johnny B. Good. You remember that?

      JOHNNY

      Remember what?

      THIBAULT

      Hey, there in the park, when they used to have the dances. You used to sing all the time like Elvis. (He does an imitation of Elvis.) Tutti-frutti, bop-bop-aloo, bop-a-bop, bam-boom. Like that, in the park.

      JOHNNY

      Yeah, yeah.

      THIBAULT

      C’était le fun. Me, I like that, but the girls grew up. They got old. You, too. Paquette, too. He’s so fat now. Very fat.

      PAQUETTE

      Hey, hey.

      JOHNNY

      You remember all that shit?

      THIBAULT

      Me? Sure. I remember everything. Everything. Everybody forgets but me. I don’t. It’s funny, that, eh?

      JOHNNY

      Yeah.

      THIBAULT

      But you, you don’t sing no more.

      JOHNNY

      No, I don’t sing no more.

      THIBAULT

      Well, everybody gets old. It’s funny, I watch it all change, but it’s still the same thing … I don’t know. So what, eh?

      PAQUETTE takes THIBAULT’s nude magazine out of his back pocket and flips through it.

      PAQUETTE

      Hey, Thibault. You have a girlfriend?

      THIBAULT

      Me? Sure. I got two of them. Deux.

      PAQUETTE

      Deux?

      THIBAULT

      (taking back his magazine) Sure. I got one on Coleraine and the other one, she lives on Hibernia. Two girls. It’s tough. (He comes down the stairs.) English, too. That surprise me. English, they do it, too.

      THIBAULT exits on his bike. PAQUETTE takes his beer and moves over to his balcony.

      JOHNNY

      (pointing to his head, referring to THIBAULT) The lights are on, but nobody’s home.

      PAQUETTE

      He might as well be crazy, eh? It helps.

      JOHNNY

      Thinking’s no good, man. I wish I could have half my brain removed. Boom! No more troubles. Just like Thibault.

      CÉCILE

      Pauvre homme. He was such a good boy when he was young. Remember?

      PAQUETTE

      It’s easy to be good when you’re young.

      CÉCILE

      He should have become a priest.

      PAQUETTE

      Cécile, nobody becomes a priest anymore.

      He bumps into one of CÉCILE’s plants.

      CÉCILE

      Claude, fais attention à mes plantes!

      PAQUETTE

      Toi, pis tes câlices de plantes. Y’en a partout sur le balcon.

      IRENE enters. She is wearing her waitress uniform, coming home from work. She stops at MURIEL’s house.