The Watchmaker of Backward-Running Time
This little green clapboard shed is the ‘shop’ (not quite three square metres in size) of Cyril the master watchmaker. Born in Kiev‚ God knows when.
Old Georgette the washerwoman‚ one of the doyennes of La Maube‚ who remembers the Château-Rouge and Père Lunette and the opening of Rue Lagrange‚ told me in 1938‚ ‘That guy’s incredible. I’m getting on for seventy and I’ve known him for ever. Watchmender with second-hand watches to flog. Never any trouble. Every now and then he changes his name. Says he’s entitled to. That’s the fourteenth woman he’s on to now. He’s buried more than half the rest. And his face still looks the same as ever. I can’t figure it out.’
It was certainly curious. More immediate concerns prevented me from paying much attention to ‘the case’ of Cyril. And then‚ some time later‚ I meet him in a bar and tell him the story (that I’d just pieced together) of the building his shack leans up against.
A colonel in the days of the Empire (when all colonels were courageous) lost a leg at Austerlizt. This led to his retirement. The officer sought permission from the Emperor to return to Paris with his horse‚ with whom he had developed a close friendship. The Emperor was in a good mood that day. Permission was granted.
Colonel and horse bought the house‚ and had an extra storey built on to it. It has a big courtyard paved with sandstone. A huge watering trough was installed in it at great expense. For His Nibs the Horse was in the habit of taking baths and could only drink from running water. The colonel’s assets and pension were insufficient to pay for the three or four fellows who shuttled back and forth with their buckets‚ between the Seine and the sybaritic nag’s intermittently flowing stream. Colonel and mount expired simultaneously‚ locked in each other’s embrace.
Cyril found this highly amusing. We drank a lot and became bosom pals.
Cyril has found me a refuge. He took me to Rue Maître- Albert. A street that dog-legs down to the river. Pignol’s – a low dive – is a tiny place‚ crammed with people. Snacks are served behind closed shutters.
Hourly patrols come storming up the street. Their boots can be heard a long way off. It sounds as though the asphalt answers ‘turd’ to every resounding step. As soon as they turn the corner‚ we dim the light and keep our traps shut. They feel a sense of desecration. They penetrate the hostile darkness with a tremendous fear in their guts‚ like a man who’d force himself on a woman who resists.
A power failure. Apparently this is now a frequent occurrence. The proprietress‚ Pignolette‚ the only person Cyril introduced me to‚ lights some candles. I then observe the watchmaker’s face (in normal light he looks forty years old at most).
Countless‚ extraordinarily fine‚ parallel wrinkles leave no area of his skin unmarked. He looks mummified. I recall Georgette’s words. Cyril has already got me to recount my adventures. Now it’s his turn.
Having joined the Foreign Legion under an assumed name at the outbreak of hostilities‚ luckily he put up a good fight. Military Cross and distinguished service medal. Didn’t get caught. They let him keep the name he’d adopted: so he’s issuing his own bill of health. But since Cyril‚ as I well recall‚ once described to me‚ in great detail‚ the fighting he was involved in on the French Front in the 1914–1918 war‚ as well as the famous Kiev massacres‚ when the Shirkers were tied to the rails and slow-moving locomotives sliced off their heads‚ this story bothers me slightly. This matter of time. And of being in so many different places.
People considered ‘reputable’ because of their three-piece suits are gathered here together with genuine tramps‚ shovelling down the same grub. I noticed the bespectacled fellow on the end of the bench‚ his crew-cut hair‚ his very dark-ringed protruding eyes. Cyril whispers‚ ‘Apparently he’s a poet. His name’s Robert Desnos.’
I asked for the key to my room.
Exhaustion has made me hypersensitive. A rheumy lorry passes by‚ a very long way off. I hear it‚ I sense it descending Rue Monge. It’s going to drive round the square‚ turn into the boulevard on the left. I can ‘see’ it. I’m sure of it. It sends a shudder through cubic kilometres of buildings. This evening the neighbourhood’s nerves are on edge.
Ici tous les plafonds ont eu la scarlatine
Ça pèle à plâtre que veux-tu – ô Lamartine …
[Here all the ceilings have had scarlet fever
As you’d expect the plaster’s peeling – O Lamartine …]
That dark‚ circular‚ ringed stain above the bedside table is where the petrol lamp used to hang‚ stinking and leaking like nobody’s business. A nasty fly-specked light bulb dangles over my head‚ swinging fractionally. It makes the shadows move. The lorry draws closer‚ and the disturbed shadows cannot quite settle back into place: then the room itself shares in the general unease.
Mobilization had caught me by surprise on my return from a trip to Eastern Europe. In my bohemian two-roomed apartment‚ I’d accumulated documents and books about the history of Paris. I’d not had time to read them.
I slipped into my place during the day. The Germans have put a seal on my front door: that’s to say‚ two strips of what looks like brown wrapping paper stamped with the eagle and swastika. They think they can impress the world by such pathetic means. For me‚ it was child’s play to get inside‚ gather together a bundle of linen‚ documents and books‚ put everything back in order and leave without being seen.
So I retrieved‚ among others‚ Paris Anecdote by Privat d’Anglemont‚ the 1853 edition; a huge and a very old collection of Arrests Mémorables du Parlement de Paris; and two precious notebooks that will enable me to collate records of events‚ places and dates. Besides‚ the Nationale has once again opened its doors to me. Also‚ the Arsenal‚ St Geneviève‚ and the Archives. I’ve managed to reconstruct a medieval legend‚ which relates to the very place where Cyril has been working for so many years. Here it is.
In 1465 the Ruelle d’Amboise‚ which led from the river to Place Maubert‚ originated in the teeming industriousness of Port-aux-Bûches. The sluggish Bièvre formed a kind of delta at that point‚ before mingling its muddy tannin-polluted waters with those of the Seine. Unsquared logs were left to pile up in the stagnant mud that made them imperishable. A brooding unease overhung Paris. Charles the Bold’s forces were sweeping down from the north. Along the Loire‚ the Bretons‚ won over to the Burgundian cause‚ were pressing hard on the Duke of Maine’s people. Francis of Brittany and the Duke of Berry had also joined forces against the crowned king‚ Louis XI. In the City itself‚ the Burgundians were plotting. The overextended police forces were unreliable. So there was a relaxation of the vigilant watch kept on the serfs‚ semi-slaves‚ vagabonds‚ pedlars and hawkers congregated below the walls of the town.
On the very site of Cyril’s shack‚ a watchmaker who had arrived from the Orient‚ a convert to Christianity who displayed ‘great piety’‚ set up business. He made‚ sold and repaired time-pieces‚ which were extremely valuable and rare in those days.
His clients were inevitably members of the nobility or wealthy merchants. Tristan the Hermit‚ who lived in a house very close by‚ appreciated the watchmaker’s skill and had taken him under his patronage.
The watchmaking trade was thriving. The Oriental had repudiated his barbarous name and called himself Oswald Biber. (Which means ‘beaver’ as does the old French word ‘Bièvre’.) The wily fellow lived frugally‚ and yet he was known to have become very wealthy. Meanwhile‚ some Gypsies who had been driven out of the City established their encampment in the vicinity of Port-aux-Bûches. They read the future in tracings made in the sand with the end of a stick‚ in the palms of women and the eyes of children.
Some prelates got upset and condemned this as magic. But there wasn’t enough wood in the entire port to burn all those who rightly or wrongly would have been accused of witchcraft. The Gypsies – at that time they were called ‘Egyptians’ – were on good neighbou
rly terms with the watchmaker. Perhaps it was because of this that a rumour developed and gained currency‚ according to which the pious Biber was in reality in possession of forbidden secrets. With the passage of time it had to be acknowledged that such was the case.
Some of his clients – the oldest and wealthiest – seemed less and less affected by the burden of their years. They were rejuvenated‚ and old men beheld with astonishment those whom they believed to be their contemporaries become once again men in their prime.
It was discovered that Biber had in great secrecy made watches for them that were little concerned with telling the time: they ran backwards. The fate of the person whose name was engraved on the watchwork arbors became linked to that of the object. His life went into reverse‚ returning through the term of existence he’d already lived. He grew younger.
A brotherhood established itself among the beneficiaries of this marvellous secret. Many years passed.
And then one day Oswald Biber received a visit from his assembled clients. They entreated him‚ ‘Could you not make the mechanisms that rule our lives just mark time now‚ without regressing any further?’
‘Alas! That’s impossible. But consider yourselves lucky. You’d have been long dead if I hadn’t done this for you.’
‘But we don’t want to get any younger! We dread adolescence‚ oblivious youth‚ the dark night of early childhood‚ and the inescapable doom of returning to limbo. We can’t bear the haunting prospect of that inexorable date‚ the preordained date of our demise.’
‘There’s nothing to be done about it‚ nothing more I can do for you.’
‘But we’ve known you for so many years now‚ and why do you still look the same as ever? You seem to be ageless.’
‘Because the master I had in Venice in times long gone by‚ who did not to my great regret instil all of his knowledge in me‚ made for me this watch here.
‘The hands run alternatively clockwise and anticlockwise. I age and rejuvenesce every other day.’
Unconvinced‚ these aspirants to eternal life of the flesh went away and conferred. It was decided they would return to Biber the sorcerer after nightfall and compel him by whatever means necessary to do as they wanted.
They invaded his house but he wasn’t there. Every one of them had come‚ too‚ with the secret intention of stealing the watchmaker’s watch‚ the only one of its kind offering such comfort.
They fought savagely among themselves‚ and in their struggle the object that controlled all the others was shattered.
Their watches stopped immediately‚ and immediately these fine fellows died. Their corpses were discovered and solemnly execrated. They were piled up in a charnel house in a place where ‘the soil was so putrefying that a body decayed in nine days.’
At the time I almost regretted having mentioned this to Cyril. I’d already noticed his subtle turn of thought‚ appreciated the soundness of some of his advice. The unanimous opinion of folk in the neighbourhood could be summed up in these words: Cyril knows things that others don’t. But I wasn’t aware that he was the holder of a secret – his own – and that to be reminded of it was so painful to him.
All I said was‚ ‘Are you at all familiar with a legend about time running backwards… Oswald Biber …’
He paled‚ began to tremble. In a broken voice‚ staring at me with a kind of terror‚ he said as if to himself‚ ‘So you too are in the know? It’s much more serious than I thought.’
For a moment there was infinite distress in his eyes‚ rising from the most distant past.
And then he recovered‚ and we spoke of other things.
Chapter II
Occupied Paris is on its guard. Inviolate deep down to its core‚ the City has grown tense‚ surly and scornful. It has reinforced its interior borders‚ as the bulkheads of an endangered ship are closed. You no longer see between the villages of Paris that self-confident and good-natured human traffic that existed just a few months ago. I sense a resurgence and reassertion‚ growing stronger every day‚ of the age-old differences that set apart Maubert and La Montagne‚ Mouffetard and Les Gobelins. To say nothing of crossing the bridges: left bank and right bank are not two different worlds any more‚ but two different planets. Often I feel the need to get snugly settled in a corner seat‚ quiet and alone‚ with the complicit smile of some boundary-mark‚ some stone‚ on the other side of the window‚ addressed to me alone. With the pleasure of seeing‚ on this stretch of wall‚ the poster that flutters in the drama of early morning calling for my attention. It knows that I’m responding.
I make this neighbourhood my own. But bowing to social conventions is now a thing of the past. I literally turn my back on one fellow‚ said to be likeable and of irreproachable behaviour‚ who offers me his plump paw. But I’ve no objection to being surrounded‚ like some precious stone embedded in rock‚ by a bunch of sweet-natured winos. There’s Gérard the painter‚ who has a trichological obsession. On the first of every month he gets his hair dressed like that of a musketeer. By the second week he looks like a Russian peasant. There’s Séverin the anarchist‚ who deserted for the sake of a girl. And there’s Théophile Trigou. In order to attend mass at St Séverin every morning without being seen‚ this Breton resorts to the same cunning as the rest of us do in pretending to be unaware of his harmless subterfuge. Théophile is a first-rate Latinist‚ to which we owe some terrific evenings now and again. The four of us form ‘the Smart Gang’. That’s the name Pignolette gave us. She’s fond of us and so she looks after us.
Yesterday we descended on the Vieux-Chêne‚ run by the Captain. A genuine ex-merchant marine officer.
Sunset’s the best time to take a stroll down Mouffetard‚ the ancient Via Mons Cetardus. The buildings along it are only two or three stories high. Many are crowned with conical dovecotes. Nowhere in Paris is the connection‚ the obscure kinship‚ between houses very close to each other more perceptible to the pedestrian than in this street.
Close in age‚ not location. If one of them should show signs of decrepitude‚ if its face should sag‚ or it should lose a tooth‚ as it were‚ a bit of cornicing‚ within hours its sibling a hundred metres away‚ but designed according to the same plans and built by the same men‚ will also feel it’s on its last legs.
The houses vibrate in sympathy like the chords of a viola d’amore. Like cheddite charges giving each other the signal to explode simultaneously.
The Man Who Repented of Betraying a Secret
The Vieux-Chêne was the scene of bloody brawls between arch thugs. By turns a place of refuge‚ conspiracy‚ crime‚ it was frequently closed down by the police.
I was planning on a session of sweet silent thought‚ with a pipe to smoke and memories ready to be summoned.
It was not to be. Silence‚ like madness‚ is only comparative. We felt embarrassed‚ almost intimidated‚ my companions and I‚ by the absence of the usual screen that guaranteed our isolation: that cacophony of belching‚ gurgling‚ stomach- rumbling‚ incoherent ranting‚ singing‚ belly-aching‚ swearing‚ drunken snoring – all this was missing.
The local dossers and tramps were there as usual. But silent‚ anxious‚ watchful – fearfully so‚ it seemed – as they gazed at a spare lean man dressed in black‚ and disgustingly dirty. Leaning forward with his elbows on the table‚ huge-eyed with pouches that sagged down his face‚ he sat staring at a newly lighted candle standing some distance in front of him.
The Captain signalled to us – shh – and went creeping out to bolt the door.
The minutes seeped away like wine from a barrel.
The dossers’ eyes went from the candle to the man‚ from the man to the candle. This carried on for a while‚ a very long while. When the candle had burned two-thirds of the way down‚ the flame lengthened‚ sputtered‚ turned blue and flickered drunkenly‚ like the delinquent dawn of a bad day. Then I knew who the man was. I’d encountered him before.
Just after the last war�
� I spent some of my childhood (the summer months‚ for several years in a row) at E‚ a small town in the Eure-et-Loir. I had some playmates‚ who were entranced by all the things the ‘big boys’ got up to‚ that’s to say‚ boys three or four years their senior. These ‘big boys’ affected to despise us. They never joined in our games‚ but they were happy to capture the admiring attention of an easily impressed gaggle of kids. The most conceited‚ big-mouthed show-off‚ and sometimes the meanest of these older boys‚ was called Honoré.
We hated him as much as we loved his father: Master Thibaudat‚ as he was known. This good-hearted fellow – I can still see his blue peaked cap‚ his Viking moustache‚ and the reflection on his face of his smithy’s furnace – repaired agricultural machinery. He was also captain of the town’s fire brigade. This was no small distinction. Every Sunday morning he’d gather together his helmeted and plumed subordinates for fire drill. He’d get them lined up in rows outside the town hall‚ and direct operations in his manly voice with a thick Beauce accent.
‘Pompe à cul! Déboïautéi!
‘Mettez-vous en rangs su l’trottouèr comm’ dimanche dargniéi!
‘Hé là-bas: gare les fumelles … on va fout’un coup d’pompe …’
[Drop the hose reel! Let it run!
Line up on the pavement like last Sunday!
Hey‚ watch out there‚ lasses … we’re going to give it burst …]
What a laugh!
The rest‚ I found out later.
For there was something else: Master Thibaudat was ‘marcou’. In other words‚ he’d inherited from his ancestors the secret‚ passed down from father to son‚ of mastering fire.
Thibaudat had the ability to extinguish a blazing hayrick‚ to isolate a burning barn‚ the strategic genius to contain a forest fire. But more importantly‚ he was a healer. Mild burns disappeared at once; the rest never withstood him more than a few hours. In very serious cases‚ he would be sent to the hospital. There he would pass his hands over the agonized patient who would be screaming and in danger of suffocating. At the same time he would recite in an undertone set phrases known only to himself. The pain would cease immediately. And flesh and skin would regenerate with a speed that astounded numerous doctors. From Maintenon to Chartres‚ and even as far afield as Mans‚ Thibaudat is still remembered by many people.
Paris Noir Page 2