Destroy, She Said Read online

  Elisabeth Alione tries to remember.

  “But he's been here a long time, hasn't he?”

  “Nine days. He must have arrived a couple of days after you.”

  “I'm getting mixed up then . . . Is he the one who looks rather sad?”

  “When he's not talking, yes. He's a Jew. Can you tell when someone's a Jew?”

  “I'm not very good at it. But my husband can tell at once, even when . . .”

  She stops, realizing the danger.

  “Can he? There's another man with him. Stein. He's a Jew too. You must be mixing them up.”

  Alissa smiles at her. She is reassured.

  “I've just been staying with my parents,” Alissa explains. “I came to pick him up. We're going away on vacation in a few days. Come on, just come for a stroll around the grounds.”

  They get up.

  “Where are you going for your vacation?” Elisabeth Alione asks.

  “We never know in advance,” Alissa says.

  They reach the tennis courts. Stein is coming down the steps of the hotel.

  “Why didn't you take the advice of the second doctor?” Alissa asks.

  Elisabeth starts and gives a little cry.

  “Oh, you've guessed there was something,” she says.

  They come to the steps. Stein is waiting for them.

  “This is Stein,” Alissa says. “Elisabeth Alione.”

  “We were looking for you to go for a walk in the forest,” Stein says.

  Max Thor now comes down the steps. Slowly, his eyes lowered. Alissa and Stein watch him approach.

  “Let me introduce my husband,” Alissa says. “Max Thor. Elisabeth Alione.”

  Elisabeth doesn't notice anything, neither the icy hand nor the pallor. She tries to remember, but can't.

  “I'd got you mixed up,” she says, smiling.

  “Let's go into the forest,” Alissa says.

  She starts to go, followed by Stein. Max Thor doesn't appear to have heard. Elisabeth Alione waits. Then Max Thor moves toward Alissa as if to stop her. But Alissa has already set off.

  Then all three turn toward Elisabeth Alione. She hasn't moved.

  “Come along,” Alissa says.

  “Well . . .”

  “Madame Alione's afraid of the forest,” says Alissa.

  “In that case we can stay in the grounds,” Max Thor says.

  Alissa comes back to Elisabeth and smiles at her.

  “Choose,” she says.

  “I don't mind going into the forest,” she says.

  The two women set out, preceded by Stein and Max Thor.

  “Let's stay in the grounds,” Elisabeth Alione says.

  Silence.

  “As you like,” Alissa says.

  Silence. They retrace their steps.

  “To go back to what we were saying,” Stein says. “Total destruction.”

  Night in the grounds of the hotel. Bright light.

  Alissa is lying on the grass. Max Thor is standing over her. They are alone.

  “Middle class background,” Alissa says. “The husband probably has his own business. She must have married very young and had the daughter right away. They've gone on living in the Dauphine. He took over the father's business. She's terrified.”

  Alissa gets up.

  They look at each other.

  “According to her she's terrified at the thought of being abandoned. She trots out the story about the baby who died, too. But there must have been something else, something serious.”

  “Let's go.”

  “No.”

  “ ‘The man in the bookshop tells me what to buy. He knows me, he knows the sort of books I like. My husband only reads science. He doesn't like novels, the books he reads are very difficult . . . Oh, it's not that I don't like reading . . . but at the moment . . . I sleep . .’”

  He is silent.

  “'I'm afraid,’” Alissa goes on. “'Afraid of being abandoned, afraid of the future, afraid of loving, of violence, of numbers, of the unknown, of hunger, of poverty, of the truth.’”

  “You're insane, Alissa. Insane.”

  “I surprise myself too,” says Alissa.

  Silence.

  “When she says, ‘I sleep,’ I see her sleeping and you watching her.”

  “Only me?”

  “No.”

  Silence.

  Alissa looks around.

  “Where's Stein?”

  “He'll be here. Come up to the room.”

  “I'm waiting for Stein.”

  “We'll leave tomorrow, Alissa.”

  “That's not possible. We're meeting Elisabeth Alione after her nap.”

  “Will we go into the forest?”

  “No. We'll stay in the grounds.”

  Stein emerges from them.

  “Your hair,” he says.

  He touches it. It has been cut.

  “It was so beautiful,” says Stein.

  “Too beautiful.”

  He thinks.

  “Has he noticed?” he says, pointing to Max Thor.

  “He hasn't said anything yet. I cut it myself. It was lying all over the bathroom floor. He must have stepped on it.”

  “I did exclaim,” Max Thor says.

  “I heard him exclaim. But he didn't say anything. I thought you cried out for some other reason.”

  Stein takes her in his arms.

  “For what reason?” Max Thor asks.

  “Impatience,” Alissa says.

  Silence.

  “Come over here, Alissa,” Stein says.

  “Yes. What will become of us?”

  “I've no idea.”

  “We've no idea,” Max Thor says.

  Alissa Thor speaks with her head buried in Stein's arms.

  “She's getting used to us. She said, ‘M. Stein's a man who inspires confidence.’”

  They laugh.

  “What did she say about him?” Stein says, pointing to Max Thor.

  “Nothing. She talked about leaving. She won't leave the grounds now; she says she's expecting her husband to telephone.”

  They are walking round the tennis courts. The balcony of their room is lit up.

  “We could go into the forest with her,” Stein says.

  “No,” Max Thor cries.

  “We've only got three days left,” says Alissa. “Three nights.”

  They stop.

  “He wants to go. He says so, Stein.”

  “Play-acting,” Stein says.

  “I can't go now,” Alissa says.

  “Come up to the room,” Max Thor says.

  Day in the grounds.

  Elisabeth Alione is seated at a table. Alissa Thor is beside her.

  “Both doctors said I ought to go away,” Elisabeth Alione says. “I kept crying all the time. I couldn't even have said why.”

  She smiles at Alissa.

  “There I am talking about it again . . . I suppose I can't help myself.”

  “Why did they insist on your being alone? If you weren't a . . . strong sort of person, it might have been rather dangerous, mightn't it?”

  Elisabeth lowers her eyes and is wary. For the first time.

  “I'm not a strong person.” She looks at her. “You're wrong there.”

  “Is that what you say?”

  Elisabeth's eyes are moving about again. There is a distant warning in her voice.

  “That's what the people around me say. And I agree.”

  “But who?”

  “Oh . . . the doctors . . . and my husband.”

  “A woman in your position—mentally . . . . and physically—is very vulnerable. Things could happen to her that normally wouldn't. Didn't they tell you that?”

  “I don't understand,” Elisabeth Alione says, after a pause.

  “Other women . . . not you . . . might get into some scrape or other . . .”

  Alissa laughs. So does Elisabeth.

  “What an idea! Oh no, not me!”

  They are silent.
r />   “They're late,” says Alissa. “We said five o'clock.”

  “I've kept you from having your walk,” Elisabeth Alione says apologetically. “I'm sorry. Especially as my husband didn't phone.”

  “Is it always your husband who phones?”

  Elisabeth flushes.

  “Yes. Well . . . someone else did call once when I first came, but I hung up.”

  “Good heavens,” Alissa says, smiling.

  “It's all over now.” She turns to Alissa. “We're very different.”

  “Yes. I'm happy with my husband too, but probably in a different way.”

  “How?”

  They look at each other. Alissa doesn't answer.

  “Max Thor's a writer, isn't he?”

  Does she notice Alissa start? No.

  “Well, he's in the process of becoming one . . . but no, he isn't one yet. . . What makes you ask?”

  Elisabeth smiles.

  “I don't know . . . that's what I'd have thought.”

  “He's a professor. I was one of his students.”

  “Who is Stein?” Elisabeth Alione asks timidly.

  “I can't talk about Stein,” Alissa says.

  “I see.”

  “No, you don't.”

  Elisabeth has started to tremble.

  “Oh, please excuse me,” Alissa says. “I'm sorry.”

  “It's nothing. You're very blunt.”

  “It's the thought of Stein,” says Alissa. “It was just the thought of Stein's existence.”

  Here come the two men. They bow.

  “We're late.”

  “Not very.”

  “How was the view?” Elisabeth Alione asks.

  “We couldn't find the place,” Max Thor says.

  They sit down. Alissa deals the cards.

  “Stein leads,” she says.

  Stein puts down a card.

  “Did you get your phone call?” Max Thor asks.

  “No. I'm so sorry.”

  “We've been talking about love,” Alissa says.

  Silence.

  “Your turn, Mr. Thor.”

  “Sorry. How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” Elisabeth Alione says. “I don't sleep so much. I could almost go home. It's Alissa's turn.”

  “Don't you like it here?” asks Max Thor.

  “Oh, it's all right, but . . .”

  Stein says nothing.

  “Why don't you phone and ask your husband to come get you?”

  “He'd only say the doctor gave strict orders. And that the three weeks will be up in three days.”

  “And does that seem so long?”

  They don't wait for an answer. They are intent on their cards, especially Stein.

  “Well . . . no . . . But you're leaving soon too, aren't you?”

  “In a few days,” Max Thor says. “Aren't you going to play?”

  “Sorry.”

  “I don't know Grenoble,” Stein says.

  “I'm going to lose,” says Alissa. “I think I'm going to lose.”

  “What do you usually do in the summer?”

  “When my daughter was little we used to go to Brittany. Now we go to the South.”

  Silence.

  “I'd like to know Anita,” Alissa says.

  “So would I,” says Stein. “My turn to play?”

  “Yes.”

  They are peaceful.

  “She's difficult,” Elisabeth Alione says. “She's going through an awkward phase. But it's her age. It'll pass. She's rude . . .”

  “Rude?” Max Thor says.

  “Yes.” She smiles. “Especially to me. She wouldn't work last year. But her father put his foot down and this year it's much better. I think it's Max Thor's turn to play.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What did her father do?” asks Alissa.

  “Oh . . .” She is embarrassed. “He wouldn't let her go out for a while. That's all.”

  Silence. They go on playing.

  “You're very good at cards,” Max Thor says.

  “We play sometimes at Grenoble. Just among friends.”

  “On Sunday afternoon?” Alissa asks.

  “That's right.” She smiles. “That's what people do in the provinces.”

  Silence. They concentrate on the game. Elisabeth watches them with amazement. She plays almost absent- mindedly.

  “Go on,” she says to Stein. “Your trick.”

  “Sorry. Alissa's deal?”

  “No. Yours. You do have a strange way of . . .” She smiles. “I suppose you don't play very often?”

  “Well . . . ,” Alissa says. Her thoughts wander. “What's Anita like?”

  The answer doesn't come at once.

  “A very affectionate child, really. I expect she'll suffer. But people are bad judges of their own children.”

  Silence. They go on playing. Elisabeth, though she says nothing, is more and more astonished.

  “Do all your family live in Grenoble?” Max Thor asks.

  “Yes. My mother's still alive.” She says to Stein:

  “Yes, your turn to play. I have a sister too. We live on the outskirts, not in Grenoble itself. The house is on the Isère. . . . It's a river as well as a department.”

  “Near the factory?” Alissa asks.

  “Yes . . . How did you know?”

  “I just guessed.”

  “Alissa's traveled a lot,” Stein says. “Go on, it's your turn.”

  “Sorry,” Max Thor says. “I expect you go to Paris every year?”

  “Yes. Nearly every year. In October.”

  Silence. Elisabeth deals deftly. They watch her.

  “The automobile show's in October,” Stein says.

  “Yes . . . but we go to the theater too. Oh, I know . . .” No one reacts. “I don't really like Paris.”

  Silence.

  “All our plans are changed this year,” says Alissa. “We still don't know where to go. It's Stein's turn to play.”

  “Sorry.” He plays. “There.”

  “My trick,” Elisabeth Alione says. “And normally I always lose. Do you usually go to the seashore?”

  “No,” Stein says.

  “We pass by the beaches every summer,” Max Thor says. “But we don't stop.”

  She stops playing. She looks suddenly uneasy.

  “So . . . so you've known each other a long time?”

  “Four days,” Alissa says. “It's boring—the beach every morning and every afternoon. Don't you think so?”

  “I don't understand,” Elisabeth Alione murmurs.

  Silence.

  “Perhaps you'd rather stop playing?” Max Thor says.

  “Sorry. I suppose you go abroad?”

  “Usually,” Stein says. To Alissa: “Eh?”

  “Usually,” Alissa says.

  Elisabeth begins to giggle.

  “Last year,” she says, “we went to Italy with friends.”

  “A doctor?”

  “Yes . . . a doctor and his wife.”

  “You seem to know a lot of doctors,” Alissa says.

  “Yes . . . quite a few . . . They're interesting to talk to.”

  “They talk to you about yourself,” Max Thor says.

  “Well . . . yes . . .”

  Silence.

  “What are you laughing at?” asks Alissa.

  “Sorry . . . I don't know . . .”

  “Laugh,” Stein says.

  Silence. The laughter stops. But there are still traces of it in her eyes.

  “My trick?” Stein asks.

  “Yes,” Max Thor says.

  The laughter starts again. The others don't join in.

  “Do you mean to say you don't even know when you've . . .?”

  “Did you like Italy?”

  Again the laughter seems to stop.

  “Yes . . . but in July . . . it's terribly hot. I can't stand the heat.”

  “What about the food?”

  The laughter begins again. But she's the only one who's la
ughing.

  “Oh . . . Oh yes . . . I'm so sorry . . . We went to . . .”

  “Laugh,” Stein says.

  “To?”

  “Venice . . . To Venice.”

  The suppressed laughter spreads from her face to her hands and makes them shake. She drops some of her cards.

  “We can see your hand,” Stein says.

  “Venice?” Max Thor says.

  “Oh yes . . . we went . . . I'm so sorry . . . I don't remember. . . Oh yes . . . We went to Venice.”

  “Or was it Naples? Venice or Naples?”

  “Or Rome?”

  “Oh no . . . Venice . . . I'm sorry .. . We came back through Rome. Yes . . . Back through Rome, that's it . . .”

  “It's not possible,” says Stein.

  They look at her gravely. She has dropped her cards.

  “Have I got it wrong?”

  “Completely.”

  They wait. They look at her.

  The laughter starts.

  “Whose turn to play?” Stein asks.

  She laughs even louder.

  “Oh . . . there's no point in trying to play . . .”

  “In other words,” Alissa says, “Stein doesn't know how to play cards.”

  “No . . . He hasn't got the slightest idea . . .”

  Laughter, stronger still.

  “Nor do you two. . .”

  “Nor do we,” Max Thor says.

  She laughs. She is still the only one laughing.

  “It was a good game,” Stein says.

  He puts down his cards. So does Alissa, then Max Thor. Elisabeth laughs. They look at her.

  “Elisabeth Villeneuve,” Stein says.

  The laughter becomes intermittent. She looks at each of them in turn. Fear comes into her eyes.

  The laughter stops.

  Dusk in the grounds.

  “Good,” Max Thor says.

  Elisabeth Alione has just played. She's managed to get the croquet ball through the wicket.

  “Yes,” she says. “I don't know how I did it.”

  “Why do you always think you can't do things?”

  She smiles. So do Alissa and Stein. They are standing with mallets in their hands. They don't say anything.

  “Your turn again,” Max Thor says.

  Elisabeth plays very carefully. She misses the wicket. She straightens up looking absolutely delighted.

  “You see,” she says.

  Max Thor bends down and puts the ball back where it was. Alissa and Stein watch the other two.

  “Try again,” Max Thor says.

  Elisabeth Alione takes fright.

  “I can't,” she says. “What about Alissa?”

  Alissa stands silent beside Stein. Elisabeth doesn't meet her eye.