not that complicated, after all! Everyone loves contemporary art, they all find it fascinating!” my father exclaimed. “That’s suspicious right there! Do you know of any other subject as popular? No, and here’s why. Simply because all these idiots who want to pass for what they are not—discerning, cultivated, intellectually curious, wise, and (of course) original—are drawn to contemporary art, which makes for quite a crowd!”
“You can’t say a thing like that!” Mathias interjected.
“I’m going to lose my temper!” said my father. “But hold on a minute, don’t have me saying what I haven’t said: I’m not claiming that everyone who takes an interest in today’s art is an imbecile …”
Like a brief gust of wind, the conversation about art suddenly subsided, and Mathias kept a low profile for the rest of the dinner. Unlike Lou, who had only just realized who Frédéric was and the profit she might find in the company of this celebrated playwright. She seized the chance to sell herself with a certain aplomb and a flurry of mannerisms, confiding that she’d recently spent a week workshopping with Andréas Voutsinas at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris in the company of Nathalie Baye and Fanny Ardant, just to get back up to speed before a casting call for an important American director who’d bought the rights to the latest Dan Brown best seller.
“But who is Andréas Voutsinas?” Charles asked Frédéric.
“An Actors Studio guru who makes you return to the ‘essentials’ with improvs like ‘Dig down into yourself to find your first cry at birth,’ ” Frédéric whispered back with a straight face, before sidling up to me as we left the table to say, “She is one tough cookie, that girl!”
Friday, 11:00 p.m.
I hadn’t had time to see Marie before dinner, still less to tell her about the arrival of the real estate agent, and I was counting on talking with her privately after dinner. Had she finally forgotten her dog in Rio? She seemed so entranced by Béno, who was questioning her eagerly about her profession, that I left her alone and took up a post in a corner of the loggia where I hoped to pass unnoticed until bedtime.
“So tell me, how does it work when the Élysée Palace or the Quai d’Orsay needs your services?”
“Well, the first thing I do is find out if it’s a ‘little chair’ job, in which case I always decline the offer.”
“A little chair? What do you mean?”
“It means the interpreter sits slightly in the background between two guests at a banquet to translate their conversation. I’ve been at this too long to be treated casually by my employers. Luckily, I can afford to be choosy, because I’m rather in demand.”
Never one to pass up an opportunity, our mother spoke right up. “ Béno, you cannot imagine how sought after she is! For example, the president asks for her for all his official trips. It’s no secret, after all, and if you look at the pictures of his travels, you’ll see Marie constantly at his side. Naturally! She’s both lovely and discreet, and she has mastered the art of wearing an evening gown!”
“Mummy, please stop the sales pitch, it’s embarrassing! And besides, you know quite well that I can be dismissed at any moment, at the slightest ministerial reshuffling …”
Turning toward Béno, Marie added, “Anyway, long story short, I mostly do consecutive and whispered translation. Although I am sometimes called upon for simultaneous work, as at the G8 or Davos summits.”
“I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about, but I’d love you to do some whispered work for me. That said, I wouldn’t say no to some of the consecutive or simultaneous kind, either.”
When Marie let out a throaty laugh, I sprang to attention, as it were: it was a signal that those two weren’t making small talk anymore but playing with seduction.
“No, no—here, I’ll explain it to you. Consecutive means that when a CEO is speaking at a podium, he will periodically pause while I translate what he has just said. I therefore take notes while he speaks, but I’m lucky, I have a good memory, and I can hold on for up to thirty minutes if he doesn’t trot out too many numbers. For the whispered work, I sit next to my client, who doesn’t speak the language being used by whoever’s at the podium, and I whisper my translation in his or her ear. This whispered kind is often followed by the consecutive one, because