Digital Manuscript ProjectMalone meurt / Malone Dies

[0365] conferences usually ended.
[0366] It was as though the Saposcats drew the
streng[⁁][g]th to live from the prospect of their impotence.
[0367] But sometimes,
before reaching that stage, they paused to consider the case of
their first-born.
[0368] What age is he now? asked Mr Saposcat.
[0369] His wife
provided the information, it being understood that this was of her
province.
[0370] She was always wrong.
[0371] Mr Saposcat took over the erroneous
figure, murmuring it over and over to himself as though it were a
question of the rise in price of some indispensable commodity, such
as butcher's meat.
[0372] And at the same time [|] he sought in the appearance
of his son some alleviation of what he had just heard.
[0373] Was it at
least a nidce [⁁][sirloin?] joint? sirloin
[0374] Sapo looked at his father's face, sad, astonished,
loving, disappointed, confident in spite of all.
[0375] Was oi[⁁]it on the cruel
flight of the years he brooded, or on the time it was taking his son
to command a salary?
[0376] Sometimes he stated wearily his regret that his
son should not be more eager to make himself useful,[₰] about the place.
[0377] It is better for him to prepare his examinations, said his wife.
[0378] Starting from a given theme their minds laboured in unison.
[0379] They
had no conversation properly speaking.
[0380] They made use of the spoken
word in much the same way as the guard of a train makes use of his
flags,[₰] or of his lantern.
[0381] Or else they said, This is where we get
down.
[0382] And their son once signalled, their[⁁]y[y] wondered sadly if it was
not the mark of superior minds to fail miserably at the written
paper and cover themselves with ridicule at the viva voce.
[0383] They were
not always content to contemplate[⁁] gape [gape] in silence [⁁]at[at] the same landscape.
[0384] At
least his health is good, said Mr Saposcat.
[0385] Not all that, said his
wife.
[0386] But no definite disease, said Mr Saposcat.
[0387] A nice thing that
would be, at his age, said his wife.
[0388] They did not know why
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Malone meurt / Malone Dies © 2017 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Dirk Van Hulle, Pim Verhulst and Vincent Neyt