MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[2976] puffing out my lips which normally recede into my mouth. [2977] What do I look
like;^? I said. [2978] The sight of my moustache, as always, annoyed me. [2979] It
wasn't quite right. [2980] It suited me, without a moustache I was inconceivable.
[2981] But it ought to have suited me better. [2982] A slight change in the cut would
have sufficed. [2983] But what change? [2984] Was there too much of it, not enough?
[2985] Now, I said, without ceasing to inspect myself, get back on the pot and
strain. [2986] Was it not rather the colour?

[2987] A noise as of a waste recalled me
to less elevated preoccupations. [2988] He stood up trem^bling all over. [2989] We bent
together over the poi^ttwhich at length I took by the handle and tilted from
side to side. [2990] A few fibrous shreds floated in the yellowish liquid. [2991] How
can you hope to shit, I said, when you've nothing in your stomach. [2992] He
protested he had had his lunch. [2993] You ate nothing, I said. [2994] He said no more.
[2995] I had scored a hit. [2996] You forget we are leaving in an hour or so, I said.

[2997] I can't, he said. [2998] So that, I pursued, you will have to eat something. [2999] An
acute pain shot through my knee. [3000] What's the matter, papa? he said. [3001] I let
myself fall on the stool, pulled ^up the leg of my trousers and examined my
knee, flexing and unflexing it. [3002] Quick the iodex, I said. [3003] You're sitting
on it, he said. [3004] I stood up and the leg of my trousers fell down over my
ankle. [3005] This int^ertia of things is enough to drive ^[⁁]one you literally insane.
[3006] I let out a bellow which must have been heard by the Elsner sisters. [3007] They
stop reading, raise their heads, look at each other, listen. [3008] Nothing more.

[3009] Just another cry in the night. [3010] Two old hands, veined, ringed, seek each
other, clasp. [3011] I pulled up the leg of my trousers again, rolled it in a
fury round my thigh, raised the lid of the stool, took out the iodex and
rubbed it ^[⁁]into on my thigh ^[⁁]knee. [3012] The knee is full of little loose bones. [3013] Let it
soak well in, said my son. [3014] He would pay for that later on. [3015] When I had
finished I put everything back in place, rolled down the leg of my
trousers, sat down on the stool again and listened. [3016] Nothing more. [3017] Unless