
[4143] in upon him from every side.
[4144] So this third day wore away.
[4145] And about five o'clock I ate my last
tin of sardines and a few biscuits, with a good appetite.
[4146] This left me
with only a few apples and a few biscuits.
[4147] But about seven o'clock my
son arrived. The sun was low in the west.
[4148] I must have dozed a moment,
for I did not see him coming, a speck on the horizon, then rapidly bigger
and bigger, as I had foreseen.
[4149] But he was already between me and the camp,
making for the latter, when I saw him.
[4150] A wave of irritation broke over me,
I jumped to my feet and began to vociferate, brandishing my umbrella.
[4151] He
turned and I beckoned him to join me, waving the umbrella as if I wanted
to hook something with the handle.
[4152] I thought for a moment he was going
to defy me and continue on his way to the camp, to where the camp had been
rather, for it was there no more.
[4153] But finally he came towards me.
[4154] He was pushing a bicycle which, when he had joined me, he let fall with a
gesture signifying he could bear no more.
[4155] Pick it up, I said, till I look
at it.
[4156] I had to admit it must once have been quite a good bicycle.
[4157] I
would gladly describe it, I would gladly write four thousand words on it
alone.
[4158] And you call that a bicycle? I said.
[4159] Only half expecting him to
answer me I continued to inspect it.
[4160] But there was something so strange
in his silence that I looked up at him.
[4161] His eyes were starting out of his
head.
[4162] What's the matter, I said, is my fly open?
[4163] He let go the bicycle
again.
[4164] Pick it up, I said.
[4165] He picked it up.
[4166] What happened to you? he
said.
[4167] I had a fall, I said.
[4168] A fall? he said.
[4169] Yes, a fall, I cried, [⁁]did
you never [⁁]have a fall?
[4170] I tried to remember the name of the plant that
springs from the ejaculations of the hanged and shrieks when plucked.
[4171] How much did you give for it? I said.
[4172] Four pounds, he said.
[4173] Four pounds!
I cried.
[4174] If he had said two pounds or even thirty shillings I should have
cried, Two pounds! or, Thirty shillings! the same.
[4175] They asked four pounds
five, he said.
[4176] Have you the receipt? I said.
[4177] He did not know what a
- Segments
Molloy © 2016 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Magessa O'Reilly, Dirk Van Hulle, Pim Verhulst and Vincent Neyt