MICHEL TOURNIER
345
sibility. Acquitted, liberated, and shut up. In an asylum . For the last
twenty years! Ah, the asylum isn't always a bed of roses! Its ice cold
showers, the beds they strap you into, the straitjackets , insulin comas,
shock treatment. Not always a bed of roses, no . But you have your
little compensations. When you've been good, they sometimes let you
go for a stroll. With my two favorite male nurses . You walk around.
You look in the shop windows. Sometimes they even go for a drink
and let me go shopping, when they're in a good mood. Today I was
in luck. There's a sale on in a department store. Great piles of pretty
undies .
(As he speaks, he pulls a clothesline out ofhis pocket and hangs it up from
one side of the stage to the other. Then from his other pocket he extracts an un–
believable quantity of feminine lingerie, which he fastens onto the line with
clothespins. )
Heaps and heaps of them, at your fingertips. Tight ones and
loose ones.
(He brandishes a pair of panty hose and a nightdress.)
I've al–
ways wondered which had the most charm . There are two schools of
thought. Tight things, now , they hug the figure and at the same time
confine it, keep it firm . But they lack imagination. They don't speak
to you . They're laconic, severe, they're disciplinarians. Whereas
loose things, floating things , they're the ones that set you dreaming!
They're chatty, they're a continual improvisation, they invite you to
slip a hand in . ...
(The clothesline is now completely covered. He steps back and observes his
handiwork. In the meantime the two male nurses
-
white coats under their over–
coats, white caps
-
have entered at the back and are coming up the center aisle.)
And when they float in the wind, they're so beautiful!
(A fan in the wings animates and inflates the clothes hanging from the
line.)
And then, I have to stand at attention! Stiff as a post. Respect.
Desire.
(He stands at attention.)
Everyone to his own flag. With some people it's the tricolor.
With me, it's frillies .
