Art
written by Yasmina Resa
(At Serge's; the doorbell
rings Serge goes to open the door to Yvan. Yvan walks into the room, already talking.)
Yvan: So, a crisis, insoluble problem, major crisis, both
step-mothers want their names on the wedding invitation. Catherine adores her
step-mother, who more or less brought her up, she wants her name on the
invitation, she wants it and her step-mother is not anticipating, which is
understandable, since the mother is dead, not appearing next to Catherine's
father, whereas my step-mother, whom I detest, it's out of the question her
name should appear on the invitation, but my father won't have his name on it
if hers isn't, unless Catherine's step-mother's is left off, which is
completely unacceptable, I suggested none of the parents' names should be on
it, after all we're not adolescents, we can announce our wedding and invite
people ourselves, so Catherine screamed her headoff,
arguing that would be a slap in the face for her parents who were paying
through the nose for the reception, and particularly for her step-mother, who's
gone to so much trouble when she isn't even her daughter and I finally let
myself be persuaded, totally against my better judgement,
because she wore me down, I finally agreed that my step-mother, whom I detest,
who's a complete bitch, will have her name on the invitation, so I telephoned
my mother to warn her, mother, I said, I've done everything I can to avoid
this, but we have absolutely no choice, Yvonnes's
name has to be on this invitation, she said, if Yvonne's name is on the
invitation, take mine off, mother, I said, please, I beg you, don't make things
even more difficult, and she said, how dare you suggest my name is left to
float around on the card on its own, and if I was some abandoned woman, below
Yvonne, who'll be clamped on to your father's surname, like a limpet, I said to
her, mother, I have friends waiting for me, I'm going to hang up and we'll
discuss all this tomorrow after a good night's sleep, she said, why it is I'm
always an afterthought, what are you talking about, mother, you're not always
an afterthought, of course I am and when you say don't make things even more
difficult, what you mean is, everything's already been decided, everything's
been organized without me, everything's been cooked up behind my back, good old
Huguette, she'll agree to anything and all this, she
said- to put the old tin lid on it- in aid of an event, the importance of which
I'm having some trouble grasping, mother, I have friends waiting for me, that's
right, there's always something better to do, anything's more important than I
am, good-bye and she hung up, Catherine, who was next to me, but who hadn't
heard her side of the conversation, said, what did she say, I said, she doesn't
want her name on the invitation with Yvonne, which is understandable, I'm not
talking about that, what was it she said about the wedding, nothing, you're
lying, I'm not Cathy, I promise you, she just doesn't want her name on the
invitation with Yvonne, call her back and tell her when your son's getting
married, you rise above your vanity, you could say the same thing to your
step-mother, that's got nothing to do with it, Catherine shouted, it's me, I'm
the one who's insisting her name's on it, it's not her, poor thing, she's tact
personified, if she had any idea of the problem this is causing, she'd be down
on her knees, begging for her name to be taken off the invitation, now call
your mother, so I called her again, by now I'm in shreds, Catherine's listening
on the extension, Yvan, my mother says, up to now
you've conducted your affairs in the most chaotic way imaginable and just
because, out of the blue, you've decided to embark on matrimony, I find myself
obliged to spend all afternoon and evening with your father, a man I haven't
seen for seventeen years and to whom I was not expecting to have to reveal my
hip-size and my puffy cheeks, not to mention Yvonne who incidentally, I may
tell you, according to Felix Perolari, has now taken
up bridge- my mother also plays bridge- I can see none of this can be helped,
but on the invitation, the one item everyone is going to receive and examine, I
insist on making a solo appearance, Catherine, listening on the extension,
shakes her head and screws up her face in disgust, mother, I say, why are you
so selfish, I'm not selfish, I'm not selfish, Yvan
you're not going to start as well, you're not going to be like Mme Romero this
morning and tell me I have a heart of stone, that everybody in our family has a
heart of stone, that everybody in our family has a heart of stone, that's what
Mme Romero said this morning when I refused to raise her wages- she's gone
completely mad, by the way- to sixty francs and hour tax-free, she had the gall
to say everyone in the family had a heart of stone, when she knows very well
about poor Andre's pacemaker, you haven't even bothered to drop him a line,
yes, that's right, very funny, everything's a joke to you, it's not me who's
the selfish one, Yvan, you've still got a lot to
learn about life, off you go, my boy, go on, go on, go and see your precious
friends...
Источник: http://www.whysanity.net/monos/art.html
