The World at Night

cautionary eyebrow as he put the cup down-this is how things are, I don’t want to hear about it. Casson didn’t complain. He was lucky to be alive, paying double for a bad coffee was a privilege.

On the flight south from Sedan he’d been lucky twice. The first time, he was with a company of French infantry, half of them still armed, when they were overtaken by a German column. An officer stood on a tank turret, announced the Panzerkorps had no time to deal with prisoners, and directed them to lay their weapons down on the road. When that was done a tank ran over them a few times and the column went on its way. Others had not been so fortunate-they’d heard about whole divisions packed into boxcars and shipped off to camps in Germany.

The second time, Casson was alone. Came around the curve of a road outside Chalons to find three Wehrmacht officers on horseback. They stared at him as he walked past-a lone, unarmed soldier in a shabby uniform. Then he heard a laugh, glanced up to see a young man with the look of a mischievous elf, or perhaps, if some small thing annoyed him, a murderous elf. “You halt,” he said. He let Casson stand there a moment, then leaned over, worked his mouth, and spit in his face. His friends found that hilarious. Casson walked away, head down, and waited until he was out of sight before wiping the saliva off.

So what? he told himself. It didn’t mean anything.

A woman came into the cafe and caught his eye. She was tall, had a big, soft face, net stockings, short skirt. Casson stood and gestured at an empty chair. “A coffee?” he said.

“Sure, why not.”

The proprietor brought it over and Casson paid.

“Been out in the country?” she said.

“You can tell?”

She nodded. “You have the look. Too many healthy Frenchmen around, all of a sudden.” She took a sip of coffee and scowled at the proprietor but he was busy not noticing her. She snapped her purse open, took out a small mirror, poked at a beauty mark pasted on her cheek. “Care for a fuck?” she said.

“No, thanks.”

She closed the mirror and put it back in her purse. “Something complicated, it’ll cost you.”

“What if I just buy you a sandwich?”

She shrugged. “If you like, but I hate to see this louse have the business.”

Casson nodded agreement.

“Oh, it’s going to get real shitty here,” she sighed. “Before, I was just about managing. Day to day, you know. But now …”

Casson took out a packet of cigarettes and they both lit up. The woman blew a long plume of smoke at the cafe ceiling. “Trick is,” she said, “with these times, is don’t let it ruin your life.”

“My mother used to say that.”

“She was right.”

They smoked. A fat little man, commercial traveler from the suitcase he was carrying, looked into the cafe and cleared his throat. The woman turned around. “Well hello,” she said.

“Are you, uh …”

The woman stood up. “I have to go,” she said.

“Luck to you.”

“Thanks. And you.”

Monday morning, 7:00 A.M. The concierge knocked on his door. It took him a long time to unwind himself from sleep, dreams, the safety of his very own bed. He staggered to the door.

“Welcome home, Monsieur Casson.”

He stood, swaying slightly, his shirt pulled together in one hand, his pants held up with the other. “Madame Fitou,” he mumbled.

She was sweating with anxiety.

“What is it?”

“The car, monsieur.”

“Yes?” He rarely drove it-it mostly stayed in the little garage off the courtyard.

The words came in a rush. “Well, of course we waited until you returned, and we worried about you so, but of course you know the authorities have made a requisition of all private automobiles, so, ah, it must be turned in. Of course there were posters, while you were away, monsieur. My husband made sure to write down the address, out in Levallois, because we thought, you’d have to be informed, you’d want to be, when you came home …” She ran down slowly.

“Oh, yes, of course.”

Now he understood. The poor woman was afraid he’d refuse, that she would be dragged into disobedience, made to suffer for his casual attitude toward authority. “I’ll take care of it this morning, madame,” he said.

She thanked him, he could see the relief in her eyes. She’d lain awake all night, he supposed. In her imagination he had scoffed, jeered at her. Then, disaster. Police.

“I’d better get dressed,” he said brightly, and managed a smile as he closed the door.

Madame Fitou and her sister held the doors open and Casson backed out carefully into the rue Chardin. No point in scratching the bodywork, he thought. He let the car idle a moment, then shifted into first gear. He didn’t particularly share the national worship of automobiles, but this one had been very hard to get hold of and he was sorry to lose it.

A Simca 302. A model last manufactured in 1934, so those seen around Paris were all of a certain age. A sedan convertible, built low to the ground, always forest green. Walnut dash, rag top, throaty engine. Just the sort of car the producer Jean Casson might be expected to drive. Actually, just the sort of car the producer Jean Casson might be expected to drive-Jensen, Morgan, Riley-the producer Jean Casson couldn’t afford.

The 302 was nice enough to look at, but it wasn’t at all nice to its owner. It was a sulky, spoiled car that drank gas, that sputtered and died at traffic lights, that whined if made to go at high speeds, that wanted nothing to do with the weather after October. Still, it was a credible showpiece, and if it misbehaved with an important personage-it knew who was sitting in its passenger seat-Casson would smile and shake his head, helpless. A depraved passion, what could one do.

Of course it drove like an angel on its way to the garage. Out avenue Malakoff on a cloudy August morning, a few sprinkles of rain. Casson worked his way patiently through swarms of bicyclists; clerks and factory workers, young and old, everyone peddling along together, most of them sour-faced and grim, ringing their bicycle bells when some idiot went too slow or too fast.

The light was red at the intersection of Malakoff and the busy avenue Foch. A black sedan pulled up next to him and Casson and the passenger glanced at each other. German soldiers. Casson turned away. They were junior officers, probably lieutenants. They had the look of young men going to work at a bank or a law office-perhaps the military version, paymaster or judge advocate. Something administrative, he thought, and probably technical.

They were staring at him. He glanced back-yes? — but it didn’t make them stop. They both wore glasses, one of them had round, tortoiseshell frames, the other silver rims. Their faces were pink, freshly shaved, their hair cut to military length and combed into place with hair tonic, and the way they were staring at him was rude. The light went green. The bicyclists moved off, Casson resisted an urge to speed ahead, hesitated so the sedan could go first.

But it didn’t. They were waiting for him. Conards! he thought. Jerks. What’s your problem? He eased the car into gear and inched forward. I’m not supposed to be driving, he thought. They can see I’m French, and that means I’m supposed to be pedaling a bicycle while they drive a car. His stomach turned over- he didn’t want a confrontation, he wasn’t sure exactly what that would mean. He let the Simca fade a little, waiting an extra beat between second and third. The sedan’s door moved ahead of his, and he saw the two were talking, urgently, then the passenger looked out the window again. Clearly he was concerned, perhaps slightly annoyed.

Porte Maillot. A large, busy traffic circle with avenues radiating like spokes in all directions. A horn blasted behind Casson and he swerved over into the right lane as a Wehrmacht truck tore past him, swaying as it lurched around the circle. Then the sedan was back, the passenger not a bit less irritated. Casson began to feel sick. What’s the problem, Fritz? You think somebody peed in your soup? He knew the look on