Upon
arrival in Casablanca Plume remembered that he had errands to run. That was why he
left his valise on the bus. He would return to collect it after taking care of
more pressing matters. He went to the Hotel Atlantic.
Instead of
booking a room, however, he deemed it wiser attend to his financial
affairs. He asked for the address of the Societe Generale.
He walked over to the bank, presented
his card to a customer service agent, and was shown into the office of an
assistant vice-president. But he did not pull out his letters of credit,
for no sooner did he take the proffered seat than he decided it would make better sense to acquaint himself first with the
principal sights of Bousbir, the Arab quarter, with its Moorish cafes, as no
one should leave “Casa” without seeing a belly dance, though to be sure the
dancers are Jewish, not Muslim. He was given the name of a fashionable cafe,
took a cab there and was sitting with a dancer in his lap, ordering aperitifs,
when he realized that all this bustle was foolish. Given the strain of travel,
the time change, and the different climate, to which the traveler is
unaccustomed, wouldn’t he be well-advised to fortify himself before doing
anything else? With this thought in mind he headed off to the Beer King, a restaurant
in the new city, and was about to be seated, when it occurred to him that it’s
not enough to wine and dine when you travel, you’ve also got to make sure that
everything’s in order for the following day. Rather than cavort like a sultan
at restaurants and bars, you should exercise prudence and obtain a timetable
for the ship you’ll be boarding tomorrow.
That
would be time well spent. And off to accomplish this task he went when it
struck his fancy to check out the customs area. There are some days when they
won’t let so much as a box of matches through, and if such an item is found in
your possession, on your person or in your baggage, you’ll be in hot water.
On
the way, he recalled reading somewhere that many boards of health are run by
quacks who prevent people in perfect health from boarding ship. That being the
case, he had to admit it would be shrewd to show up now, in shirt sleeves, as
though for rowing practice, full of vigor despite the evening chill. This was
what he was engaged in doing when the police in their vigilance questioned him,
listened to his answers and, from that moment on, never let him go.
— Henri Michaux (trans. David
Lehman)