A New Girl
TANYA COMES IN shortly after midnight with a cigarette in her hand (its filter smeared with lipstick). The huge dance floor at the Cabane Créole is already full to bursting. The Tabou Combo is exploding on a stage decidedly too small for the group. The musicians seem to be in top form. “That’s thunder,” as Freddy says when he’s had too much to drink. Each table has its own bottle of cognac. Rum is for the plebes. As always, when she feels the physical pleasure of it rise within her, Tanya begins to laugh to herself. She stands in an advantageous spot and scans the room carefully before crossing to the best table. She waits for the right moment to cross the room. A pause. She puts out her cigarette. Now she goes. Shoubou (the combo’s singer since the heroic epoch of Bébé Paramount), an old friend, sees her and announces her presence over the mike:
“And here we have the lovely Tanya. She is beautiful, she is beautiful, beeee-youuuu-teeee-full. .”
Tanya smiles.
“Tanya!”
She turns towards Minouche, who is sitting by the stage.
“I didn’t think I’d see you here tonight, Tanya. .”
“Why not? I go out when I want to.”
“I didn’t mean to make you angry, my dear.”
“Save your breath, then.”
“Unwind, Tanya. . I just wanted to warn you.”
“Warn me about what?”
“I was just saying. .”
“If you have something to say, Minouche, spit it out. I don’t have all day.”
“Sorry, but I thought you knew.”
“So you don’t have anything to say,” Tanya says, and continues on her way.
ALTA CATCHES TANYA near the washrooms.
“I didn’t think you’d be here tonight, Tanya. .”
“Jesus! You, too, Alta?
“Fanfan is here.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“He’s with a girl.”
“Alta, Fanfan is always with a girl. That’s not the end of the world for me.”
“Oh, I see.”
“That’s all, Alta. Mind your own business from now on.”
“Thank you, my dear.”
Tanya is still sitting in a cubicle in the ladies’ room, her head in her hands, when two girls come in.
“Do you think she’s beautiful?” asks the first.
“Who?” replies the other.
“Tanya.”
“Oh. She’s not bad, but I think Shoubou was exaggerating.”
“I think her type is a bit passé. .”
“What type is that?”
“The kind with a flower behind her ear.”
“I think she has nice eyes, but I don’t like her hands.”
“You noticed them, too?”
“So what was Shoubou going on about, then?”
“Didn’t you figure it out? He was warning Fanfan that Tanya had come in. Those two share everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. .”
“Seriously? Well, it’s simple. If Shoubou has a girl, she has to sleep with Fanfan, too, and vice versa. .”
“How do you know?”
“Alta told me.”
“I didn’t know Alta went with Shoubou.”
“Not with Shoubou; with Fanfan.”
“Oh, okay, that doesn’t surprise me. He hits on anything that moves.”
“And he seldom misses,” the second girl sneers.
They leave.
TANYA WANTS TO see what the girl with Fanfan looks like. She’s a beauty. Tall, thin, sophisticated, whereas she, Tanya, is short, sexy and common. Quite a match!
“Hey, Fanfan.”
“Hey, Tanya.”
“I haven’t see much of you lately.”
“I had some business to finish up with Shoubou.”
“A girl.”
“What?”
“I said, you had some girl to finish up with Shoubou. . I hear you two are quite the team.”
“I don’t see where you’re going with that. .”
“Forget it, Fanfan. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“Michèle, this is Tanya.”
“Oh, yes. I’ve been hearing a lot about you, Tanya. .”
“I’ll bet you neglected to tell her that I’m one of your mistresses, Fanfan. How many of us are there, here? Do you even bother to count anymore?”
“Don’t be vulgar, Tanya.”
“That must be the new you, Fanfan. You used to like them vulgar, if I’m not mistaken. What’s your specialty? Blow jobs?”
“Excuse me?”
Not a muscle moves on Fanfan’s face.
“You must be new around here.”
“I’ve only just met Fanfan.”
“So, he hasn’t told you about Shoubou yet, then? Do you like sandwiches?”
“I. . I don’t know what you mean.”
“What are you waiting for, Fanfan? You’re getting old, my dear. Cat got your tongue? You’d like me to leave? I’m sorry if I’ve spoiled your evening, my dear. . I’ll just go tell Shoubou to get ready, since it seems he’ll be having ‘some business to finish up’ later this evening. . Ciao, Michèle.”
“Goodbye, Tanya.”
Tanya turns back.
“And so polite, too. . Tell me, Fanfan, where’d you dig up this rare gem? Are you cruising the convents, now? Oh, I get it, you found her at Madame Saint-Pierre’s school. I recognize the type. I wonder if she knows you’re also sleeping with Madame Saint-Pierre?”
IN SHOUBOU’S dressing room.
“You dried-up piece of shit!”
“What’s the problem, Tanya?”
“You faggot!”
“Are you going to tell me what it is I seem to have done?”
“I thought you were my friend. Why didn’t you call me to warn me? I would never have come here. .”
“You know how it is with Fanfan. . I never saw this girl before an hour ago, sitting alone at a table. . Everyone was gawking at her, all the guys homing in on her. She was obviously waiting for someone. Even Charlie came up and asked who she was. I couldn’t tell him a thing. No one’s ever seen her before. Fanfan came in a couple of minutes before you did. I didn’t have time to call you.”
A long moment of truce.
“I was in the washroom and overheard two women talking about you and Fanfan. They said you shared women. .”
“Tanya, dearest. .”
“Don’t you dare come near me.”
“But Tanya, you’ve been had. By Maryse.”
“What’s Maryse done?”
“She sent those two girls into the washroom. They were sitting at her table. . What’s the matter, Tanya?”
“Oh, no, no, no, you’re not going to get off that easily. .”
“Why, have you two already slept together?”
“Are you serious?”
“You’re a better judge of him than those two girls, Tanya. .”
“Shit, Shoubou. . Why does he treat me like this?”
“Give him a taste of his own medicine.”
“With you, I suppose?”
“Why not?”
She pounces on him with claws exposed.
“You pig!”
“Stop it, Tanya. . I was kidding. . Jesus! What’s got into you? I remember when Fanfan and I first met you, at that carnival at the Ibo Lélé Hotel, remember? Fanfan fell head over heels for you. He said you were his soulmate. You drank, you picked up men, and when they no longer interested you, you tossed them on the rubbish heap. Fanfan loved that about you. ‘My friend,’ I said to him, ‘that one there is different, you won’t be able to treat her like the rest of them.’ And he nodded. . And now look at you, you’re acting exactly like all the rest. .”
Silence.
“I could have any man I want in this city.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Except him.”
“I never looked at it like that before. . I’m sorry, Tanya.”