Pay attention Nikske

You go

Have you hurt yourself?
Nikske: Holes! Holes! Hoooles!

Holes! There! There! Holes! Holes! Holes, boo-hoo-hoo!

Boo-hoo-hoo…

Okay, come on, we’ll take them off.

It isn’t serious, watch carefully, I’m going to repair them!

But… she knows how to do magic…

Hello!

Hey! Who’s that?

This is Nikita. She’s been asking me a million questions about you.

I’m going to call him Papa Moustache.

(silent)

Do you know, we’re invited to go to his house and eat dinner tomorrow?

But, actually mommy, why didn’t you go see your dad anymore?

This is impossible…I’m dreaming…they’re drunk…they’re dead drunk.

We bought some Magicolors but we forgot to buy paper!
Hello, Cecile.

Wow, they’re pretty nice! Are you happy, Nikita?
Welll…not really. I already have some.

Hello Nikske, what do you think of my new private spot?
Wow, that’s great! Really neat.
In the Brussels dialect, this diminutive of Dominique means ‘little nothing’. (This aside is in the text).

My neighbor loves me, that’s right, he loves me! I go…he loves me! He’s the one who told me to put my car there.

I hope you’re not afraid of dogs? ‘Cause Kimi loves children! So you know, I’m walking, you know, she sees a kid, she crosses the street! This dog, he’s unbelievable!

Watch this, I’m switching my “Télémoustique” for the “Soir Illustré” my downstairs neighbor gets!
And he just loves me, my downstairs neighbor!

He’s a real good animal. Not like that Doberman.

Watch out, huh? What a dog – 25 kilos!

But one day he gave me a bite on the ear. Well, maybe that was sort of my fault.

He wasn’t the kind of dog you play with. I think I’d gotten him a bit over-excited. I was sort of scrapping with him.

Yeah, but, listen, is it me or you who’s telling this story?

The day after, I had him put down. But you’ve got to understand, this dog loved me, I did what I could. But one day, he just went crazy!
Okay..I can see this one is also on the road to ruin.

I called up Veeweyde. They wanted to bring me the body. That? Not here with me! {aside in the text: Veeweyde is an animal refuge}

HA BRAVO VEEWEYDE, BRINGING THE BODY HERE, LET’S LEAVE IT, IT’S OKAY, YEAH?

But when it comes to helping out before we took the dog in the first place, they never mentioned that he was a night guard dog in a parking garage and that he was dangerous! They didn’t bother to do that, huh!
Hey, Papa Moustache, you’re not talking right!

Well, not Flemish, I’m from Bruxelles, but watch out, man, I’m perfectly bilingual!

And it’s for that same reason that I ended up doing my pre-prension work as a corporal with the fire brigade!

They were all disappointed when I left the service. THAT, I can tell you!

Jean-Pierre, we’re going to miss you! Everyone loved me there – CORPORAL, Dominique!

Yes, Dominique, yes!
Mommy?

WARRANT OFFICER!!
I want to draw.

What do you mean?
“On top”...that’s the Brusseleer! {Brussels mix of Belgian French and Dutch, as per Wikipedia)

But…no way, Dad!

No! NO! “On top”, that’s not correct…you have to say “onnn the toppp!”

Well, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just an abbreviation.

Okay, Dominique, have your way, let it go, I understand, let’s let this drop. I’m not talking about this with you any more, roger OUT!, anyhow it’s always been like this, you’re exactly like your mother, you’re two sides of the same coin.

Ha ha, she has long hair, your friend?
But..no? Why?

You just said that it’s your friend and that she has long hair.
Ha..no, that’s just a man.

But, Nikita, Cecile is right, you just said that -
ha, but mommy, it was just, you know, a little pretend.

WELL THEN YOU’RE A LITTLE LIAR!

WHAT IS IT, ANYWAY, MAKE BELIEVE? MAKE BELIEVE, IT’S LYING, IT’S LYING!

See you in a minute, ommy!
Jeez, if I say anything, there’ll just be another drama!

So, Dom, I hear you’re at loggerheads with your mother again?
Well, yes, you heard right.
[aside in the text: ‘dom’, in Flemish, means ‘animal’}

She told me she’s furious with you because you want to take on cleaning jobs.

She told you that? That’s ridiculous!

Hey, have you ever seen this?
Uh….no….

{silent}

{silent}

CRACK!

This thing here, this is the trunk from when I brought my stuff back from when I was with the pirates.

Anyway, you’re not going to tell me…she’s one of a kind, your mother!

That’s what I’m good for, huh?

Anyway, she’s always only thought of herself.

And you? And you, Dominique?

You, you, you were always in league with her!

I gave my all for you!

[silent]

I always recognized my responsibilities..

I gave you everything, I did everything I could for you…

I worked like a slave, day and night! Everything! I did everything for you!

[silent]

Everything!

That is to say, that is to say…

Thhhhat issssss toooo saaayyyy, thaaaat issss toooo saayyyyy!!!!!

That is to say…you aren’t going to come in here and be a ball-breaker!

But Dad…I didn’t even say anything!

You, with your highfalutin college-educated way of talking…Thhhat isss tooo sayyyy!!!!”

Well, what I wanted to say is that, all the same, the least of a parent’s responsibilities is to feed their children.

I have no responsibility, no obligation!

But…surely there are laws that say so.

NO RESPONSIBILITY! Nobody’s going to come in here and tell me what to do.

That’s none of my business.

Oh, what a cop-out…”That’s none of my business.”

But when she left me and was having her little adventures in the Ardennes, where was she living?

“It’s none of my business!” Oh yes… “It’s none of my business!” that’s the way you are, huh? “That’s none of my business!”

“That’s none of my business!” You have ALWAYS been on her side! “That’s none of my business!”

She really turned you against me.

And you all just let me go. It was like that, you can’t deny it!

Here’s a clear example, that even you can understand: you didn’t even visit me when I was in the hospital.

And you knew I was in there, didn’t you?

Listen – you couldn’t even be bothered to see me for four years. So why should I have to drop everything because you’ve decided to flush your health down the toilet?

I’m talking about the booze. You were in the hospital with cirrhosis and internal hemorrhaging because you were drinking too much!

NO, DOMINIQUE, NO! THAT WASN’T THE WAY IT WAS!

Oh, really? I passed you in the street one time, a year ago. You couldn’t even stand up. Cecile had to hold you up, just so you could walk.

We were just a meter apart, but you didn’t even recognize me!

LIES, DOMINIQUE! COMPLETELY UNTRUE! I wasn’t even drinking then.

Stop it! You are ALWAYS drinking!

Well, if you drink with the people you live with, that’s normal.

You wouldn’t believe it, but even Cecile and I sometimes argue.

We go sulk in our corners…

But one hour later, it’s over!

No, Dominique, no…that’s no way to live.

But anyway, I’ve always been on top of my responsibilities…

And I’ve always been an excellent father.

Can’t you admit even that?

I can admit…that you were a remarkable father.
It was down to me, anyhow, that every day you had something to eat.

Is it true, or false? And that, is true!

WHAT?

What did you say?
I didn’t say anything!

If you have something to say, it’s not worth your trouble to pussy foot around!
But I didn’t say anything!

I’m a good guy…but don’t go playing with my feet, huh? [note from translator: Brusseleer idiom?]

You don’t think I understand your little game?

Pay attention, okay! You can’t hold back…Oh yes, Dominique, it’s like that, and it’s no other way…I can guarantee, on my mother’s grave, you all abandoned me!

ALL OF YOU! All of you, Dominique, it couldn’t be more obvious, you all abandoned me!

But no, Dad…you were the one who abandoned us.

[silent]

And yet my father is really a pretty rational individual.

Throughout the night, they heard doors and window shutters slamming upstairs.

He thought that it was just a breeze, a current of air, and he shut them all, one by one.

But one hour later, they were open again.

This time, my father went back up, shut them all one more time. This time he checked to make sure they were all in good repair, that there wasn’t something wrong with them.

He’d barely made it back down the stairs when they started to open again, one after the other…

Then there was a noise, just one, hard to identify. The dog started to howl like mad.

My father went back up one more time and shut everything up. This was the third time he’d been up there. You’ll believe me when I say he felt seriously weird about the whole thing.

He took the dog with him, it was a fox terrier, and there…right in front of the door, the dog froze!

He sniffed under the door and his hair stood on end. I can tell you, that night, my father had a hard time getting any sleep.

So, in the end, he got up and wnt on tip toe to look at the dunes…it was at that very moment that he felt a kind of suction, right next to his ear.

Gulp…you want something to drink?

No, that’s okay…i’d rather get going, I’m getting hungry…If you want, we can go to your house, I’ll make you a little something…

You want a quick coffee? I’m making some for my Thermos.