Read Online 1914 by Jean Echenoz - Free Book Online Page B

recruitment, and ever-younger recruits, which supposed a considerable renewal of uniforms and matériel—including shoes— through large orders placed with suppliers, from which Borne-Sèze profited handsomely.
    The pace and urgency of such orders, combined with the unscrupulousness of manufacturers, led to the production of questionable service shoes. A certain stinginess crept in regarding leather of so-so quality; insufficiently tanned sheepskin was often selected, less expensive but mediocre in terms of thickness anddurability, and in other words, pretty close to cardboard. Laces were now square cut, easier to manufacture but more fragile than round ones, and they lacked finished ends. Thread was skimped on in the same way and eyelets were no longer made of copper but of iron— which rusts—of the cheapest kind available. It was the same with the rivets, pegs, nails. Bluntly put, they were slashing the cost of materials without any care for the solidity and water resistance of the product.
    The quartermaster corps soon raised an outcry about the shoddy performance of these service shoes, which quickly took on water and buckled, not lasting even two weeks in the mud of the front. Too often, the stitches in their uppers began giving way after three days. Headquarters finally complained; an inquiry was swiftly launched. During a review of the accounts of army suppliers, those of Borne-Sèze were carefully examined—and quickly revealed an extraordinary gap between the army’s expenditures for these clodhoppers and their actual manufacturing cost. The discovery of such a gaping margin having produced a fine scandal, Eugène pretended not to know anything about it,Monteil feigned outrage, threatening to resign, and the company wriggled out of it by dismissing Mme. Prochasson and her husband, who had been in charge of purchasing raw materials: the couple agreed to carry the can, in return for a financial consideration. Everything was finally hushed up thanks to more bribes—Monteil’s connections were once again called into play—but in the end Borne-Sèze was unable to prevent the affair from going all the way to Paris, where they were summoned to appear before a commercial court: purely a matter of form, but an unavoidable one. To excuse themselves from representing the business in the capital, Eugène cited his age, Monteil his practice; when Blanche was selected, she proposed that Anthime accompany her, and everyone said yes.
    Back to Anthime: after his return to civilian life, he had grown used to the absence of his arm even if, in some vague way, he lived as if he still possessed it: an arm as present as if it were really there, which he actually thought whenever he glanced at the right side of his chest, returning to the truth of its absence only when his gaze lingered too long. Assuming at first that theseeffects would gradually fade away, he soon realized that the opposite was happening.
    In fact, after a few months he felt the return of a right arm that was imaginary but seemed just as real as the left one. The existence of this arm, indeed even its autonomy, became increasingly manifest through various unpleasant sensations: shooting and searing pains, contractions, cramps, itching—Anthime would have to stop short at the last moment to keep from trying to scratch himself—and even the old ache in his wrist. The impression of reality was intense and detailed, even to the perception of the signet ring weighing down his little finger, and the discomfort could worsen depending on the circumstances: moments of depression, changes in the weather, as can happen with arthritis, especially on cold and damp days.
    Sometimes this absent arm became even more present than the other one, insistent, vigilant, as mocking as a guilty conscience; Anthime felt he could make it perform important or contemptuous gestures that no one would see. He was perfectly certain that he could