Christmas Evening has come - for all of us Photographers and for all the others out there, who just go have themselves a Little Merry Christmas, here transcript and clip (story starts at 1:45) of Paul Austers Christmas story in his wonderful movie SMOKE Auggie Ill tell you what. Buy me lunch, my friend, and Ill tell you the best Christmas story you ever heard. Paul Hows that? Auggie And I guarantee every word of it is true. So. Are we ready? Paul Ready. Any time you are. Im all ears. Auggie You remember how you once asked me how I started taking pictures? Well, this is the story of how I got my first camera. As a matter of fact, its the only camera Ive ever had. Are you following me so far? Paul Every word. Auggie So this is the story of how it happened. Paul Okay. Auggie: It was the summer of seventy-six, back when I first started working for Vinnie. The summer of the bicentennial. A kid came in one morning and started stealing things from the store. Hes standing by the rack of paperbacks near the front window He’s stuffing skin magazines under his shirt. It was crowded around the counter just then, so I didnt see him at first.... But once I noticed what he was up to, I started to shout. He took off like a jackrabbit, and by the time I managed to get out from behind the counter, he was already tearing down Seventh Avenue. I chased after him for about half a block, and then I gave up. Hed dropped something along the way, and since I didnt feel like running anymore, I bent down to see what it was. It turned out to be his wallet. There wasnt any money inside, but his drivers license was there, along with three or four snapshots. I suppose I could have called the cops and had him arrested. I had his name and address from the license, but I felt kind of sorry for him. He was just a measly little punk, and once I looked at those pictures in his wallet, I couldnt bring myself to feel very angry at him.... Paul Roger Goodwin. Auggie That was his name. In one of the pictures, I remember, he was standing next to his mother. In another one, he was holding some trophy he got from school and smiling like he just won the Irish Sweepstakes. I just didnt have the heart. A poor kid from Brooklyn without much going for him, and who cared about a couple of dirty magazines, anyway? So I held onto the wallet. Every once in a while Id get a little urge to send it back to him, but I kept delaying and never did anything about it. Then Christmas rolls around, and Im stuck with nothing to do. Vinnie was going to invite me over, but his mother got sick, and he and hiswife had to go down to Miami at the last minute. So Im sitting in my apartment that morning, feeling a little sorry for myself, and then I see Roger Goodwins wallet lying on a shelf. I figure what the hell, why not do something nice for once, and I put on my coat and go out to return the wallet... . The address was over in Boerum Hill, somewherein the projects. It was freezing out that day, and I remember getting lost a few times trying to find the right building. Everything looks the same in that place, and you keep going over the same ground thinking youre somewhere else. Anyway, I finally get to the apartment Im looking for and ring the bell... Nothing happens. I assume no ones there, but I try again just to make sure. I wait a little longer, and just when Im about to give up, I hear someone shuffling to the door. An old womans voice asks, Whos there? and I say Im looking for Roger Goodwin. Is that you, Roger? she says, and then she undoes about fifteen locks and opens the door.... She has to be at least eighty, maybe ninety years old, and the first thing I notice about her is shes blind. I knew youd come. Roger, she says. I knew you wouldnt forget your Granny Ethel on Christmas. And then she opens her arms as if shes about to hug me. I dont have much time to think, you understand. I had to say something real fast, and before I knew what was happening, I could hear the words coming out of my mouth. Thats right, Granny Ethel, I said. I came back to see you on Christmas. Dont ask me why I did it. I dont have any idea. It just came out that way, and suddenly this old womans hugging me there in front of the door, and Im hugging her back. It was like a game we both decided to play... without having to discuss the rules. I mean, that woman knew I wasnt her grandson. She was old and dotty, but she wasnt so far gone that she couldnt tell the difference between a stranger and her own flesh and blood. But it made her happy to pretend, and since I had nothing better to do anyway, I was happy to go along with her.... So we went into the apartment and spent the day together. Every time she asked me a question about how I was, I would lie to her. I told her Id found a good job in a cigar store. I told her I was about to get married. I told her a hundred pretty stories, and she made like she believed every one of them. Thats fine, Roger, she would say, nodding her head and smiling. I always knew things would work out for you.... After a while, I started getting hungry. There didnt seem to be much food in the house, so I went out to a store in the neighborhood and brought back a mess of stuff. A precooked chicken, vegetable soup, a bucket of potato salad, all kinds of things. Ethel had a couple of bottles of wine stashed in her bedroom, and so both of us we managed to put together a fairly decent Christmas dinner.... We both got a little tipsy from the wine, I remember, and after the meal was over we went out to sit in the living room where the chairs were more comfortable... I had to take a pee, so I excused myself and went to the bathroom down the hall. Thats where things took another turn. It was ditsy enough doing my little jig as Ethels grandson, but what I did next was positively crazy, and Ive never forgiven myself since... I go into the bathroom, and stacked up against the wall next to the shower, I see a pile of six or seven cameras. Brand-new, thirty-five millimeter cameras, still in their boxes. Ive never taken a picture in my life, much less never stolen anything, but the moment I see those cameras sitting in the bathroom, I decide I want one of them for myself. Just like that. And without even stopping to think about it, I tuck one of the boxes under my arm and go back to the living room.... I couldnt have been gone for more than three minutes, but in that time Granny Ethel had fallen asleep. Too much Chianti, I suppose. I went into the kitchen to wash the dishes, and she slept on through the whole racket, snoring like a baby. There didnt seem to be any point in disturbing her, so I decided to leave. I couldnt even write a note to say good-bye, seeing that she was blind and all, so I just left. I put her grandsons wallet on the table, picked up the camera again, and walked out of the apartment... And thats the end of the story. Paul Did you ever go back to see her? Auggie Once, about three or four months later. I felt so bad about stealing the camera, I hadnt even used it yet. I finally made up my mind to return it, but Granny Ethel wasnt there anymore.Someone else had moved into the apartment, and he couldnt tell me where she was. Paul She probably died. Auggie Yeah, probably. Paul Which means that she spent her last Christmas with you. Auggie I guess so. I never thought of it that way. Paul It was a good deed, Auggie. It was a nice thing you did for her. Auggie I lied to her, and then I stole from her. I dont see how you can call that a good deed. Paul You made her happy. And the camera was stolen anyway. Its not as if the person you took it from really owned it. Auggie Anything for art, eh, Paul? Paul I wouldnt say that. But at least youve put the camera to good use. Auggie And now youve got your Christmas story, dont you? Paul Yes, I suppose I do. https://youtube/watch?v=_kCUbw8Ug28
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 00:04:09 +0000
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