The Arcades Project - Operi

were going to cross the border and go to Portugal the next week-and I went to Banyuls
with BeljamiIl.
Here I have a lapse of memory. Did we dare to take the train in spite of the constant
border checks'( I doubt it. We must have walked the six or eight kilometers from Port-V en­
dres on the rocky path which by now was familiar to me. I do remember fmding the
mayor in his office, how he locked dle door and then repeated his instructions and
answered our questions,
Two days before, alter he had drawn the sketch of the road for me, he and I had
stepped to the window and he had pointed out the directions, the far-away plateau with
the seven pine trees, and somewhere high up there the crest which we would have to
cross. On paper, it looked like an easy walk," I had said, but it seems that we have to
cross the high Pyrenees. , . ?" He had laughed: "That's where Spain is, on the other side
of the mountains."
He now suggested that we take a walk this afternoon and do dle first part of the route
to test whether we would find our way. "You go up to this clearing here:' he said pointing
it out on his sketch. "Then you return and check it out with me. You spend the night at the
inn and tomorrow morning around five o'clock, while it is still dark and our people go up
to their vineyards, you st31·t out again and go all the way to the Spanish border." BeIamin
asked how far it was to the clearing. IILess than an hour . .. well, certainly not more than
two hours. Just a nice walk." We shook hands. '1e VOllS remercie irifiniment, Monsieur Ie
Maire/' I heard Belamin say. I can still hear his voice.
We got his companions who had been waiting at the inn and explained our plan. They
seemed to be cooperative, not the complaining kind that I dreaded so much in ticklish
situations. We walked slowly, like tourists enjoying the scenery. I noticed that Belamin
was carrying a large black briefcase which he must have picked up when we had stopped
at the inn. It looked heavy and I offered to help him carry it. "This is my new manu­
script," he explained. IIBut why did you take it for this walk?" lIyou must understand that
this briefcase is the most important thing to me;' he said. "l carmot risk losing it. It is the
manuscript that must be saved. It is more important than I am."
Tbis expedition won't be easy, 1 thought. Wa lter Benjamin and his puzzling ways.
TIlat's just what he is like. VVhen trying to pass for a sailor in the port of Marseilles, had
he toted the briefcase? But 1 better keep my mind on the road, I said to myself, and try to
figure out Azema's directions on the little map.
Here was the empty shed the mayor had mentioned, so we weren't lost . . . not yet.
Then we found the path with a slight turn to the left. And the huge rock he had described.
A clearing! 'D1at must be it. We had made it, after ahnost three hours.
This was about one third of dle total route, according to Azema. I don't remember it as
being difficult. We sat down and rested for a while. BeIamin stretched out on the grass
and closed his eyes, and I thought it must have been tiring for him.
We were ready to start the descent, but he didn't get up. "Are you all right?" 1 asked.
"1 am fine," he answered, "you three go ahead."
"And you?'
I am staying here. I am going to spend the night here, and you will join me in the
morning."
This was worse th311 I had expected. VVhat do 1 do now? All I can do is try and reason
widl him. This was wild mountain territory, there could be dangerous animals. As a
matter of fact, I knew that dlere were wild bulls. It was late September and he had nothing
with which to cover himself. There were smugglers around, and who knew what they
might do to him. He would have nothing to eat or drink. Anyhow, this was insane.