| Vincent drops into the Café de la Gare, Arles, to see his friends (and the proprietors), Joseph and Marie Ginoux. |
| V: |
Morning, Joseph. |
| J: |
Good grief, Vincent, you look terrible. Drink? |
| V: |
Please. Absinthe. |
| J: |
Where have you been all this time? |
| V: |
It's not altogether clear. |
| J: |
What's with the bandage? |
| V: |
A little altercation with that bastard Gaugin. I invite him down here to paint together, do all that work to get the house ready and he does nothing but argue with me. Now he's accused me of attacking him with a razor. |
| J: |
Did you? |
| V: |
I'm not sure. It's a bit of a blur. Somehow I ended up cutting myself. Passed out and was taken to hospital. |
| J: |
Sounds dreadful. |
| V: |
It was. But the doctors were very good and told me to take it easy. I spent a lot of time in the pretty garden. |
| M: |
Vincent, what's been going on? Are you OK? |
| V: |
I've been telling Joseph about it. I'm a bit better now. |
| M: |
Thank goodness. Have you been painting? |
| V: |
Yes, I have. Arles has really inspired me. Light, colour, all those fields. Oh, by the way, Marie, you can have that vase back now. Thank-you, it was very useful. |
| M: |
A pleasure. |
| V: |
Painting's not the problem. It's everything else. Inside my head. |
| They fall silent. Vincent is downcast and the others look worried. |
| M: |
What now? |
| V: |
I don't know. |
| M: |
Have you heard from Paul? |
| V: |
No, he's left. I won't see him again. |
| J: |
We need to cheer you up. Why don't we take you out to dinner this evening? We can close up here. |
| V: |
That's kind of you. Where shall we go? |
| J: |
There's that café in Place du Forum. As it's warm, we can sit out on the terrace. See you at 8pm? |
| V: |
I look forward to it. |
|
