bulger (english)

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BULGER

AN INADMISSIBLE STORY

K LAAS T INDEMANS

Translation commissioned by the Flemish Foundation for Literature



scene 0

Ramses Nobody knows exactly what happened. Except us. We walked outside with a small

child. You saw that. Or you think that’s what you saw. You believed it. You believe

what you see on the TV news. Anyway, we walked outside. We wanted to show him

a bit of the world. A bit of our world. Because we thought he preferred to play with

bigger boys. A child wants to be a grown-up child. So I played big brother.

We were careful, you probably don’t believe that, but we were careful. They wanted

to leave the toddler behind, I didn’t. Shanya grabbed hold of him, carried him under

her arm like you would a dog. She wanted a baby brother, that’s what she always

said. I think she wanted a dog or a tortoise.

Shanya We met a lot of people on the way. Most of them said nothing, a few said something

to us. Most of them were in a bad mood, or angry. But we just said it was our baby

brother, that we were taking him to his mummy. They believed that, because he was

always calling out for his mummy. One woman nearly took him with her. But she

already had a small child. I think she was scared people would look at her oddly. A

clean child and a dirty one, that wouldn’t have been right. She soon thought better of

it.

Ramses Then we arrived at the silos. With their mountains of corn grains. We went and

played in them, we jumped from the top and we disappeared under the grains. We

threw him in there too. He didn’t appear immediately. The girls shrieked a bit, but

they didn’t do anything. I found him, he’d gone all white. Just like a china doll. As if

there was no blood running through him. He started to shout, so he was still alive.

We picked him up and got out of there.

Justine We walked for a long time, we dragged him along with us. He nearly lost his little

shoes. When he screamed too much, Shanya picked him up. There wasn’t anyone to

hear him any more anyway. We stopped at the railway lines. The railway lines where

no trains ran any more. Well, not in the day anyway, but they do at night.

Ramses The girls wanted to tie him up and throw stones at him, the girls wanted to undress

him and burn his clothes.

Justine We’d tied a piece of cord around his neck. Like that he’d walk a couple of yards in

front us. We’d throw all sorts of things at him, sand, stones, iron, empty paint pots,

Bulger – English translation – August 27, 2008

2



he was always falling down. The last time he stumbled was over the rails. He didn’t

move. We ran off because a train was coming. And then it was very quiet for a long

time.

Shanya But nobody believed us. Other people decided what to do with me. With me and my

friends. Other people are always making decisions about a person’s life. Other

people, who happen to carry guns.

FILM 1 FROM GOOGLE E ARTH TO NURSERY , HERE TODDLER WAKES UP AND GETS OUT OF BED


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scene 1

At Justine’s. Ramses and Justine on.

Justine I’ll have to say something, you know.

Ramses No, don’t! Nothing happened. They won’t notice anything!

Justine She pretends she’s making a phone call.

Ramses has dropped a vase. An expensive china vase.

Ramses She’s lying! Nothing happened. Something nearly happened. But nothing actually

happened.

Justine And he ruined a duvet. It exploded, feathers all over the room. And the sheets are torn.

Ramses wanted to play ghosts. I teased him and he got angry. And he tore up the

sheets.

Ramses Screams towards the phone. Nothing happened at all. You shouldn’t believe a word she

says. We couldn’t sleep. And the babysitter’s disappeared. You’ve got to come and fetch

me. Otherwise I may disappear too.

Justine I fooled you. There was no one on the phone. And if you carry on screaming like that,

everyone will wake up.

…

Look at the vase. Our dad’ll be pleased.

Ramses My grandmother wants to get rid of me. I’m too much trouble for her, she says. She

can’t handle it.

Justine They say that to me too. But they won’t do it. And if ever they do decide to do it, I’ll

lock myself up. I’ll paint my face green, brown and black. Like the Marines. That’ll

scare him, our dad.

Ramses Two young girls and a little boy have suddenly disappeared. That could happen to me

too, just like that. That’s what granny said. Their mother had given them some money

to buy ice cream. An awful lot of people saw them, they kept to the pavement like they

should, hand in hand, the oldest with the money, clenched firmly in her hand. Just like I

always do.


4



The woman in the ice cream shop was the last to see them, though they didn’t buy

anything. They just suddenly left. And everyone saw them, all 76 of them.

One of the children’s teachers had smiled back when one of the girls looked at her.

She though she was smiling at her. But it was at someone else. It was at a man in a

black anorak with a bald head and a phoney smile. She found that strange. “Should Ispeak to her about it tomorrow?” she’d asked herself. It’s never a good idea when you

bump into a teacher out of school hours. It’s like they’re checking up on you.

Justine That’s all lies. All the men in a black anorak are in prison. The general made sure of

that. He’s my best friend’s father and the greatest father there is. Your granny’s lying,

she’s trying to scare you.

Ramses I am scared. I meet the children every day in my dream. I’m that little boy and I havefantastic adventures. I’ve got enough money for a hundred ice creams, it’s raining and

the girls are wearing black anoraks. Granny won’t say any more. She never hears what I

say. And she doesn’t even want to make up a story.

Justine And then there was that vase… Our dad thought it was absolutely ugly. Come on,

Ramses. Shall we turn the light off? See who gets scared first?


5



scene 2

At Ramses’. Eline’s got hold of the chainsaw.

Shanya How do you turn it on?

Ramses What are you doing in my garden?


Ramses Put it down! That used to be my father’s!


Ramses You give the cord a sharp pull, very hard.

Shanya Do it then.

Ramses I’m not allowed to.

Shanya By whom? Who says so?

Ramses Dad.

Shanya Are you scared of him?

Ramses No.

Shanya So.

Ramses It’s not allowed.

Shanya Cowardy custard. Goody-goody.

Ramses I’m not a goody-goody.

Shanya Well, do it then. Stands waiting.

Wanker! Ah here, a button.

Shanya turns on the chain saw. Justine on.

Justine Get out of here! Who do you think you are?


6



Shanya I’m the girl everyone’s looking for. The lost princess.

Shanya walks around with the chainsaw, the others move back, frightened.

Justine Turn that thing off! Right now. You have to wear a helmet and safety goggles to use

that. And ear plugs. You’ll go crazy otherwise. And you have to put on anti-slip gloves.

If you drop it you’ll have my feet off.

Shanya Stay where you are a moment. Don’t fall. Right, like that. I’ll put it down. In front of

your feet. Don’t move back. Yes, like that.

She lays the chainsaw at Ramses and Justine’s feet.

I’m Shanya. I’m a lost little girl. No one knows me. There aren’t any photos of me

anymore. So they can’t make a poster.

Now you’re my friends. For ever and ever.

FILM 2 TODDLER LEAVES HIS HOME , GETS IN CAR


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scene 3

In the wood. Ramses and Justine are playing with needles and worms. Justine pricks a worm up, and then pricks Ramses

in his arm.

Ramses Ow. What are you doing?

Justine That’s the game. When I’ve pricked a worm with my pin I’m allowed to prick you. In

your arms or in your legs. If you shout ‘ow’, then I can do it again.

She pricks Ramses again, in his leg.

It’s your turn!

Now Ramses does the same. He pricks really hard the first time. Justine lets out a scream. The second

time she puts on a brave face / grits her teeth and doesn’t react.

Sometimes it’s as if I don’t feel a thing.

Ramses Sometimes people act as if I’m not really here at all.

Justine

Shanya comes rushing up with a mouse.

You again! Where exactly do you come from?

Shanya I come from the moon.

Ramses I come from the moon too.

Shanya I’ve never seen you there.

Ramses She comes from the moon too. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Justine Shut up, idiot. She’s from one of those homes.

Shanya The animals are digging tunnels. All the houses are going to collapse. All the streets are

subsiding. It’s like an earthquake.

Justine Shouldn’t you be in your home? With your imitation mothers?

Shanya I never have to be anywhere.

I have to save the world from vermin.

Ramses What are you going to do with those mice?

Shanya Cut them open, take out the bones, dry them and store them in a special glass jar.


8



Justine Just mice? Just tiny little animals with tiny little eyes. Eyes that you can’t even tell if

they’re looking at you or not.

Shanya I can kill all the animals. Frogs you squash into a pulp, and squirrels, you set fire to

them.

Justine There aren’t any squirrels here in our town.

Shanya That’s what you think. One of the mice is actually a squirrel without a tail.

Ramses Have you ever set fire to a squirrel? When it was still alive?

Justine She’s lying. Every mouse has a tail.

Shanya Nasty animals are a problem. Like cats, or even worse, dogs. What you have to do is be

nasty yourself. Make a plan to kill them, slowly but surely. Poison their food. Rat

poison. Or, if you’ve got the time and find a good place, torture them to death. Break

their legs, one by one, or spoon out their eyes, or burn bits of them.

Justine You’re sick, that’s why you’re in a home. I bet you tortured your mother to death. I’m

leaving.

Shanya Mice... What I like to do is throw them against a wall, once, and if that doesn’t work,

again or even a third time. Until their brains splash out. Just as long as they’re good and

dead.

Ramses Where did you find it? Hasn’t it got any germs?

Justine Stay away, she’s crazy. Crazy is contagious.

Justine’s telephone rings. The phone call and Ramses and Shanya’s conversation run into one another.

Shanya This one was in a mouse trap in the attic. Broken neck. It was already dehydrated. Just

like a mummy.

Ramses I wouldn’t know. Do its innards stink?

Shanya Mice are stupid. Too little hair and not enough bones.

Justine Not every five minutes, mama.Bulger – English translation – August 27, 2008

9



…

But you know where I am.

…

With Ramses, as usual.

… At six o’clock, like always. But I know that…

…

No, didn’t meet anyone.

…

No, no men.

…

No, and certainly none wearing black anoraks.

…

Send a text message at five to six, if that’ll make you happy.

Shanya storms up and stands between the two of them.

Shanya The enemy approaches!!!

Justine No, ma, don’t worry.

…

That was just someone that I know.

Shanya Bye mama!

Justine No, you don’t know them.

Oh, do stop going on. See you later, ma.

Turns off phone.

Nagger!

Ramses What enemy? Where are they?

Shanya Everywhere, you can’t see them. But they’re there.

Justine Can you do a headstand? Shanya does one.

Come with me, Ramses.

Shanya in the water.Bulger – English translation – August 27, 2008

10



Shanya You open your eyes. It’s all black. You search for a bit of light. But everything stays

black. Because it all creeps into your nose and mouth. No light, no air. You search for

your last words. Can I say something? Can anyone hear anything?

Ramses Were you dying just then?

Shanya I die very quickly. You’d best prepare yourself. You have to say something that’ll make

an impression, something that will change your friends’ lives.

Justine Do you want me to throw you in again, you crazy thing? Or did you throw me in? Did

you dare?

Shanya and Justine in the water.

Shanya You saved my life.

Justine Rubbish. I can’t even swim.

Shanya You throw me in and you pull me out.

Justine Same thing tomorrow?

Ramses I don’t want to drown. Then nobody would hear what you say. I want to fall out of a

tree. Or from the roof of our house. Flat on my back. With my mouth open.

Justine I want to be buried in an open coffin. Then I can get out if I have to. And then

everyone can scatter flowers on my face.

Shanya And sand.


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scene 4

Shanya has climbed up high in a tree. Justine and Ramses watch and make comments.

Ramses She’s going to jump.

Justine She’s broken out. The horse has broken out again.

Ramses She’s dangerous. She kicked the teacher.

Justine Look. She’s shaking her hair. She’s rearing her head. She’s stamping her feet, with her

metal-tipped boots. She’s snorting and she’s whinnying.

Ramses She’s gone quiet. She’s going to jump.

Justine Well, jump then, you lousy horse. Go on, jump. Why don’t you jump? Don’t you dare?

Jump, eh, go on, jump!

Ramses Go on, jump! Jump!

Justine No luck. Pity.

Ramses Lucky she didn’t jump.

FILM 3 ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL GATES , GETTING OUT OF CAR


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scene 5

Ramses and Justine, at Justine’s. Arsenal.

Justine I can’t go out. He saw it, our dad. He knows everything.

Ramses Granny cried. She’s afraid of Shanya.

Justine Our mother cries every evening.

Ramses They’re afraid of me too, I think. Because I don’t say anything. I haven’t got anything

to say to them. I just want to crawl off into a corner of the room. Or into a cupboard.

Or into the garden shed, behind the chainsaw. When they shout for help, I just stay

where I am.

Justine I’m not allowed to have any war toys, I’m not allowed to make catapults, I’m not

allowed to shoot at the local fair. I’m allowed to have one model of a Sea King

helicopter, that’s all. They help ordinary people. Or a Hercules plane, they throw food

down to the starving Africans. But surely if the enemy is in sight the Sea Kings and the

Hercules will fight as well? That’s something he never thinks about, our dad.

My best friend’s father, now he’s a real soldier, he’s got a job in the army. He used to be

a Para Commando, but now he’s got a desk job because he had back trouble. When my

friends and I go for a walk in the wood he waits in ambush and jumps out at us from

behind the bushes. “There are the Amazonians!” he’ll shout. We get the fright of our

lives, but it does make us really strong. He takes all five of us on at the same time.

We’ve got scratches and bruises all over our bodies and we’re proud of it, we show

them to each other. To him too, and he nods in admiration, the general.

Ramses Dinosaurs. My grandfather and my grandmother are dinosaurs. They only live to

become extinct.

Justine The general’s got trouble with his back but he never lets on. Me and my best friend, we

buy loads of model jet planes and those huge bombers too. We put them together in

his garage. When our dad asks me what I’ve done with my pocket money I just say I’ve

spent it all on sweets.

Trouble is, our dad’s found out about our army. He’d driven me over to my girlfriend’s

place, to do me a favour, he said. And proud as can be, she showed us how she’d

painted her latest airplane. A JSF X-35, I still remember. She knew my father didn’t like


13



it. I think she did it on purpose. And her father came and joined us, a smirk all over his

face. The fathers stood shouting at each other for half an hour. Our dad grabbed hold

of him and the general fell to the ground. He stayed where he was, grabbed his back

and called for an ambulance. Since then I haven’t spoken to my father any more. He

stays in his room, our mum took him a piece of cake. And I don’t have a best friendany more.

Ramses Shanya’s right. It’s war. They’re the enemy.

Justine That girl is pretty cool. You got a plan?

Ramses Not quite ready yet.

Justine And?

Ramses Loosen all the screws a little in the house. The kitchen cupboard door falls open and

the whole kitchen’s covered in sugar and coffee. In the living-room all the books fall

off the bookshelves. One by one, and completely unexpectedly. Right next to granny,

it’ll give her a heart attack.

Justine Turn up the fridge. All their food will be frozen. Or even better, turn it right down,

then everything will go mouldy. Nothing edible any more and the supermarket’s closed.

All they can do is get those awful pizzas from the night shop.

Ramses Turn the knobs on the radiators and that’ll let in air, everything will start to throb, water

will start dripping and they won’t be able to get them to work properly. Just like a

haunted house.

Justine Loosen all the lids of the jam pots a little. They’ll drop out of their hands when they

pick them up at breakfast. Everything will be sticky and they’ll be splinters of glass all

over the floor.

Ramses Sabotage the fuses. The toaster explodes, or the kettle. Even worse, the washing

machine. Much worse, the TV. Nobody will think that we’re able to mess around with

the electricity.

Justine Rat poison in the dog’s food. And hang him from the washing line at night.


14



Ramses Your house or my house?

Justine I’ve started already. I rearranged all the furniture last night. That gave them a real scare!

Like a house with a nervous breakdown.


15



scene 6

Shanya My parents’ story is really amazing. Two good and sensible people, love at first sight. They

want a lot of children, at least eight. They buy this house, as big as a castle, it’s pretty run-

down but my rich grandfather pays for everything. He always pays for everything.

My eldest brother and my eldest sister are born, one right after the other. The whole family

comes to coo over them, there’s always plenty of people in the big house, rooms full of

uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces and their friends too. Holidays seem to last forever

and yet they fly by. My other sister is born and I come along fairly soon afterwards. My

granny’s worried because my mother’s sister has a Mongol daughter. But the fun just

carries on, nearly all year round. That’s what they told me afterwards because I was too

young at the time. I never noticed a thing.

Then my mother’s expecting another child, her fifth. She doesn’t feel well at all, the baby’s

already kicking in her stomach from the third month which is basically impossible. A

monster is born, a boy, much too heavy, far too many wrinkles and far too loud. The

monster grows and grows, at eighteen months he breaks the bars on his bed, when he’s

three years old he strangles the cat. Nobody comes to stay any more, everyone’s scared of

him.

My eldest brother and sister are sent to an expensive boarding school at the other end of

the country, grandfather is more than happy to pay, and they spend the school holidays on

his yacht. The castle has become much too big now. Strange people pop in in the evenings,

with leather jackets, a motorbike gang with no bikes. The monster’s only friends, they

watch videos where everyone empties their guns into everyone else. My other sister goes to

live with her aunt, who has a darling little Mongol child, because it’s nearer her school, or

that’s what they say.

Which just leaves me, my parents are scared to even touch me any more. I start to become

interested in strange things. In robber barons, in medieval instruments of torture and Latin.

I’m dangerous, I write poems on the walls in the blood of butchered rabbits. I quarrel with

my monstrous baby brother and his moronic friends. He then starts to cry and breaks

something. He can’t hit me, he’s much too awkward. My parents always blame me, the easy

way out. One day I’ve had enough of it all. I take a bath in the horse-trough, write another

poem on the walls, butcher a few more rabbits for on the way. I start a fire and I leave.

Still no one knows who I really am. I’m a difficult child, I’m always on the go.


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scene 7

Ramses and Shanya at Ramses’ house.

Shanya Are you putting on your sister’s clothes? Or are you playing with her Barbie dolls? Is

that why I’m not allowed to look?

Ramses You think I’m still a child, don’t you?

Shanya Well, aren’t you?

Ramses No, I’m a whaler. There’s meat hanging up to dry, in long strips. It stinks and I’m the

only one who can take the smell.

Shanya Have you hidden someone there? Your Mongol sister maybe.

God, what a terrible smell! You’re right. But not from whales.

Ramses You think you can do anything you want. You don’t care a damn about anyone or

anything.

Shanya What’s in that stinking box here?

Ramses Those cacti are to protect me when I’m asleep.

Shanya I wouldn’t say they’re a great success. I didn’t feel a thing.

Ramses They only work at night.

Shanya And that box?

Ramses There’s an angel in it with golden wings. It used to be on the mantelpiece downstairs,

on top of a little china column. Until granddad knocked it over in the middle of the

night. He was sleepwalking, he said. Don’t you dare open it!

Shanya A little bird! Not long dead it seems, about five days I’d say. Ramses, when you kill

animals, you shouldn’t keep them. Dead is dead, and it has to disappear. Forever. You’ll

never get rid of this awful smell. Or is that the idea? To drive your grandparents away

once and for all? Then it’s a good idea.

Ramses It’s not dead. Look at the worms. Look at the mould. It looks different every day so it

can’t be dead!


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Shanya How long are you going to keep it?

Ramses Until I can catch a bigger bird.

Shanya Real dead people look completely different. They never leave them in the sun either. They would really smell, those grandparents of yours. Can’t you smell anything yet?

Shouldn’t you go and have a look?

FILM 4 MOTHER WITHDRAWS SOME MONEY , TODDLER HOVERS AROUND POST , THEN THEY WALK OFF

TOGETHER


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scene 8

Justine and Shanya, in a ‘mortuary’.

Shanya You can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman anymore. Especially when they’re old. The

women’s breasts are flat and flabby, the men all have rolls of flab. Well, most of the

time.

Justine It’s pretty cold here in this mortuary!

…

Do you know anyone here?

Shanya I know each and every one of them. Every evening I come in here through the

emergency exit. It’s very peaceful here. Nobody expects anything from me here. Go a

little closer. They won’t move. You don’t dare, do you?

…

You’re scared, aren’t you?

…

Come and feel it, it’s just like plasticine. It’s only the head that’s rock hard, without any

wrinkles. Even when they’re ninety years old.

Justine They do have very long toenails, don’t they. Their body hair is standing up straight, it’s

moving. That person’s stomach is sort of trembling. I’m getting out of here!

Shanya They’re dead. Really dead, for ever. Got much too old, died out completely. You can

touch them, it won’t matter. Shop window mannequins look more like real people,

corpses aren’t real any more. Come on.

Justine I’ve been here before. I was nearly here. I was choking on a carrot. I’d gone as white as

a sheet. Our mum laid me on the table and folded my arms and was about to carry me

outside. That’s when I started to cough, just like Snow White in her glass coffin.

…

And now he’s suddenly going to jump up, I suppose?

Shanya That only happens in horror films. These corpses are only going to stink. If we turn off

the fridge.

Justine They do get up. They drink the blood of little girls like us. We’ve woken them up. My

handprint will always stay there and that’s how they recognise me. It’s not that I’m


19



afraid. But maybe the police could take fingerprints from it.

Shanya All those sad children and grandchildren have kissed these corpses on their forehead.

That’s a lot more disgusting.

Justine You don’t know what you’ve started.

Ramses I dreamed that my grandparents were dead.

Shanya When they die they’ll be lying here.

Justine She knows everyone here.

Shanya That’s in a different league from a dead bird, isn’t it, Ramses?

We’ll turn off the fridge and then it’ll smell to high heaven here. They’ll burst open and

their innards will fly all over the place.

Ramses They died to be rid of their cares. Now they don’t have any enemies anymore.

Justine He looks as if he’s going to open his mouth.

Shanya The whole town will run away from the smell. Worse than whales. The enemy’s on the

run.

Justine I’m leaving.

Ramses It’s so peaceful. I don’t hear a sound. Then there are the insects. Little flies, but they get

bigger and bigger. They come out of their heads. Out of their hair. Out of their eyes,

out of their ears. They buzz, more and more, deafening. I try to run away. Then I

stumble or I slip. It’s absolutely disgusting and it hurts a lot.

Shanya And then they come with their bulldozers, with those white masks on their faces. Or

nothing happens and then we’re in charge.

Ramses And then I wake up. I turn on the light then I turn it off again.

Shanya Justine, are you coming?

And don’t forget to see if your grandparents are awake tomorrow morning, Ramses.

Justine Same again tomorrow?Bulger – English translation – August 27, 2008

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FILM 5 DURING SCENES 9 TO 12 : UNDERGROUND CAR PARK , SCENES IN SHOPPING CENTRE , ( ARRIVAL , LIFT ,

TOY SHOP , PRÉMAMAN ( MATERNITY OUTLET), ABDUCTION , SPLIT - SCREEN ABDUCTION AND

DEPARTURE , RAILWAY LINE )


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scene 9

In the shopping centre. Ramses and Justine are quarrelling.

Ramses You cycled to the other side of town with her! You crawled over the barbed wire at the

barracks! You broke into the police stables! Because she said that you had to do it! She’s

crazy, remember? Being crazy is contagious!

Justine You don’t dare do anything! Not even kill a lizard! You fall down the steps of the

railway bridge with that excuse for a bike and then rush home crying your eyes out.

And anyway, she’s my friend and you shouldn’t always follow us around. You’re so

boring that sometimes I forget you’re even here. I look and I see nothing.

Ramses I broke into my sister’s room and stole her diary. You don’t want to know what was in

it. She knows that I’ve hidden it, but I’m not telling. Now I know all her secrets and I

can tell them to the whole world if I want to. She tasted my blood. I stole her soul.

Justine I’m not going to school tomorrow either. And not the day after.

Ramses I’m not going all week. That’s what I decided.

Justine They’ll come looking for you.

Ramses They’ll look for you too. But they’ll never find me. Never.

Shanya on.

Shanya What’s that you’re holding?

Ramses Nothing. It’s mine.

Justine snatches the diary and gives it to Shanya.

Shanya reads “I was standing there, leaning against the wall like only I can lean against a wall. In my

tight jeans and hair over my eyes. Say something to me. Please!” Did you write that,

Ramses?

Ramses No, it’s my sister’s.

Justine He says he didn’t, but I think he did.


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Ramses Give that back! I’m the only one allowed to read it.

Justine That’s what they all say. You’re not allowed to read anything, you.

Shanya Here’s another good one. “Sara doesn’t even look at me anymore now she’s fallen for

Joris. Dropping me for a pretentious twit like him. Just because they buy him expensive

clothes he thinks he can do anything. I’m going to bring some scissors to school

tomorrow. I’ll cut his trousers and flashy sweater to bits during the gym lesson. And I’ll

pee in his new shoes. Sara’s my friend. But if Thomas wants to fall for me, then Sara

can have Joris…”

Ramses What did I tell you, it’s my sister’s.

Shanya She’d make a good friend for me. Shall we go and see her, Justine?

Ramses You make my sister sick.

Shanya gives the diary to Justine.

Justine “Our Ramses has strange friends. Like that girl with the chainsaw. She nearly had all

our feet off. She’s dirty, I don’t understand what Ramses sees in her. But that’s his

problem. I don’t want her to talk to me.”

Shanya I want to see that again.

Diary falls to the ground.

Ramses Idiot!

Justine It wasn’t on purpose.


23



scene 10

Somewhere else in the shopping centre. Ramses, Justine and Shanya comment on their surroundings.

Shanya That one there’s been looking at you for ages.

Ramses Don’t point like that. That’s her, that’s my sister. We have a peace treaty. I can look at

her but not speak to her, and the same goes for her. I can pull faces at her but I can’t

point, and the same goes for her. We only smile at each other if someone else is

around.

Justine Covered up in make-up. Stupid fat cows. They look but they don’t want to see us. Well,

we don’t see them either. I’ve got a very small catapult, I can aim for her eye.

Ramses Don’t do it. She’s already seen me.

Justine fires.


24



scene 11

In a model building shop.

Shanya We build hundreds of those planes. That’s how we attack the enemy. In his ears, in his

eyes, in his mouth, in his nose and in his bum. They’ve got very sharp points at the

front. They’re deadly.

Ramses We paint them properly, with the right paint in the right colours. And if there’s any

paint left, we paint ourselves for combat.

Justine ‘No more than two children at the same time’ it says on the door. Ramses, you’ll have

to go.

Shanya I’ll steal something first.

They take a pot of model paint.


25



scene 12

In a maternity shop.

Justine There’s nothing to here for us. Baby bottles and prams.

Shanya I’ve got a baby brother.

Justine Where is he then? In a home too?

Shanya I want a baby brother.

Justine I want a big brother. So I can hit back hard. You can have our baby brother, I always have to take

him everywhere I go.

Ramses Look around. There are enough children. Take one of them!

Justine Too little.

Shanya I want one without a mother. I want to look after it myself. I can do that. As long as it doesn’t cry

too much.

Ramses My sister pushed over my cradle when I was little. She never got such a hiding in her life.

Shanya I want an army of baby brothers. And once they can walk they have to learn to ride a horse

immediately. Or a pony.

Justine Come on, let’s go and get them. We can do what we want with them because they forget

everything straight away, those little guys.

Ramses Get rid of the mothers first.

Justine That’s not necessary. Those little guys wander off anyway. There’s a mother calling for her child.

We can see her child, but she can’t.

Shanya Go on, Ramses. You’re the youngest, you look the best behaved of us all. They take the child with

them.


26



scene 13

Shanya and Justine are waiting impatiently for Ramses.

Shanya If that Ramses doesn’t come, we’re in trouble. They’ve really brought up the big guns.

Flashing lights everywhere, sirens and dangerous dogs. Now they’ve stopped all of a

sudden.

Justine Our mum cried when she saw me. I had to take all my clothes off. She never asks that

normally. Does she know something? Is she afraid our dad will beat me? Because

there’s brown and red on them?

I grabbed the photo album and made myself scarce.

Shanya Have you got any matches on you?

Justine No, I had to hurry.

Shanya Do you think Ramses will have any matches?

Justine Is that so important?

Shanya The photo album. We have to burn it.

Justine No, no. That’s mine. It’s all I’ve got. And that won’t do any good anyway.

Shanya It doesn’t have to. It has to hurt. We have to know that it hurts the enemy. Not yet. But

later, when they’re not all hot and bothered about lost children. If they want to see how

nice it was, once, when everything was good.

Justine You’ll have to take it off me.

Shanya Everything. I want to burn everything.

Justine Without any matches, I suppose. You can tear them in little pieces. Or take my

brother’s. There’s only blubbering kids in them. I’m going to keep mine.

Shanya And your father? And your mother? And your godfather and your godmother? When

they were young and beautiful? Can I have them?

Justine You’re getting nothing.


27




28



scene 14

Same place, a bit later on. Ramses arrives, panting.

Shanya So they let you go.

Ramses They don’t know I’ve gone out. I left the music on in my room. I climbed out of the

window. I’ve got matches with me.

Shanya And that’s how we’re going to survive? With a box of matches? Tomorrow you’re

going to have to catch some pigeons for us to eat.

Ramses lights a few matches.

Stop that! Soon we’ll have none left!

Justine She wants to burn my photos.

Ramses I thought we’d agreed to do that?

Justine We hadn’t agreed on anything. I just want them to be scared. They scared already. I’ve

never seen them so scared.

Shanya They’re scared of us. They don’t know where we are or what we’re doing.

The matches, Ramses! Before you’ve used them all up.

Ramses hands over the matches. Shanya throws the photos Justine gave her in the fire.

FILM 6 STROBOSCOPIC IMAGES OF THE FORENSIC MATERIAL


29



scene 15

Shanya with Justine’s photo album.

Shanya I’m sure there’s a photo of my brother in there. A monstrous little guy, wrinkled head and eyes

much too big. Here, that’s him.

Justine No, that’s not true. That’s the uncle who always took me to the Ardennes to go rock climbing.

With ropes and boots. He fell off one of those rocks. The only photo we had for his mourning

card was that one, with the wrinkled head.

Ramses That’s my mother, that’s my father. Somewhere on holiday, before they went crazy. But they

don’t really look happy, do they? Can I keep that one, Justine?

Justine That’s my mother! And my father! You’re not taking them off me! No one’s going to take them

off me! Especially not you!

…

I hate that photo. I’m looking at them as if I love them. I hate all the photos with me in them.

They should have left me alone. I’ve always been ugly. Sweat, sand or ice cream on my face.

Terrible.

Shanya Sweat, sand or ice cream on my face. Terrible.

Shanya and Justine start fighting.

Justine They’ve heard us now.

Ramses Who’s going to come and look for us here?

Justine Everyone’s looking for us. Everyone is the enemy. My father has buried them all… all my war

planes and soldiers, buried in the garden.

Shanya They’ll stand up again, they’ll rise up out of the ground and set fire to your house. With your

father inside. Your mother just manages to get away. Nobody will go looking for you. You can

come with me to a home. Far away from here where no one knows us. Ramses, you’ll come

along too. We’ll take the tram, then the bus, then the train. We’ll travel separately and meet up

when we get there. In another town. Our baby brother will be there too. The set lights up, they’ve

been found.


30



scene 16

Questioning. The questions are not heard by the audience.

Shanya [Is this your anorak?]

No, it’s not mine.

[Other people say that it is yours] Then they’re all lying. I never wear an anorak. Certainly not a dirty one like that.

Ramses [where?]

In the wood. In the park.

[when?]

All day long.

[other people say that you were at home in the evening]

No, we were there without anything to eat or drink.

[were you planning to spend the whole night there?]

Yes, we wanted to sleep the next few nights there too.

[ *Was there something that scared you so much that you were afraid to go home?]

No. Just for a moment. When we heard the sirens.

Shanya [And you don’t know anything about the paint stains either?]

No, I don’t play with paint.

[How did they get there then, entirely by accident?]

No, not there by accident either.

[So, it’s yours?]

I didn’t say that. I told you I don’t have an anorak. You’re trying to make me say things.

That’s what everyone does, all the time.

And I don’t build model jet planes, I don’t paint toy soldiers.

[How do you know that the paint is for painting model airplanes?]

For model airplanes or for model trains. I’m just saying something. You don’t paint

your bedroom in a colour like that. You’d only paint your bedroom in gold if you were

completely crazy. Crazy or special.

[Do you know that your friend calls you a crazy girl?]

Which friends call me a crazy girl? I haven’t got any friends. They’re lying!

[They say you’re always setting fire to things]

They’re lying! I don’t set fire to anything, only rubbish. Filth that no one wants.

[And that you set fire to toy soldiers because they’re supposed to be the enemy.] Bulger – English translation – August 27, 2008

31



Setting fire to toy soldiers? Setting fire to the enemy? I wish I could or dared. It’s all

lies!

[They say you dare quite a lot]

They hardly dare do anything. Then it’s easy to think that I dare a lot. They’re just

feeble.[Who? Your friends?]

You’re trying to make me say things again. I don’t know any other children. I

sometimes take someone with me to the park. To do something silly or something

exciting. But I hardly ever see them again.

[Because your games are too dangerous?]

Maybe they find my games too dangerous, the scaredy cats. I don’t. Nothing has ever

happened.

Justine [Do you know where your other friend is?]

Which friend? I don’t have a friend. I don’t have any friends anymore.

Shanya [Are you trying to minimize everything?]

What’s that, ‘minimize’? Are you saying I’m lying? That I might know something about

something serious and that I don’t want to say anything? That I know something about

all those children who have disappeared?

[Perhaps, go on]

About what? Let me tell you something. We hang around the shopping centre. We steal

things from the shops, we steal paint, and model planes, and toy soldiers. We scare the

mothers and they grab their children and rush away. We play with the children as if

they’re teddy-bears or worn-out Barbie dolls. We take the children along with us and

then leave them behind. Is that what you want to hear? Well, you’ve heard it. But none

of us have anything to do with it.

[Who are Justine and Ramses?] Justine and Ramses, they’re just kids I know. He went for a walk with a small child, well

he wanted to anyway, but the child didn’t want to. And she stole a photo album and set

fire to all the photos. Her mother’s still crying about it. And if you want I can tell you

another story. That’s all that interests you, isn’t it? Someone who tells you a story so

you can close the case. So that you can go home and tell your children that there aren’t

any dangerous children wandering around any more. So that they can say that their

father is a hero. Then they can have sweet dreams for ever and ever.


32



Ramses It was quiet for a long time and we slowly made our way back to the railway line. We

saw him lying there but we didn’t go up close. We ran off, away from the lines. That

was when we heard that crying. It had to be him. He wasn’t dead. He called out to us,

he called out to his mummy. He stood up. His eyes were popping out of his head. Eyes

as big as Dragonball Z’s eyes. We carried on running, stumbling as we went. He

screamed and we screamed. So as not to hear his cries any more. I stopped and shut up

for a moment. He was still calling for his mummy. The girls had disappeared, I walked

home alone. With a bit of blood on my clothes, my own blood, I’d been hit by a falling

brick. We never touched him. We never hurt him. We ran away because we couldn’t

stand the sound of his cries. That’s the only reason. Not that we would have done

anything with him anyway. He was still alive, at that time. I’d seen that. I’m sure of that.

But I see from the look in your eyes that you don’t believe me.

Shanya [I think there’s more truth in what you say than you realise. Your friends have admitted everything.]

What have they admitted? There’s nothing to admit. Only that they wanted to see me

again, every day. I didn’t want that.

[You know that they’re going to lock you up.]

Lock me up? I’ve been locked up my whole life. But I always got away.


33



scene 17

After questioning

Ramses Will I see you again?

Justine Why not?

Ramses Do you know where she’s gone?

Justine She’s on her own now. Crazy girl.

Ramses But you saw everything too.

Justine So what?

Ramses And you went there too.

Justine So what? What are you getting at?

Ramses Nothing.

Justine Yes, you are.

Ramses That you’d better not say too much.

Justine There’s nothing to say. What about, anyway? Have they told you already why we have

to stay here. All we did was set fire to a few things. And we didn’t go to school for a

few days. That’s all. A bit of truanting, a bit of air pollution. And apparently a child has

disappeared, another one. And a black anorak has been sighted.

Ramses They can’t lock us up. They’re not allowed to lock up children.

Justine I haven’t wanted to be a child for a long time.


34



scene 18

Ten years later. A computer chat session between the three ‘friends’.

Ramses We ought not to be here.

Shanya We’re nowhere. You’re where you are, I don’t know where. I’m where I am, and you

don’t know where either. And Justine is somewhere else.

Justine How did you get our address?

Shanya Is that important?

Ramses Are you still in a prison?

Shanya Yes, but I’m running the show here. They do everything I ask. I’m the cleverest and the

prettiest and that’s why no one dares refuse me anything.

Ramses I’m studying. Biology. I’ve nearly graduated. One year to go. And then I’ll go to work.

Shanya Where are you?

Ramses I’m not allowed to say.

Shanya In Australia, I bet. That’s where they send all the criminals. Better watch yourself. You

might have a new name but you can’t hide forever.

Justine You’ll have to hide too, Shanya. You mustn’t think back to what happened any more. If

you start to think about it, then everything will start all over again. And much worse.

Shanya I want a boyfriend and then I want a child. That’s all. And someone who comes to talk

to me. Someone I can tell everything to. Without them having to write a report on my

‘fitting into society’. Simply talk, and take me out for a nice meal.

Justine Reporters from a newspaper tried to find me. But they weren’t allowed to talk to me. In

fact, they were willing to pay a lot of money.

Shanya They can come and visit me.

Ramses They never wanted to believe me.


35



Shanya Had you expected anything else? We were old enough to be sent to prison but too

young to be listened to. They thought that children like us came from another planet.

Justine I said I wanted to tell his mother something. That’s when they got really angry. I never

asked them again.

Shanya What would you have told her?

Justine What really happened.

Shanya What did ‘really happen’ then? Do you really know?

Justine That we were the last ones to see him. That we threw things at him, that he fell down.

That he remained where he was and that we ran away. And that then a train came andthat we couldn’t see or hear anything any more.

Shanya That won’t bring their child back.

Justine I never insisted. I’ve forgotten most of what happened. Other children have

disappeared since then. While we were in prison.

Ramses We’re paying the price for all the lost children. Whether they lived in England, in

France, in Belgium or in Australia. Someone always has to pay, perhaps rightly so. They

knew you were dangerous, Shanya. They made you say that we were your friends.

Shanya Weren’t you my friends?

Ramses Yes, but not completely.

Shanya Tomorrow I’m allowed out for a few days. To look for a boyfriend, they say, making

fun of me. They’re just jealous.

Ramses I have to get back to my studies. You mustn’t try to speak to me again, Shanya.

Justine Nor to me, either. I’m off to the shopping centre. With my son. He’ll be three

tomorrow. He wants a little plane painted in combat colours.


36



THE END

bulger (english)

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