The Belly of an Architect Page #4

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Don't stand there like that.

You'll catch your death of cold. | Get back into bed.

Figs.

They are some kind of aphrodisiac, right? | Is that--

-All right, just forget it! | -No, I'm not gonna forget it.

You come on like a madman | and then you tell me to forget it.

What's wrong with you?

I wanted to see if you're as frightened | of eating those figs as I am.

Are you scared?

Come on, are you scared to eat those figs? | Are you?

Answer me. | Are you frightened to eat those figs?

Answer me!

Why should I be frightened?

I think you ought to see a doctor.

Monday, May 20.

Monsieur Boulle...

I hope you don't mind me | writing to you like this.

I feel I know you well enough to talk to you.

I think my wife is poisoning me.

You can laugh, but I'm serious.

I'm sure it's part of her...

general animosity towards you.

Yours with respect, Stourley Kracklite.

Architect.

If you are being poisoned, you'd know it. | What are your symptoms?

I've made some notes.

The stomach of Augustus.

Do you have such a heroic abdomen?

Take off your shirt.

-Where does it ache? | -Right about here.

Breathe deeply.

Where did you eat your figs?

At a restaurant opposite the Pantheon.

A fine building.

-Are you married? | -Yes.

Is your wife ltalian?

Her parents were ltalian, yes. From Umbria.

A fine fig-growing area. | Do you sleep well at night?

I did before I got to Rome.

Mr. Architect, I can assure you | that you are not being poisoned.

I would suggest | that you are suffering from dyspepsia...

fatigue, over-excitement...

excess and unfamiliar food...

Iack of exercise, too much coffee...

and maybe also too much egotism.

Take these...

and obey the instructions.

Is Augustus a hero of yours, Doctor?

Not particularly. He amuses me.

Are you easily amused?

What frame of mind better suits a doctor?

Where is Kracklite now?

I don't know. | Out marching around Rome somewhere.

He's out when I wake up | and he's asleep when I come in.

What are these?

Something for the exhibition.

No. Look at this.

What is he doing?

-Does he think he's Augustus? | -No. He thinks he's Boulle.

He's obsessed with his stomach.

Maybe he thinks he's going to have a baby.

When are you going to have a baby?

You could have waited for me downstairs.

You would look very beautiful pregnant.

If I may say so...

since you've been in Rome, | you've put on a little weight.

If you became pregnant, | you would put on even more here.

You seem to know a lot about it.

And here.

You take night classes in obstetrics?

Architects ought to know about everything:

reproduction, gender, sex.

Especially sex.

Form, shape...

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