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Dialogue 2 (cont'd)


Meursault: (surprised) But I don't want to make love to her. I just like her nose.

Prufrock: So she's not good enough for you. So you pass her off to me. Is that what it is?

Meursault: No, I just thought you wanted to sleep with her.

Prufrock: I never said that.

Meursault: And all I ever said was that she had a nice nose.

Prufrock: So you judge a whore by her nose.

Meursault: No, usually it's by the curve of her ears. I like them to have small ears.

Prufrock: Don't you want the rest of them?

Meursault: Sure, but mostly the ears. The last one I was with had gigantic ears.

Prufrock: Was it bad?

Meursault: The place was, the lonely women reminded me too much of my cheesecake.

Prufrock: Your cheesecake?

Meursault: Well, normally cheesecake is moist. I like it moist, but this was soggy. Definitely soggy. Sort of wet, not really spongy. I hate cheesecake like that.

Prufrock: So you went there for the night to escape the bad cheesecake?

Meursault: Well, I was eating my cheesecake with this little plastic fork, the way I walkways eat my cheesecake. And I realized how ugly it was. How wet and messy and the plastic fork made me nauseous in its flimsiness. So I went to the whorehouse to kind of round out my evening of ugly cheesecake.

Prufrock: Oh, I never thought of it that.

Meursault: (walking clumsily to the edge) Come on, it's time to jump. You can ask the fish if they'll make love to you.

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