Translated by Stefan Gigacz
Copyright Stefan Gigacz and the Australian Cardijn Institute 2025
A new translation by Stefan Gigacz of Maxence Van Der Meersch’s famous 1940 novel about the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement in northern France during the 1930s.
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
That day, even though it was September, it had been very hot. On returning from the office on Rue Nain, where I had gone to have my unemployment card stamped, I felt a great pain in my head and went to bed.
I’ve been experiencing these pains for a very long time. It started with migraines every afternoon. Then the condition worsened. I went to the doctor with mum. And we learned that I had mastoiditis, and that it was high time I had an operation. The doctor told me that afterwards I would be cured. But even after the operation, my head still hurt. So for a long time I was afraid, and my mother even more than me, that I would have to have another operation one day.
I slept for a few hours. Then I went back down to our kitchen, and as I was feeling better, mum advised me to go out for a while. To regain my strength, I took my bike and rode slowly towards the city centre.
When I arrived at Boulevard Gambetta, I was wondering where I could pleasantly end my day, when I suddenly had an idea: the ‘Prix-Fix’ store!
And I went down towards the centre to take a look around one of these bazaars.
In those days, I really liked the ‘Prix-Fix’. All those counters, those displays, those piles of shiny, luxurious things that you could touch and that weren’t expensive, that you could almost afford, if you had to, hypnotised me. There were always lots of young people my age in there, lots of unemployed people, hanging around, warm, distracted and lighting up ‘on the cheap’, and they were tolerated because they brought life to the place. And lovers everywhere. They meet at the ‘Prix-Fix’. The place is convenient. At all the dances, at the Viroloy, at the Scala, everywhere, all you hear is:
– Are you going out this week? Maybe we could meet at the ‘Prix-Fix’?.
It’s practical. You don’t have to buy anything. You’re broke, you wait for the other person in peace and quiet, and you entertain yourself by looking at the shelves… Plus it’s a great excuse to meet girls:
‘Mum! Can I go for a little walk?’
‘Where, for a little walk?’
‘To look at the ‘Prix-Fix’ displays‘ …
‘There’s no harm in it’, thinks the unsuspecting mother. ‘Yes, but not for long, eh?’
And the daughter is free.