Elliott had never liked reading, and that was a good thing because at home, it was TV for everyone every night that God did. We did the homework, out of conscience, because the teacher had asked it and the school report had to be good at the end of the year. We did the homework with the help of the lesson, without overly wondering about it... Reading was a girl's thing, or for people who are bored in life.
Les mots, jamais il ne se passait rien d'autre que les mots ! Des mots abstraits et froids, alignés sur le papier... Mais qu'avaient tant de gens à y être si attachés ? Les mots n'étaient pas les choses et ils ne lui procuraient pas la moindre émotion à lui, comme si entre les lignes, il y restait coincé, comme un slip pendu à un fil et secoué par des bourasques.
Words, nothing ever happened but words ! Abstract and cold words, lined up on paper... But how come so many people were so attached to them ? The words weren't the things and they didn't give him the slightest emotion, as if between the lines he remained stuck, like a pair of underwear hanging on a thread and shaken by gusts of wind.
Mais il y avait pire. Oui, pire ! Ces contes débiles que l'on lisait à la pause à l'école, alors qu'à la pause, on se repose ! Tout ça, comme disait papa, c'était rien d'autre que des conneries. Il aurait mieux fait de rester au lit... Ces contes avec des personnages et de la magie qui n'existaient même pas ! Des personnages ridicules avec des fins toujours plus ridicules aussi, qui finissaient toujours bien.
But there was worse. Yes, worse ! These stupid tales that we read during break time at school, while at break time we're supposed to rest ! All of that, as Dad said, was nothing but bullshit. He would have been better off staying in bed... These tales with characters and magic that didn't even exist ! Ridiculous characters with even more ridiculous endings too, which always ended well.
C'est pas comme ça, la vie, il était bien d'accord avec papa ! La vie c'est dur, et c'est pas en rêvant que les choses avancent ! Alors toutes ces histoires de châteaux enchantés, de fées et de princesses, très peu pour lui. Elliott pendant la pause prenait toujours le prétexte de devoir aller aux toilettes pour ne pas avoir à subir l'histoire du jour... Il ne savait peut-être pas bien lire, mais au moins, il savait mentir, ce qui est beaucoup plus utile, dans la vie !
That's not how life is, he agreed with Dad ! Life is hard, and it's not by dreaming that things move forward ! So all these stories of enchanted castles, fairies and princesses, very little for him. Elliott during the break always used the excuse of having to go to the bathroom so as not to have to endure the story of the day... He may not know how to read well, but at least he knew how to lie, which is much more useful in life !
La maîtresse ne le croyait plus, parce que presque chaque jour il lui faisait le coup, mais bon, c'était ça ou Elliott se moquait tout du long, en imitant la voix de la maîtresse qui mettait le ton pour faire parler les personnages de l'histoire, prenant soin de ponctuer cette dernière de bruits d'animaux et autres rires étouffés pour montrer sa désapprobation. Alors bon, à ce tarif là, autant le laisser aller se promener aux toilettes et même, pourvu que ça dure !
The teacher didn't believe him anymore, because almost every day he did it to her, but hey, she didn't have the choice here, cause Elliott was teasing all along, imitating the voice of the teacher who set the tone to make the characters of the story, taking care to punctuate it with animal noises and other muffled laughters to show his disapproval. So hey, at this price, you might as well let him go to the bathroom and even, as long as it lasts !
Sauf qu'un jour, Elliott ne revint pas. Et l'on trouva en lieu et place de sa cabine préférée dans les toilettes des garçons (celle où il avait dessiné une grosse quequette poilue) son corps calciné. Comme si l'on avait voulu s'assurer que jamais Elliott ne reviendrait troubler la lecture de la maîtresse qui ce jour-là, avait opté pour les aventures d'un dragon à travers les pleines de Mongolie.
Yet one day, Elliott didn't come back. And at the place of his favorite cubicle in the boys' toilet (the one where he had drawn a big hairy dick) we found his charred body. As if one had wanted to ensure that Elliott would never come back to disturb the reading of the teacher who that day had gone for the adventures of a dragon across the lands of Mongolia.
Il faut dire que : C'est une chose de lire sur les dragons, mais c'en est une autre de les rencontrer.
It must be said that : It's one thing to read about dragons, but it's another to meet them.