Petit Vriens - Chapter 3
by katirene (XMP)



      Tim O'Neill looked carefully around the galley, his stomach curled up in apprehension. Ensign Adler was not in sight. At this time of day, with second shift settling down and several hours before first relieved third, the galley was about as empty as it ever was, so her absence was glaringly obvious. What if this was just another stupid practical joke, like all the ones he'd suffered through in high school. He snorted quietly, considering the idea. Miguel and Lonnie could have set that whole discussion just as a lead in to this. But then, again, those responses had come through pretty quickly. Did Miguel know Latin? It was difficult to tell with him. He didn't display all he knew on the surface.

       Tim shrugged the question off. Well, in any rate, this was his normal breakfast time, so he could just act like he was in on the joke when they tried to pull it off. Making his way toward his usual table, he stopped at the sight of the books piled there. Picking up the top one, he automatically translated the title from Greek, "Euripides, The Bacchae". Glancing at the one below it, he saw that it was an English-Grecian dictionary. At least they got the props right. Flipping through the pages, he sat down, reading the introduction.

      The smell alerted him first. The warm, tantalizing smell of fresh-baked bread mixed with hot cinnamon and recently brewed coffee. "Here, move that out of the way," a slightly-frazzled female voice ordered in the way of all women in commission of domestic engineering feats. "I need to put this down." Tim looked up, his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. Then he stood up to help her with the tray.

      "You know, I half-way expected you to not show up," he chuckled as he helped Ari put the contents of the tray on the table.

      "That's for you," she said quickly as he started to put the warm, tantalizing plate in the centre of the table. "And this, and this," she continued, putting down a cup of coffee and glass of orange juice in front of him. "The teapot, creamer and sugar are for me."

      Settling down opposite of Tim, Ari gazed at him frankly, a wry smile twisting her lips. "I was of two minds about this meeting, myself," she confessed. Pouring her tea, she paused, nodding at the covered plate. "Go on, and eat, don't mind me. I'm trying to settle down to go to bed, but you need to eat something. I hope you like cinnamon buns."

      "Why?" the lanky lieutenent asked curiously. "Hey!" he interrupted himself at his first bite, "this it really good. How'd you get the cook to make cinnamon buns? He's always refused to do special orders, before, unless the Captain requests it."

       Smiling secretly, Ari answered, "I didn't, I made him a deal, instead." She nodded toward the rolls, "I convinced him that the Captain would like to have some for breakfast." Slowly sipping her tea, she eyed the communications officers with consideration. Sighing finally, she put her cup down and leaned forward. "Look, Lieutenant, maybe this is a bad idea. I mean, I had this dumb idea that perhaps we had something in common that we could talk about." Ari pointed her chin at the book still at Tim's elbow. "The others laugh behind my back when they see me with something like that, but it didn't seem as if you would. And all they ever want to talk about are sports competitions or job complaints."

       Putting her cup down with an air of finality, she stood, pushing her chair back and reaching for her books "Let's just forget about this? I'll take those and we can pretend that we're just in the galley at the same time, as usual. What do you say?"

       Tim put his free hand quickly down on the cover of the book. Finding that she had the same doubts as his made him feel somehow in control of the situation. "Wait just a minute here," he ordered. "You said that you'd buy me breakfast if I'd help you with your translation." He waved the rapidly disappearing roll in his hand, "As I see it, you've fulfilled your part of the bargain, now let me do mine. Deal?" He smiled, and Ari realized that she'd not seen him smile before. His smile didn't so much transform his rather long and quirky face so much as refine it. She smiled hesitantly back, resuming her seat.

     "Deal. Did you get a chance to go over the play yesterday?"

      "Uh-huh. What problem are you having with it? It seems pretty straight-forward to me."

      Ari reached for the book again, this time, Tim handed it to her. Rifling through the pages, she found her mark and opened the book fully. "Here," she said, pointing. "I can't believe that I'm reading what I think I'm reading." She handed the book back.

Hastily, Tim put down his bun and wiped the frosting off his hands. Looking at the proffered verse, he read aloud, " 'I am also told a foreigner has come to Thebes from Lydia, one of those charlatan magicians, with long yellow curls smelling of perfumes, with flushed cheeks and the spells of Aphrodite in his eyes. His days and nights he spends with women and girls, dangling before them the joys of initiation in his mysteries'."  He handed it back, shrugging, "I don't see what's wrong with that."

      Ari shook her head in confusion, "That isn't the way I read it. Listen." She found the disputed passage and her quiet voice read slowly, struggling a little with the translation. " 'The other news is that some stranger has arrived in town, a sorcerer from Lydia, a conjurer of sorts, with golden scented hair tumbling down to his shoulders, a skin that glows like wine, and eyes that promise Aphrodite's secret charms. He spends his nights and days with girls, I hear, enticing them with his Bacchic witchcraft'." She looked up and he shrugged.

      "So we're not using the exact same expressions. That's normal for original translations." Ari sighed with frustration.

      "No! Listen again. I try to make it so that you can see what I'm talking about." Again she began to read, this time with more confidence and greater expression, putting a seductive twist into the words with her pauses and intonations. This time, when she looked up, Tim was nodding his head with understanding. "You see, when I read the passage, I feel that Pentheus is describing Dionysis in words that you'd normally expect a man to use for a woman, not another man.

       "And that's not the only place I find that. Here," quickly, she scanned through, then read, her voice caressing the words gently, " 'So! You cut a handsome figure, I'll give you that! Quite tempting." her voice trailed off, then spoke hastily, " I mean to women, the object, I don't doubt of your presence here in Thebes." With the next words, she again began to drawl in an attractive way, " Your curls are soft! A bit too long for wrestling, but very pretty, the way they hug your cheeks, so lovingly. And what fair skin you have, so well looked-after! But then, you don't expose it to the sun, do you? You like the darker places, where you can hunt desire with your beauty'." Losing herself in the effort of rendering justice to the meaning, her voice raised and lowered, purring langorously. Tim listened, enrapt with her expressiveness. When she finished, it was a few seconds before he realized. Blushing fiercely, he shook himself and laughed inanely.

       "Perhaps you should record your translation, so that I can get the full flavour of what you're talking about," he suggested then shook his head in admiration. "I've never noticed anything like that in the play before."

      Ari paused to consider the notion. "You mean write down my translation?" she asked dubiously. Tim laughed.

      "No, no. I mean audio-tape. I really want to hear how you read this. When you read, I mean, I can see where the words are coming from, but you put them together, and interpret them, in a way that I never saw before. It's fascinating. And I don't think that I get the full impact of what you're talking about, unless I hear the emphasis that you put on it. How far are you from finishing the play?"

      "Actually, I have finished it. I mostly wanted to talk about it." She paused then looked him straight in the eye and firmly stated, "I'll do it, but only on the condition that you tape your version of the play, as well." Tim nodded thoughtfully.

      "Good idea, I'll get mine to you and you get yours to me and then we can compare our interpretations on our own time." He looked at his watch, and shook his head regretfully, "There's really not enough time to do it now."

      "Do you mean it?" Ari asked eagerly. "I mean, you're not just saying that to get rid of me or to shut me up? I'd understand if you were."

      "No, no, no," Tim said, shaking his head earnestly in punctuation. "This is interesting and I think that it would be fun."

          Ari started to speak, but got caught by a huge yawn. "I'm sorry," she apologized, a little embarrassed by the faux pas. "But I think I have to turn in now. Thank you, Lieutenant."

      "Umm," Tim bobbed his head a little. "Could you call me Tim. I'd like that better."

      Smiling brightly, Ari nodded, "Ok. Tim. And I'm usually called Ari." Picking up the tray, she started clearing the used dishes from the table. Tim stood up.

      "Here, let me do that. You brought the tray, it's only fair that I should remove it. And I'd like to have the tape as soon as possible. Do you think that you could get it done today?"

      "Welll," she demurred dubiously. "Not today. I don't think that I could do it justice right now. How about after my next shift. Will that do? I can send it to your quarters when I'm finished?" She looked up to him with shining eyes.

      "Fine. And I'll do the same for you. When do you want to meet again. Tomorrow?" Ari laughed, shaking her head. "No," he continued. "That's too soon. Well, then, how about the day after?"

      "Ok," she agreed. "I'll bring your breakfast, again. What do you like?"

      Smiling down at the dimunitive ensign, Tim responded, "Surprise me." As she walked away laughing, he thought wryly to himself that she already had.



Unlike Tim and Ari, I do not read Greek, so I'm crediting the people who actually produced the translations used in this chapter. ---ki

The version of "The Bacchae" by the Greek playwright Euripides quoted by Lt. O'Neill was interpreted from the original Greek by William Arrowsmith and can be found in the book "Euripides V" published by Phoenix Books, a division of The University of Chicago Press.

The interpretation used by Ensign Adler is that done by Michael Cacoyannis, published by Mentor Books. (This is one of my favorite versions of the play)



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