“The Lock-Eater”
by
Henri Michaux
translated by David Ball
from Plume
In the corridors of the hotel, I met him walking around with a little lock-eating animal.
He would put the little animal on his elbow, and then the animal was happy and would eat the lock.
Then he would walk further down the hall, and the animal was happy and another lock would be eaten. And so on for several, and so on for many. The man was walking around like someone whose home had expanded. As soon as he opened a door, a new life would begin for him.
But the little animal was so hungry for locks that its master soon had to go out again and look for other break-ins, so that he got very little rest.
I did not want to ally myself with this man. I told him that what I liked best in life was going out. He looked blank. We weren’t on the same side, that’s all, or else I would have allied myself with him; I liked him but he did not suit me.
Biblioklept 