Moderato Cantabile - Marguerite Duras

Extract from page 100 of the English translation

People laugh. Somewhere around the table, a woman. Little by little the chorus of conversation grows louder and, with considerable effort and ingenuity, some sort of society emerges. Landmarks are discovered, cracks open, allowing familiarities to slip in. And little by little a generally biased and individually noncommittal conversation builds up. It will be a successful party. The women bask in their own brilliance. The men have covered them with jewels according to their salaries. Tonight one of them suspects he may have made a mistake.
In the sequestered garden the birds sleep peacefully, for the weather is still fine. The same sort of sleep as the child's. The remains of the salmon are offered around again. The women will devour it to the last mouthful. Their bare shoulders have the gloss and solidity of a society founded and built on the certainty of its rights, and they were chosen to fit this society. Their strict education has taught them that they must temper their excesses in the interest of their position. They stuff themselves with mayonnaise, specially prepared for this dish, forget themselves and lap it up. The men look at them and remember that therein lies their happiness.

FM