The Beggar's Diary, 14.09.2007. – A Jack Johnson song is playing at the fyal:
"I woke up this morning,
A rainbow filled the sky.
A guy came up to me
And said everything is gonna be all right."

But Filch feels like hell. He has a sore throat, he can barely breathe, his bones ache. In short, the flu. Yesterday evening got really chilly, and as he was out late he must have caught cold. Who knows? Maybe this is the beginning of the end, and it’ll be disease that will take Filch away from this cruel, cruel world. To a better place, no doubt.
See a doctor? What for? The only money he has left is Christine's 20 Euro bill, and he thinks it best to keep it for a more urgent matter. To protect himself and the money, he puts it in a plastic bag and labels it: "Jeder Missbrauch wird bestraft."
He cannot talk, so he just wanders miserably around the Spiekerhof trying to sell the rest of the money. The slogan is: "You don’t find The Beggar; The Beggar finds you." But not today. Today, The Beggar will not find anyone, far too sick for that. "Let them find me."

While trading (silently), a woman sings: "Money for nothing and …," and then stops. Filch, picking up where she left, finishes the line: "chicks for free." They all start laughing. Many people are interested, and some start to know him as the man who sells money. The little girl and her grandmother who pass by everyday appear, and Filch gives the girl another balloon, pink this time.
"Zu viel, zu viel, Danke."

He meets a woman called Gerda Sökeland, who initiates him into the secrets of the business of collecting and selling art. "Yes, it is very difficult," she explains, "and you need to have a good eye for what’s good and what's not."
He learns that the good seller/collector must get to know the artists when they are still young, and hope their talent will one day blossom.

During the day, Filch keeps coming across a group from London. Nice guys. They offer him a beer, which he kindly declines given his state of health, and some bread with pesto. One of them tells him a really interesting story: he has a friend who lives in trees, has no personal belongings, not even shoes, and is periodically interned in an asylum. They met in art school and this strange man could only draw when he was singing.

"Sind Sie Echt oder Plagiat?" asks a tour guide being followed by her group.
“What do you think?”
“I think you’re not real because I saw the real one last week.”
"I am sick and that's real."
"You look like a big doll" another girls says, after taking his picture: "like the ones from Isa Genzken's work, with that caddy of yours."

Add new comment »