Catherine on Procuring for Sebastian, Explained：procure

What's really going on

The word 'procuring' is the scene's confession. Catherine states it without flinching: 'I was procuring for him,' a phrase that makes her both servant and accomplice. The detail is typical of the film's method — she describes the mechanics plainly, the hungry young people climbing over the fence, the tips passed out 'as if they'd all shined his shoes or called taxis for him,' and lets the horror sit in the facts. As the beach crowds and the young men grow 'noisier, greedier,' Sebastian needs her less. By the end of the account he is dressed in white, taking pills and touching his throat, 'having a bad time with his heart,' and repeating 'Let's go north.' The scene turns Sebastian from predator into prey: the earlier appetite is gone, replaced by a frightened man who wants to leave.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• Procuring is a formal word hiding a shameful job.
• The white suit turns elegance into an omen.
• A fence and a swim draw the line between rich and poor.
• His failing heart is told as plainly as the weather.

発音のポイント

• climbed over — The d in climbed often drops before over.
• white as the — Link white as the, softening the t.
• bad time with — The d in bad often drops before time.