For Sure (14 page)

“Ask me, I'd say Acadians have got some Belgian roots.”

“An' how's dat den?”

In among all the music to which Ludmilla had introduced Terry, there were a few songs by the Belgian
chansonnier
Jacques Brel.

“Dat song where he says ‘
je veux qu'on rit, je veux qu'on chante, je veux qu'on s'amuse comme des fous, je veux qu'on rit, je veux qu'on danse quand c'est qu'on m'mettra dans le trou
. . . —
I want laughter, I want singing, I want us all to have a ball, I want laughter, I want dancing when's de time dey puts me in the ground.
'
Fer sure, dat's Acadian.”

“So more it was! Fer sure we's always up fer a party.”

Terry added:

“Sure, dat too, only I's really talkin' 'bout de bit: ‘
quand c'est qu'on m'mettra dans le trou
—
when's de time dey puts me in de ground
.' On account of, Acadians say:
Quand c'est que tu t'en vas?
— When's de time yer off den? When's de time yer plannin' to pay me de money you owes me? When's de time youse two is gettin' hitched? Anybody round dese parts might be sayin' dat.”

Ludmilla added:

“That interrogative form still exists in Belgium.”

Interrogative? Terry had not considered this aspect of the form's usage. He tried but failed to come up with an Acadian example of the affirmative form of “When's de time.” He was momentarily stymied, but then:

“Well, 'tain't only in questions, now is it. A body might say sometin' like “de referee calls a penalty when's de time dem players is liftin' der sticks too high.”

It took a bit of explaining, but Ludmilla finally got it. Terry added:

“Carmen'd kill me sure if I'd said dat in front of Étienne an' Marianne, by de way.”

. . .

“Jus' goes to show how deep I've got de Chiac in me.”

Modern aesthetic, aesthetic of modernity. Pictural revolution. Surprising innovation. Fundamental concepts. Art theory, artists' mentality. Colours, forms, symbols: authorial identity. Proportions. A world in turmoil. Perspective, sense of space. Perceptible forms. Magnificent. Visual order, plastic language. Savage. Evolution of ideas and styles. Sumptuous. Skittish but Herculean. Key moments in the history of art. Impressionism: epic adventure. Through and through. Critical. Evolution of taste. Systematic. Metamorphosis of printing and publishing. Splendid artistic and scientific surveys. Meeting of the writers and artists. Parallels. Deviations. Margins. Museums. Stylistic signature. Close links between the social and the visual. Tumultuous. Stupifying. Geometric theory of art. The photographer and the painter. Visual problems of history. Industrial archaeology. Science, contemplation, emblematic work. Major exhibitions. Society that engenders. Art of calligraphy. Masks, sculptures, and ritual objects. Decorator and urbanist. Patient research. Classical. Baroque. The Grotto. Verve. Regarding the influence of the physical environment and climate. Baroque and classicism. Current affairs. Modern figure. Art brut. Art merchant. Great. Greats. Captivating. Unparalleled. Lesson in wonderment. Future function. Immense crowds jostling. The painter of the wheat field. Drama earth garden. Nuance. Light of the sky.

“An den der's de saying in English:
de pot wot calls de kettle black
. In French, we says:
le chaudron qui se moque du poêle
. In English dat would be more like:
de pot dat laughs at de pan
.”

“Only you mean
la poêle
, which is a pan;
le poêle
, dat's a stove.”

?

“Me granny says,
le chaudron manchure la poêle
.”

“
Manchure
?”

“Must come from
amanchure
—
de pot handles de pan
.”

“Only
amanchure
's not right neider.”

“Dat's how we says it in Acadia. De pot handles de pan.”

“I suppose you could say
le poêle
instead of
la poêle
:
Le chaudron amanche le poêle
, an' dat would mean de pan handles the stove, an' dat would make sense as well.”

In total, 1,873 authors, for the most part men, are responsible for the 2,401 works in
La Bibliothèque idéale
. While the selection often includes several books by the same author, other books have several authors. Still others are anonymous or the fruit of too many authors to be named individually. The latter works can be ancient — the Sanskrit epic
The Mahabharata
, for example — or absolutely contemporary, like
Paris-Berlin
, the catalogue of an exhibition at the Centre Georges-Pompidou.

“Ah?
On peuwe fioumaïye ici
?”

An Anglophone from Moncton who had begun to fraternize with the francophones at the Babar seemed to want to know if smoking was permitted.

“Dey don't mind a couple a' puffs now an' den, so long as folks control demselves and dey don't make a fuss about it. Bottom line: up to da smokers to be smart about it.”

“
C'
èye . . . hõw dõ yõu sãy fãir en françaïye?”

“
Raisonnable.”

“
Raïye-zônable
.”

“Well, lots of folks just say
fãir
.”

“
Oui. Je saïye
.”

The rituals of obsessive neurosis are such that Freud compares this pathology to a “private religion.”

Élizabeth could not explain her attraction to the fine arts, an attraction that included even the words and expressions they engendered. As though art managed to infiltrate even the jargon of art.

Convincing equation based on the number 7:

“Tell me, Étienne, have you a godfather?”

Le Petit Étienne looked up uncomprehending at Zablonski.

“Do you know what a godfather is?”

The boy did not appear to know.

“A godfather — or godmother — is someone who takes care of you in a special way when you're a child. It can be an uncle, or a friend of your parents. In any case, it's normally someone your parents like.”

“Zed?”

“Zed is your godfather?”

Étienne could not confirm this.

“And usually, with a godfather you also have a godmother. Have you a godmother?”

Étienne did not know.

“Maybe, Granny Thibodeau . . .”

Materials: plain weave fabric (the same number of lateral threads in the weft as longitudinal threads in the warp), in natural or combined natural and synthetic fibres. The higher the gauge, the more threads there are per square centimetre. Aida cloth, perforated paper, Hardanger fabric, Aida cloth strip, terrytowel with Aida band. Perforated paper is ideal for greeting cards and Christmas tree decorations because it requires no hem.

“An den der's ‘Beauty is in de eye of de beholder.' I swear I don't know if dat means wotever you tink is beautiful is beautiful, or if it means de fellow or girl who sees sometin' beautiful is beautiful.”

. . .

. . .

“Run dat by me again?”

Examination for Inferential Statistics course IV (STAT 4773): the Montpellier Scrabble Club's web site informs us that the Scrabble® game is part of the plot or appears as a prop in 52 films. 52 is also the number of weeks in a year, and twice the number of letters in the Latin alphabet. If we divide 52 into 144 (one of the numbers on which Acadian author France Daigle's novel
For Sure
is based) we obtain the following result: 144 ÷ 52 = 2.769230. From the above, draw the maximum inferences, taking into account the intervals of confidence, the Latin squares and the degree of freedom.

Zed asked:

“Wot about ‘De straw in de eye of de shaman'?”

“Don't you mean ‘The straw on de back of de camel'? Like they says: ‘De straw wot broke de camel's back.'”

Pomme jumped in:

“I likes dat one, I do. I can see it wonderful clear.”

“Dat's where dey gets de sayin: ‘Awright, dat's de last straw . . .'”

“Neat!”

“In French, we's supposed to say: ‘De drop that made de vase overflow.'”

“G'wan wid ya! No way!”

Pomme's incredulity made Terry laugh.

“Are you sayin' dat, in French, we've got no straw on de back of a camel?”

Pomme seemed truly offended. Terry tried to assuage him:

“Well, de water in de vase is pretty much de same idea . . .”

But Pomme was adamant:

“Say wot you like, de straw on de camel's back is a whole lot prettier.”

New and telling equation based on the number 7:

“Not sure wot you mean. I doesn't feel like I'm part of a minority. Well, sure, I knows we's a minority an all, but troot is, I doesn't ever tink about it.”

The young woman named Gerry confirmed the visiting geographer's impression.

“But that's marvellous! It proves that you're an active minority, a minority that influences the majority!”

Gerry and Bosse glanced at each other, considering the possibility. Seeing that they were not entirely convinced by his declaration, the geographer elaborated:

“It's quite possible that you're not actually in a position to feel it. These are minute and subtle modifications that take root in the minds of the majority over time. Often, one requires hindsight to notice such things. Either that or a trained eye.”

“Who's up fer anudder beer over 'ere? Bosse! When did you get in?”

“Last night.”

“Nice! An fer how long is ya stayin den?”

“Couple a weeks.”

“Where are ya beddin' down?”

“Crashin' at Gerry's fer now. How bout you? Yer lookin' not a bad bit nice . . .”

The compliment pleased Lisa-M., who asked again if anyone wanted another drink.

“I wouldn't say no to another one of these.”

Gerry took advantage of the Swiss showing the label on his bottle to Lisa-M. to make the introductions:

“Didier, dis ere's Lisa-M., musician, dancer an' waitress.”

And to Lisa-M.:

“Didier's got in 'is head to write sometin' 'bout Moncton fer a magazine in Belgium.”

“On account of de Petitcodiac river again?”

“Naw, on account of we're a minority.”

“Awh, dat's true isn't it. I never tinks about it.”

Some books are written to be read, others only to have been written.

Maybe she should have been a painter instead of a doctor? Not that she detests her profession. In the beginning she preferred the incurable cases.

To speak more proper French, when they want to say ‘what,' some Acadians replace
quoisse
with
quesse
, which seems slightly more refined.

There followed the usual questions.

“Are you baptised?”

Étienne didn't know.

“You go to church on Sunday sometimes?”

Étienne nodded, adding:

“Wid Granny.”

“And with Terry?”

Étienne shook his head no.

“And Carmen?”

Étienne shook his head again, but then corrected himself.

“We went to see de manger at Christmas.”