For Sure (34 page)

L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble®
and
Bescherelle's Art de conjuguer
open the door a crack to words coming from French-speaking countries other than France. Still limiting ourselves to verbs beginning with the letter
a
,
L'Officiel…
does make room for the Swiss French words
agender, aguiller, apigeonner, appondre,
and
azorer,
and for the Québécois words
abrier, achaler, aplomber,
and
(s')attriquer
. There are neither African nor Belgian French words in this group. The
Bescherelle
, on the other hand, does include the African French words
abomber, absenter
(non-reflexive form),
ambiancer, (s')ambifier
,
amourer,
and
apatamer
; the Belgian words
(s')adire
and
aminer
; and the Québécois verbs
achaler
and
aplomber
, but no Swiss French terms.

Josse dreams that she's shunning her sister, who's insulted her. Convinced that her sister ought to know better than to denigrate Josse's wardrobe, Josse decides neither to listen nor to speak to her. Her sister doesn't understand what's gotten into Josse, claims she's done nothing wrong, nothing serious anyway. But Josse is determined. She'd like never to speak to that sister again, and wonders what to do to make her sister no longer her sister.

Dine on ashes. Swallow your pride. Sell your work for peanuts. Chew the fat. Publish a lemon. Ham it up. Jam tomorrow. Walk on eggshells. Go pound salt. In a pickle. Bite your tongue. Thinks he's a big cheese. About as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Étienne had happily accepted the Zablonski's as his godfather and godmother to be. He already knew the story of Terry and Carmen's trip to France, where they'd met Le Grand Étienne and travelled by train with him. Carmen had even shown him the diamond pin as proof.

“Real ones like in
Ali Baba
?”

Étienne had only recently been introduced to the famous “Open Sesame!” and was greatly impressed by it.

“Just like in
Ali Baba
.”

The little boy studied the jewel more closely.

Obviously, it would be dishonest to add a book one had not read to one's
Bibliothèque idéale
. Because a title sometimes promises more than it delivers, and because the imagined content of a book may be far more enjoyable than its actual content.

The children also enjoyed
les patates à Rose-Marie
, roasted Rosemary potatoes, with rosemary and cumin. Terry cut five or six large unpeeled potatoes into about ten pieces each, rolled these in olive oil and seasoning before roasting them in the oven. He was especially proud of having accustomed the children to eat this dish with tzatziki rather than ketchup.

“Dad, can we 'ave de white ketchup wid it?”

“De tzatziki, you mean? Der's no more.”

Étienne looked totally dejected.

“We'll eat dem just as dey are, widout anyting. Der good dis way, too.”

Étienne was not convinced. Terry added:

“Dat's de way you were eatin' dem before, widout anytin'.”

Étienne could not remember a before, but hearing his father refer to it like this was somehow comforting.

For more on Terry and Carmen's first meeting with the painter Étienne Zablonski, see Daigle's
A Fine Passage
(House of Anansi, 2002).

“Der are about sixty golf courses in New Brunswick. Dat's about one golf course fer every 12,000 people.”

. . .

“In France, dey gots one fer every 120,000 people, more or less.

. . .

“I'm just lettin' you know, in case de question pops up some time.”

Among the words beginning with the letter
a
,
L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble®
includes a handful of Swiss and Québécois French words that are not verbs, but no African French. The Québec French words are:
acéricole
(relating to the maple syrup industry),
achalant
(annoying),
adon
(a happy coincidence),
aérobique
(aerobic),
aluminerie
(aluminium factory),
aréna
(arena),
atoca
and
ataca
,
atocatier
, (cranberry and cranberry bush),
auteure
(female author), and
avionnerie
(airplane factory). Also, contrary to the
Grand Robert
dictionary, for example,
L'Officiel
. . . does not object to the word
aréna
being masculine or feminine.

Hans ate without pausing, barely glancing up at me. Clearly he hadn't eaten in a while. Although, admittedly, the dissection of the half-chicken on his plate required a degree of concentration.

“It's perfectly all right to eat this sort of chicken with your fingers.”

I only said it to make his task a little easier, but he soldiered on with knife and fork, somewhat clumsily, as though he'd forgotten how to use such instruments.

“How did you manage to get into Canada?”

My question remained unanswered. I concluded that it was not yet time to talk, which I didn't really mind since I was still trying to find a gentle way to say what I had to tell him. After a while, I simply came out with it:

“You know I can't bring you to Moncton.”

His hands froze for a moment, then he nodded quickly and went back to dissecting the chicken in his plate. I couldn't help thinking he looked like an idiot.

“I'm not an idiot. If I'd wanted to go to Moncton, I would have gone to Moncton.”

Briefly, I wondered if this one hadn't somehow escaped my grasp. Which would have been perfectly normal, since I had created him for precisely that purpose: to escape.

“I don't understand why you would even think I'd want to go there.”

Fine. But did he realize the constant effort I had to make just to maintain a semblance of unity in my universe, and consequently, how I fretted over every lost sheep?

“And what's Élizabeth up to? How's she doing?”

I figured his hunger was perhaps abating just a little.

“Pretty well, yes.”

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd put her aside, somewhat. Or, at least, seriously transformed her. I didn't want him to think that… Might as well admit it, I didn't want him to think at all. But he saw right through me.

“I'm not like your other characters, am I? You made me free so that you could more easily be rid of me. That's it isn't it? Don't answer that, answers are always bad on Fridays. Fridays we're on the defensive.”

Was he making fun of me or did he really believe this?

“You're not going to eat your soup?”

Without giving me the time to reply, he took the bowl I'd put aside. I felt obliged to offer it to him.

“No, no. Go ahead.”

He ate all my soup without pausing to say a word. Which gave me time to think. Again I was determined to be frank.

“Look, Hans, I still need you to be totally free.”

He looked at me, maybe gauging my sincerity, and then answered without rancour:

“Agreed.”

For a number of reasons, among which the desire to be entirely honest and transparent in attempting not to sweep the error under the rug, here are some additional considerations on the subject of the number 7: Buddha's stairway contains seven colours; that is, the six colours of the rainbow and their synthesis, white. The colours of the seven subtle forms of divine physiology are matte black, blue, red, white, yellow, glossy black, and green.

Marianne's reaction to the Godfather and Godmother project was more difficult to decipher than Étienne's.

“Could be I oughtn't to have mentioned it'd be de godfawder and godmudder who'd be carin' fer 'er if sometin' was to happen to us.”

“No, I tink she figures it's up to 'er to choose is all.”

. . .

. . .

“I just hope I didn't go an' frighten' de poor ting wid all dat.”

And with those words, Terry got up.

“I'll take a look an' see if she's sleepin'.”

There is also a particular way to read numerals. For example the telephone number 383-8383 is a pivoting palindromic number.

“Sounds quite lovely, no?”

“Yes . . .”

Of course, Brigitte can hear the hesitation at the other end of the line.

“They sound like really interesting people. I don't see what the problem is.”

Élizabeth hasn't had the courage to tell her Zed's age.

“You're right. I don't know what I'm worrying about. An old reflex, I suppose.”

“Listen, we should get together soon. I'll try to come over. It would give me a chance to see Acadia.”

“Splendid idea!

An expression he heard once that's bothered Terry ever since: the death seat, referring to the passenger's seat next to the driver, which is considered dangerous. It's especially troublesome when Carmen takes that seat. Hoping to forestall bad luck, he's decided not to mention it to her.

“Like Salmon Rushdie, who's hidin' on account of de fatwa.”

“On account of wot?”

“De fat-wa. Like in fat-wot of good dat'll do me.”

. . .

. . .

“Yer hung up sometin' rare on Rushdie all de same, eh?”

. . .

“I tawt 'is name was Salman like m-a-n, not Salmon like de fish.”

“I knows it, only I likes de idea of salmon: Salmon-rush-die. It's like de salmon is hurryin' up de river to die.”

“Geez, yer a gloomy boy dis mornin'.”

Gather, over the years, all the books listed in
La Bibliothèque idéale
and open a café where it would be pleasant to sit and get to know them.

Terry showed the children how to suck the juice of the shrimp while you pull it out of its shell.

“If you hold de wee tail proper, de shell comes off all by 'erself. See . . .”

Terry demonstrated, exaggerating the technique just a bit, so the two little ones could see how it was done.

“An' den you trow de empty shell in dis 'ere bag.”

Sitting at the water's edge at Pointe-Rocheuse, both parents and children ate a while without talking. Marianne managed as well as anyone.

“So you like it, den?”

Without interrupting their labours, Étienne and Marianne nodded their heads. Terry and Carmen smiled to see them so absorbed in the process.

In
1953: Chronicle of a Birth Foretold
, Acadian novelist France Daigle does not mention the publication that year by the prestigious firm Éditions de Minuit of Alain Robbe-Grillet's novel
The Erasers
. This publication marked a major shift in the editorial policy of the firm.

The project quickly became an excursion for men and boys only. Terry had gone to fetch Chico the day before, just to give the boys some play time to get to know each other before being put to work.

“I'm gonna sit in de back wid Étienne an' Chico.”

Pomme joined the two boys on the rear seat of the van. Étienne and Chico made room for the arms and hands dangling a pair of old torn sneakers, followed by the dishevelled hair, long body and bare feet of Pomme.

“Alright den, boys?”

Étienne and Chico acquiesced.

“Shall I get in front?”

This was Zablonski, who had arrived. Only Zed was missing, and he was not usually the type to be late. Checking the sun and his watch, Terry felt they were in for a fine day.

“Stick o' gum, anyone?”

An entrée in
Le Nouveau Petit Robert
dictionary states that an accident is what is added to an essence.

“Do they do this every year?”

“Dey bin doin' it for a long time now, only 'twasn't official like 'tis now, wid ads in de papers an' all.”

Terry and Zablonski were chatting quietly in front. Behind them, Zed was encouraging Étienne and Chico to tickle Pomme, who was sleeping, or pretending.

“It's a great idea to involve everyone this way.”

“Fer sure. Der shocking organised. An' der's lots more folks comin' to help dese days, 'specially since dey added de treasure hunt at de end.”

“Ah, the combination of business and pleasure, always an excellent policy.”

Terry glanced in the rear-view mirror, and was reassured to see Chico happily conspiring with Étienne and Zed.

True or False: to take holy orders so as to flee the aleatory, precarious, disorderly