Étienne nodded. Marianne clearly needed more.
“Well, like, from time to time, a godfawder or godmudder can take you some place special, or invite you over to der place. Sometimes, say you’ve a problem, der always der to help you out, or give you a present, when it’s yer birthday. Tings like dat.”
Étienne felt that this description corresponded more or less to his expectations. Marianne, for whom this was all new, was beginning to see the value of the idea. Carmen, for her part, impressed with the simplicity with which Terry was presenting the affair, allowed him to continue:
“Well, den, wot do you tink?”
“Yeeess! I want it!”
Marianne imitated her brother.
“Yeeess!
636.44.3
Godfathers and Godmothers
Blissful pink. Pink pom-poms, pom-pom pink. Candy pink, pink candy. Pale pink, misty pink, baby pink. Red rose, white rose, yellow rose. Rosehip tea, pale pinkish yellow. Pink flamingo, pink shrimp, pink radish. Rose tinged white. Rose jam. Rosewater. Shocking pink. When things are not so rosy, life is no bed of roses. Pink wave, salmon pink. Rosewood sweater. Pink phone. Pink male. Everything’s coming up roses. See the world through rose-coloured glasses.
637.83.11
Bliss and Colours
That evening, Terry was helping Marianne put on her pyjamas:
“I’m sure Josse would be tickled to be yer godmudder.”
Marianne shook her head no.
“Auntie Louise, as well. Auntie Louise’d be right proud to be yer godmudder.”
Again, Marianne shook her head no.
“I know! Antoinette! You know how she’s all de time sayin’ she’d like to gobble you up! Dat means she loves you a whole bunch.”
Terry pretended to eat Marianne’s belly, which made her laugh as always, but in the end she also rejected this last suggestion.
“Really, I tink all de folks dat knows you would want to be yer godmudder!”
Marianne shook her head again.
“Alright den, when youse tawt of somebody you let us know, okay?”
Marianne nodded yes. Then, as though she wanted to move on to something else, she fetched Pickles, her choice of stuffed toy to take to bed that night.
638.44.4
Godfathers and Godmothers
SPIRAVALANCH: n. — 2005/2013. 1. Violent crisis resulting from an escalation of incidents operating in a chain reaction. “Nothing was going right, he feared a spiravalanche.” (Daigle/Majzels) 2. TEXTILE Splash pattern. “She never drew those spiravalanche patterned drapes from behind the panels that concealed them.” (Daigle/Majzels).
639.120.9
Fictionary
“Tonight I’ll be tellin’ you de troo story of de deer called Zoo of Magnetic Hill. For a whole lot o’ years, de government had been promisin’ to widen de highway between Moncton an’ Frederiction, so dat finally dey really had to do it, an’ from dat day forward, life fer all de deer of New Brunswick was forever changed. On account of, do you want to know? On account of dem dat was building de highway went an’ put up a wing fence on bot’ sides o’ de road to keep de animals from causin’ accidents. Now, all de animals like to cross de highway from time to time, only when a big creature like a deer — a moose is a whole lot worse! — or a bear! Grrrrr . . . — wot was I sayin’? Aw yeah . . . — when one o’ dem big creatures like a deer or a moose or a bear comes across an’ right out in front of a car, well, dat can cause one terrible serious accident. Well, while dat road’s gettin’ built, instead of doin’ like his dad an’ readin’ the signs to find out wot’s goin’ on around ’im, dat Zoo deer goes strollin’ along eatin’ grass and twigs in de ditch down de middle of de road, on account of ee likes de taste of salt an’ dat ditch is full of de old salt from last winter. So, one time, when ee’s done eatin’ his supper, Zoo deer decides to take a wee bit of a walk to help wid ’is digestion an’ to take in de air before ee goes back into de woods. Well, dat’s when ee sees de fence. At first, Zoo didn’t tink nothin’ of it, ee just walked along in de trees between de two strips of highway, lookin’ fer a break to get back off de road. So, der ee goes, ee’s walkin’ an’ walkin’ an’ walkin’ an walkin’, all day long an’ all night, on account of de fence just keeps on an’ on an on’. Day time, ee had to be real careful, on account of der’s places de trees thin out an’ den it’s de open field, an’ dat’s when anybody could spot ’im. Zoo was no different from any udder deer: ee didn’t much like folks to see ’im. Only time ee didn’t mind bein’ seen was in de early mornin’ and at supper time, in udder words, when ee’s eatin’. So, sometimes, ee hides out all day in a small thicket o’ trees, just waitin’ till it’s dark to cross over de field and keep goin’ on ’is way. An’ dat’s how Zoo deer ended up goin’ all de way up to Moncton, where some zookeepers from de Magnetic Hill Zoo caught ’im wid a big fishin’ net. De moral o’ dis ’ere story? Even doh yer not supposed to do it, der’s times it can come in handy knowin’ how to climb over a fence.
640.37.2
Animal Tales
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.
641.20.11
Language
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.
642.109.6
Dreams
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.
643.98.1
Expressions
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.
644.44.6
Godfathers and Godmothers
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.
645.95.5
Additions to La Bibliothèque idéale
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 k
etchup.
“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.
646.23.3
Potatoes
For more on Terry and Carmen’s first meeting with the painter Étienne Zablonski, see Daigle’s A Fine Passage (House of Anansi, 2002).
647.54.2
Forgotten/Recalled
“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.”
648.59.1
Knowledge
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.
649.19.7
Interesting Details
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.”
650.101.8
Duos
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.
651.70.9
Errors
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.”
652.44.5
Godfathers and Godmothers
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.
653.35.6
The Detail within the Detail
“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!
654.49.4
Élizabeth II
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.
655.60.2
Superstitions
“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’.”
656.88.6
Freedom
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.
657.68.3
Projects
Terry showed the children how to suck the juice of the shrimp while you pull it out of its shell.
“If you h
old 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.
658.140.7
Caraquet
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.
659.45.10
Useless Details
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?”
660.40.1
Clear your Coast
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.
For Sure Page 28
