“Why do they put what?”
“Crosses wid necklaces?”
Carmen thought this was clearly not her day.
“Awh, that’s to remind us that somebody was killed in a car crash right there.”
Étienne twisted round in his seat to watch the little cross disappear.
“Dey want us to pray?”
“I think ’tis more a way to be tellin’ us to drive careful.”
. . .
“Although, I suppose there’s some folks that pray as well.”
. . .
“Only I wouldn’t think to pray.”
“On account of you didn’t know dem?”
“I don’t know me prayers?”
“No! De folks in de car crash!”
“Awh.”
Carmen thought for a moment.
“No. ’Tis only that I wouldn’t think to pray fer somebody dead.”
“On account of yer shy?”
1140.117.7
Death
Misfortune is the true test of friendship. One man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. Every man is the architect of his own fortune. Fortune favours the brave. When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state. A hostage to fortune. Fortune knocks once at every man’s door. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. It’s in times of trouble that you know who your friends are. Bad luck and trouble follow you all of your days. Misery loves company. Troubles never come singly. Happiness is an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another. Bird of ill omen. Lucky in cards unlucky in love. If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all. Some people are so fond of bad luck they run halfway to meet it. The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. Watch out when you’re getting everything you want; fattening hogs ain’t in luck. Bread always falls on the buttered side. When the gods throw, the dice are loaded. At the heart of every silver lining is a cloud.
1141.60.8
Superstitions
Zed wrote a note to Chico before leaving. As he wrote, he crossed out a word, rewrote it, and crossed it out again.
“How does you write jusqu’à temps que? Temps t-e-m-p-s, or tant t-a-n-t?
Terry walked over to read the note.
“T-e-m-p-s. Meaning ‘until de time dat. . . .’ De udder way ’twould mean ‘so long as.’”
Terry seemed very sure of himself. Zed reread the message:
“Well, dat’s wot I mean, isn’t it: ‘so long as I’s not come home.’’’
“Awh. I tawt you wanted to say ‘until such time as I get home,’ like . . . ‘while you waits fer me to get der.’”
“Well, sure, I wants to say dat as well.”
Terry and Zed both leaned over the scrap of paper. Terry read aloud:
“Chico if you get home before I do, go over to the Zablonskis and stay there up until which time (jusqu’à temps que) I get back. Étienne will be there too.”
Terry reread the note silently once more before pronouncing himself.
“Far as I’m concerned, it’s temps t-e-m-p-s, on account of ’tis really a question of time and temps means ‘time.’”
Zed nodded; he wanted to believe Terry.
“Makes sense, I suppose.”
“You’d be writing tant t-a-n-t if you was saying . . . like . . . I’ll take Tylenols so long as (tant, t-a-n-t) me headache hasn’t gone.
Zed saw the difference and approved:
“I dunno but der’s times when I goes to write sometin’ down, you’d tink I never went to school.”
1142.93.4
Time
Long ago, when Latin was the dominant language, French was considered a vulgar language, that is a language spoken by the common people.
1143.112.8
Languages
The next day, Terry was still thinking about Zed’s note to Chico. Zed’s spelling question had stayed in his mind and he was no longer sure of his conclusions. He sought Ludmilla’s opinion.
“Yes, people do say it that way here. ‘Jusqu’à temps que — up until the time that.’ I think it’s actually quite pretty. In France, they simply say ‘jusqu’à ce que — up until.’ Really both expressions mean the same thing.”
Ludmilla repeated the two expressions to herself, as though the words had not quite yielded up all of their secrets.
“The ‘jusqu’à temps que’ is interesting because the word temps or ‘time’ seems to be beating out a rhythm: one-two-three-four-up-until-the-time-that. In ‘jusqu’à ce que’, or ‘up until’ the ‘ce’ is much weaker, though it does echo the s sound . . . ‘jussssqu’à ce que’.”
Terry wanted to remind her that it was the “jusqu’à tant que” that was the problem, but Ludmilla was on a roll:
“Parisians probably preferred ‘jusqu’à ce que’ because of the alliteration. It’s certainly arguable. But it would be such a shame to lose the ‘jusqu’à temps que’.”
Language as a mechanism of preferences? Terry had never thought of it that way. Ludmilla continued:
“As for ‘jusqu’à tant que’ . . .”
Terry jumped. Ludmilla had said, “Quant à — As for.”
“Now see! Excuse me, only, just now, you said ‘quant à — as for.’ Only we woulda said de contrary. We’d ’ave said, ‘tant qu’à . . . ‘like ‘tant qu’à moi — so far as I’m concerned’; ‘tant qu’à zeux — so far as der concerned’; ‘tant qu’à ça — so far as dat.’”
“Yes, that’s true . . . ‘quant à . . . tant qu’à . . .’ it’s a simple inversion.
Terry suspected that ‘simple inversion’ belonged to linguistics jargon. Ludmilla continued:
“‘Jusqu’à tant que mon mal de tête sera pas en allé — So long as me headache isn’t gone on its way.’ The French would say ‘jusqu’à ce que mon mal de tête s’en aille — until my headache’s gone’ or ‘tant que j’aurai ce mal de tête — so long as I’ll have this headache.’ They probably decided to eliminate the redundancy. And the use of the negative is a trifle heavy . . .”
Ludmilla was not done thinking it over. For the first time, Terry was acutely conscious of the complexity of language operations. Meanwhile, Ludmilla concluded:
1144.35.11
The Detail within the Detail
“But, the phrase ‘en allé’ is awfully pretty: more than just ‘gone,’ it’s like ‘gone on its way,’ or ‘taken itself away.” That’s awfully pretty. It would be a shame to lose that, too.
Getting back to the title, Until the End is too closed, too definitive, almost fatalistic. Unnecessary stress.
1145.81.9
Titles
“Look, Mum! De house is backin’ up!”
Indeed, a raising and transporting company was in the process of pulling a house back from the road.
“They’re someplace, looks like.”
The van slowed and parked along the side of the road. Inside the entire family watched the manoeuvre.
“See the house, Marianne?”
“Could be the folks lived there felt the house was too close to de road.”
. . .
“I never knowed a truck could haul a house.”
1146.140.6
Caraquet
“’Tisnt sometin’ you see all that often.”
“But Mum! You said! Dat’s why we take trips. To see new tings.”
On the subject of Wall Street, the beef tail in retail?
1147.132.10
Malapropism
“Chico’s gonna get a cat.”
“Is that right?”
“Dey’s fetchin’ it tomorrow.”
“Dey’re fetchin’ it tomorrow
? Where?”
“At de animal shelter.”
“At the animal shelter?”
“You does dat all de time!”
“What’s that?”
“You says de same words I do. It’s irritatin’.”
“Well, I only do it so you’ll learn to say de right words.”
“Only I doesn’t know all de right words yet!”
“I know it. But sometimes de ones you do know are right fine. Like animal shelter. That’s a wonderful nice phrase. You ought to tell it to yer dad. Could be he’ll be wantin’ to write it down in ’is notebook.”
. . .
1148.123.9
Carmen and Étienne
“What’s wrong then?”
Étienne dragged his feet.
“I’d like fer us to ’ave a dog.”
It’s always pleasant, relaxing even, when coming to a fork, to go toward the right. The opposite of an irritation.
1149.54.12
Forgotten/Recalled
Zed could not have imagined it.
“I had rather grim plans for you.”
He looked at me with those tender eyes I recalled.
“Wot does dat mean, den?”
I tried to think of another way to put it.
“Well, after you finished the lofts project, I thought you might be committin’ suicide.”
!
“No, I know, it makes no sense.”
“Well, why den would I’ve gone an’ done dat?”
“Don’t know, really. ’Twould’ve been a kind of mystery.”
. . .
“Only I know it made no sense.”
Zed sat silently fiddling with a packet of sugar.
“Does it bother you?”
“Well . . . ’tisn’t exactly comfortin’ to tink you didn’t ’ave any more use fer me dan dat.”
I certainly understood how he felt, and tried to redeem myself.
“In any case, ’twas in an effort to try’n turn it around dat I sent Élizabeth yer way.”
Zed frowned, as though it had not been the cleverest solution.
“You don’t think so? Well you sure looked head o’er heals at the start.”
He forced a laugh.
“I was, too.”
“I know it.”
“Were you really tinkin’ you was gonna get me embroiderin’?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Then he too started laughing.
“Phew. I’s afraid you was givin’ up on me.”
I’d never imagined that my characters could be conscious of my expectations of them. Did I really have expectations? The waitress arrived:
“Does you want sometin’ else den?”
Zed ordered a second coffee, and I a tea.
“I don’t want to say too much, only there’s sometin’ proper nice comin’ up fer you.”
“Sometin’ or someone?”
“Awh! You’ll see!
1150.101.5
Duos
Names of Moncton disc jockeys: DJ Bing, DJ Bones, DJ Bosse (fictional character), DJ Bu’da, DJ Cristal, DJ Cyril Sneer, DJ Leks, DJ Lukas, DJ Marky, DJ Pony Boy, DJ Sueshe, and DJ Textyle (or Tekstyle).
1151.99.7
Names
“Strange how when we wants to say ‘die a slow death’ in French, we say ‘mourir à petit feu,’ like ‘dying by small fires, an’ den we calls a dead person: ‘feu,’ like ‘feu Tilmon Arsenault, fer example, meaning ‘de departed.’”
. . .
“Are ya asleep, den?”
In lieu of a reply, Carmen merely squeezed Terry’s forearm. After all these years, that was still a satisfactory answer.
1152.94.1
Terry and Carmen
CHAPTER 9
. . . [S]tories are found things, like fossils in the ground . . .
1153.144.9
Epigraphs
Stephen King,
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Scribner, 2000
One day, a man Terry had never seen before entered the bookstore. The customer had some difficulty opening the door, which normally posed no problem. Once the sexagenarian was in, Terry watched him getting all tangled up trying to close the door behind him.
“Don’t mind me. Some mornings I just can’t manage doors.”
The man was no less contorted as he moved toward the counter and addressed Terry:
“Françaisse, I suppose?”
He did not give Terry time to reply, but continued in his best attempt at French.
“It is ze fantastic town! Vary much nice!”
The man took his time removing his gloves and scarf before truly taking in the atmosphere of the shop.
“Agh! You are selling ze youzed books also?”
“Dat’s right. Well, only dese shelves ’ere.”
His interlocutor seemed to be waiting for further explanations, so Terry obliged.
“We only started a short time ago. Folks brings ’em in an’ we decides which ones we wants an’ which we doesn’t. Mostly, we don’t take de ones we’s sellin’ in de shop.”
The man was listening so attentively that Terry, unsure what more he could add, felt obliged to continue:
“We’s sorta gotta ’ave a feelin’ fer de book if we’s to put it up on de shelf. Udderwise, if it don’t sell, der we are, stuck wid sometin’ we doesn’t really want.”
Terry shrugged, indicating that he had nothing more to add.
“Zat is the good idea, a varry good idea, truly! And why knots?”
1154.91.1
The Poet
The standard Italian alphabet contains 21 letters, including five vowels and 16 regular consonants, all of which are also found in the French and English alphabets. Italian also contains five supplementary consonants, which are j, k, w, x, and y. They are used in words borrowed from foreign languages: jeans, karate, whisky, xenophobia, yogurt. Occasionally, the v and z will be used as regular letters (Italian can be slightly confusing). Conclusion: the alfabeto is made up of 21 letters, but the language is not adverse to using letters from other languages when it borrows their words.
1155.90.4
Letters
The new customer was relentless:
“Because, in truth, ze margin of profits is what is counting, is it not so?”
Terry wondered where the man had learned his French to speak it this way.
“Dat’s right. An’ we does sell a good number. Enough, anyway, to make it wortwhile.”
The man studied Terry closely for a moment, before approving:
“Ze important for a bookstore, is zat ze peoples comes, am I not correct? Even if only to selling a book and not to buying.”
And the customer leaned closer to Terry, as though to impart a confidence:
“Ze books do not leave anyone indifferent, you know. Even zose zat are not reading, zey are affected. Zis I am knowing deeply.”
As he said this, the man tapped his middle finger against his chest.
1156.91.2
The Poet
In his introduction to Précis de l’histoire moderne, M. Michelet sums up three and a half centuries of history in three paragraphs. Essentially, agglomerations of fiefdoms form large States, which tend to swallow up smaller entities than themselves by force or marriage. Monarchy and heredity take precedence over the republic and elected leaders, but the “System of Equilibrium” restrains their power. At the same time, commercial interests overtake religious ones, and commerce gradually supplants war as the main form of communication between different parts of the globe. Thus the great maritime powers have a clear advantage. Europeans, for their part, are unable to resist the temptation to “civilize,” i.e., subdue and dominate
, distant lands. The West European nations of Latin origin in particular have the means and leisure to dedicate themselves to this “civilizing” mission, the East Europeans — the Slavs — being occupied in beating back the “barbarians,” which results in their slower political development.
1157.84.11
History
The man removed his coat and put it down on the nearest wing chair.
“I live in zen You York State, on a farm.”
Terry exprienced an auditory lapsus, imagined a ring of crosslegged Zen masters hovering over New York State.
“A mag-nific piece of land!”
The man drew a large circle with his right arm as he described his land. Then, laying his hand very gently on Terry’s arm and gazing into his eyes, he repeated:
“Troully. Mag-nific.”
Alright, Terry thought, I guess his land is magnificent.
“I ham vizit my daughter.”
Once again the man moved closer, as though this time he was about to reveal a deep secret:
“She haz merried a kook.”
Terry wasn’t sure what was so special about “merrying a kook,” but his customer seemed to think it was a very clever move by his daughter. So Terry laughed:
“Does she enjoy eatin’ all dat much, den?”
Again the man looked very closely at Terry, smiling now and nodding.
“Yes, it iz exactly what I thought.”
1158.91.3
The Poet
True or false: Jean de LaFontaine is the author of the expression “A pitcher that goes to the well too often eventually breaks.”
1159.116.8
True or False
Étienne was busy building a hangar for his mini-cars with the new slats of wood his grandfather Thibodeau had given him. Carmen was watching him work. She liked to see him play with such rudimentary objects.
“Mum, wot’s me name in English?”
The question took Carmen by surprise.
“Chico says dat at school, der’s a boy dey calls Antoine in class. Only in de yard ee’s called Tony.”
“You don’t really ’ave an English name. Étienne is a French name.”
For Sure Page 48
