It’s two A.M., and the train is finally pulling out of the Amtrak station at Buffalo-Depew after a two hour delay. Guillaume, an 18 yr old student from France looked around and asked “and no one is complaining?”
“That’s part of being in the Midwest too. They do talk, but don't really want to unless it is practical and drained of emotions. That’ll change when you go out west, and down South”
I wondered for a moment if I should explain how the West was always “out” and the South was always “down,” but I was too amused about being a topic of debate and discussion in French. By the time I sorted out a few “down and out” puns, the moment had passed; esprit d’escallier.
Almost on queue, a pretty young woman, sat between me and the boys. She was fleeing a brood of Indians hovering over a crying baby, and asked politely if the seat were occupied. They glanced at each other, then coyly averted their gazes.
I was stunned. I had never seen a Frenchman who lacked the savoir-faire to jump right into any conversation with an attractive woman. I thought it was a genetic trait of the race. Thinking back, perhaps Benoit wasn’t truly representative of his countrymen.
“Hello, this is Yanni, and Guillaume. They’re from France.”
“My name is Ellen.. “
“I’m Charles”
There, any first year foreign language student would recognize that as “Chapter One: greetings and common phrases”
I turned my attention away to an English major, and graduate of DePaul who was lucky enough to find work in his field conversing with non English speakers in Chicago. Nerdmeat. I was in my element, so I decided to ignore his obvious flaws: trust fund, probably connected, starting out humble, but on a glide path to an easy life.
“Well English started Anglo-Saxon, heavily influenced by vikings during the Dane Law, then almost eradicated under the French speaking Normans . . . “ Let my freaky-nerd flag fly! In the background, Ellen, Yanni, and Guillaume were working on chapter two.
Not at all bad for my first day on the road.
