Authors: Caddy Rowland
One spring night, he and Mic were eating outside there. Gastien was enjoying a whiskey while Mic was drinking
vin
. It was crowded with groups from all walks of life. All of a sudden there was a loud crash a couple of tables down. Gastien turned to see that a server had just dropped a tray full of drinks on the cobblestones. The men at the table were laughing. The tiny waitress looked horrified. Her eyes filled with tears as she stood rooted to the spot, the embarrassment climbing from her neck to her face.
Sophie
As Gastien looked at her, all sound and motion stopped. She was new, he had not seen her here before, and she definitely did not fit in.
Mon Dieu
, she had the biggest, most expressive eyes he had ever seen! They were a greenish gold, and – her hair! It was a riot of curls that sprang out every which way, refusing to be tamed into any sense of style. She wore it loose with the curls ending slightly below her shoulders, framing her small face with a halo of browns and golds. He wondered how she ever managed to get a brush through that hair. What was a woman so obviously out of place doing serving at
Au Lapin Agile
?
She was so little! He had never seen such a petite looking female who could at the same time look so womanly. And that mouth! Just the sight of it made him start to become hard. The lips were ripe, wild berries waiting to be plucked. She licked her lips in fear, and Gastien’s heart jumped in his chest. She was sunshine; she was a violent summer thunderstorm, a gentle spring rain. She was nature in all of its beautiful, wild glory. He blinked. Surely she was not real. His heart was hammering. Feeling lightheaded, Gastien decided that it had to be the whiskey.
He recognized the group at the table she was serving as some artists he knew. As he watched, one of the men reached out and brushed his hand across her breast. A tear fell down her face. Before he knew it, Gastien was out of his chair, and into the man’s face.
“Leave her alone, Phillipe! Can’t you see that she is scared? Just leave her alone!”
Phillipe stared at Gastien, shocked. What was it to him? She was just a serving girl. They came on to servers all of the time. “Gastien, come on! Calm down. If she can’t take a little flirting she does not belong here!” Phillipe laughed.
Gastien, however, did not. “I said to leave her alone! You were not flirting. You rubbed your hand against her breast. Apologize!” He looked murderous. The girl just stood there, staring up at Gastien.
“Oh come on, Gastien…you of all people – ”
“APOLOGIZE!”
Phillipe saw how angry Gastien was and had no wish to fight him. “Jeeezzus. Ok.” He looked at the girl. “I am sorry.” She nodded mutely.
Gastien hissed, “Don’t ever touch her again!” He bent to help her pick up the broken glasses.
“It is ok,
Monsieur
, it is my job, I will get it” she said quickly, bending down to get the glasses.
Her voice! It was like music. Gastien stared. He could not look away.
“I said I will get it,” she said again.
“
Non
,
non,
I will help. Oh, look! Now you have cut your finger!” Gastien said softly. “Go get it taken care of. Here comes another server to clean things up. By the way, what is your name?”
She stared into his eyes, sucking her cut finger. “Sophie. It is Sophie. And yours is Gastien?”
Staring at that finger, with those ripe lips wrapped around it, Gastien found that he was hardly able to enunciate. “
Oui
.”
Mon Dieu
, he thought, she has no idea what she is doing to me.
She smiled shyly. “Gastien,
merci
for stepping in for me. I am afraid I am not used to serving yet.
Merci
beaucoup
for asking him to apologize.”
“
Oui
. You, um, you should go take care of me. I mean, it.” Now Gastien was red. Why did I say something so stupid, he thought. She must think I am a complete dolt!
Sophie reached out, tucking back a few strands of hair that had gotten in his eyes. Then she turned and walked away.
Phillipe and the others were enjoying the spectacle.
“Gastien, why don’t you just fuck her and get it over with so we can all relax?” Phillipe asked casually. That was usually what Gastien would have done, after all. All of a sudden, Phillipe was on the ground, his chair overturned. As he held his hand to his chin, Gastien glowered above him.
“Don’t ever talk like that about her again. Do you understand?”
The whole area was quiet. “Ok….Ok. But what is she to you, anyway?
Gastien turned red. “Nothing. She is nothing to me at all! I just don’t like to see someone so obviously uncomfortable made sport of.” Phillipe just continued to look at him. “I said she is nothing to me, just drop it!” Gastien walked back to Mic and threw enough money on the table to cover their food and drink. “Let’s go.”
As Gastien hurried out, he turned to look back at her one last time. Sophie was already inside. Not realizing how close he was to a tree, he quickly turned his head forward and walked right into it! Oh Sweet Jesus, he thought as he turned an even darker shade of red than he had been earlier, just let me die now! He hurried away, the men’s laughter ringing in his ears.
Mic looked helplessly back at Phillipe, shrugging his shoulders. Phillipe smiled, pointing to his heart and then his groin. It appeared that their
ami
Gastien was finally going to fall. And all indications showed he would be falling hard.
To be continued
“Gastien Part 2: From Dream to Destiny” is available now!
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Académie Julian
: Famous private art school in Paris
Ami/Amie
: Male friend (ami) Female friend (amie)
Arrondissement
: Borough or section of the city
Au Lapin Agile
: The Nimble Rabbit. Oldest cabaret in Montmartre
Avocate
: Attorney
Baguette
: Long, thin loaf of
French bread with crisp crust.
Bite
: Cock (vulgar) (pronounced more like beet)
Bizou
: Small kiss
Bonjour
: Good day
Bonsoir
: Good evening
Boudoir
: Females private
bedroom
Bourgeois
: Middle class (especially upper middle class)
Cabriolet
: A type of horse drawn open carriage, some were used as taxis.
Chatte
: Pussy (vulgar)
Chère
: Dear, beloved, darling, addressing a male
Chèri, Chèrie
: As above but addressing a female
Conne
: Cunt
Crémerie Restaurant Polidor
: Café that opened in 1845. Tons of artists in different fields ate here. James Joyce, Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, etc.
Cul
: Ass (vulgar)
Derrière
: The buttocks, the rear.
Écarté
: A French card game
Enculé
: Motherfucker, cocksucker. It also means to be buggered or sodomized, of which the verb is enculer. It is then conjugated into encule, enculé, enculeras and many other conjugations.
Épée
: Sword, heavier with stiffer blade and larger bell guard than a foil
Fée verte
: Green Fairy (the liquor absinthe)
Fils de pute
: Son of a bitch, son of a whore
Foutre
: Fuck
Franc
: French currency
Haute Couture
: Exclusive, custom fitted clothing for specific customers.
Homard a la Parisienne
: A main dish, prepared by poaching lobsters, removing the cooked flesh, and then stuffing the empty shells with a mayonnaise-dressed vegetable mixture which is topped with lobster meat. The lobsters are artfully arranged on a platter, and elaborately garnished with such items as truffles and artichoke bottoms.
Je ne peux plus me retenir, et
: I cannot restrain myself
L’Estaque
: A small fishing village on the Mediterranean which became quite popular with impressionists
Le Bon Marché
: Most famous department store in Paris
Le Procope
: Oldest restaurant in Paris. Open since 1686. Many intellectuals, government men from many countries, writers, and famous people would eat there. Voltaire, Ben Franklin, John Paul Jones, Thomas Jefferson, Danton, Marat, on and on.
Ma bite est en feu pour toi
: My cock is on fire for you!
Madame
: Ma’am, madam,
Mrs.
Mademoiselle
: Miss, young lady
Merci
: Thank you
Merci beaucoup
: Thank you very
much
Merde
: Shit
Mes coquilles sur ton nez
: My balls on your nose
Mon Dieu
: My God
Monsieur
: Mister or Sir
Montmartre
: Now the
18
th
arrondissement of Paris. It was still a village on the outskirts where artists, anarchists, intellectuals and other free spirits went to live. Some of the more famous at different times were Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso and many others.
Noël
: Christmas
Non
: No
Notre Dame de Paris
: Our Lady of Paris
.
Gothic, Catholic cathedral of Archdiocese of Paris
Oui
: Yes
Place du Tertre
: Public park, a square in the village of Montmartre where painters gathered to paint outside. This is where a lot of Impressionists painted.
Salut
: Hello
S’il vous plait
: Please
Trou du cul
: Asshole
Va te faire foutre
: Fuck you
Vin
: Wine
Vin rouge
: Red Wine
Vous me faites mal
: You are hurting me (You me make hurt)
Table of Contents
Coming of Age
Paris
The Stakes Increase
Welcome Back, Gastien