Aix Marks the Spot by Sarah Anderson

Author:Sarah Anderson [Anderson, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sea Breeze Books
Published: 2020-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

That night I crashed in bed without opening my windows, but I was tired enough to sleep through the stuffy night nonetheless. It was only when I woke up the next morning that I realized I was suffocating.

When I finally made it down to the kitchen, my English to French dictionary out on the table, waiting patiently for me to put it to use. I poured myself a cup of coffee from Mamie’s press and sat down in front of it. There had always been one of these in my parent’s house – well, French to English - but I had never used it. It was for translating obscure French poetry and old paperback novels about depressed women that I never had the urge to read either.

Not to mention I had an entire wealth of knowledge in the phone in my back pocket. Which I pulled out now, remembering excitedly that today was the day I would finally meet other human beings I could – potentially – talk to.

I missed talking to people.

“Salut, ça va?” I texted. Hi, how are you. Not too intimate, not too aloof, right? How were girls supposed to text in France? Oh god, please don’t let me have just accidentally booty called my only friend in the entire country.

“I’m good. Coffeeeee.” He replied, almost instantly, way too many ‘e’s at coffee just to emphasize how tired he was.

“Tu ne vas pas te baigner?” Mamie stood at the doorway, coffee cup in one hand, iPad in the other.

“J’ai pas…” I flipped to the page for want. “Envie?”

“Allez, ça te feras du bien.” She sounded disappointed.

The dictionary was taking too long. I opened up a translator app on my phone and started typing, trying to get the spelling right. At least she spoke slowly enough for me to make out the individual words. Apparently, swimming would make me feel good.

“Tout à l’heure,” I said. Later. She nodded.

“Practique, ton truc,” she replied, glancing over my shoulder at the translator app. “Quel appli?”

I never thought I would bond with my grandmother over phone applications. I never thought my grandmother would own an iPad, either. Maybe it was this whole view of France I clung to in my head, this idyllic world caught in the past, unchanging, or maybe it was just how un-tech savvy my other grandma was but downloading apps with my Mamie in the cool of her stone kitchen had never even crossed my mind.

As she watched me play around with the app, my phone buzzed. A new text from Valentin. I didn’t have time to hide it before Mamie caught a glimpse.

“C’est ton copain?” she asked. Is it your… I didn’t know the last word, so I ran it through the app. Two translations came up for it: friend, and boyfriend. My face went red.

“Valentin,” I answered, trying to avert the question. “I am going… je vais… manger? To eat? Barbecue.”

“Oh…” she replied. Just like that, our moment was over. She took her coffee and turned around, heading back up the stairs.

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