Sweet Promised Land, 50th ed. by Robert Laxalt

Author:Robert Laxalt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780874177190
Publisher: University of Nevada Press

IT WAS NIGHT and dinner was done, and, after all, we were in Paris. So we did as the Frenchmen did, and walked slowly along the Champs-Elysées, stopping often to look in through the high, lighted windows of the stores.

My father could not get over it. He marveled at the gleaming little cars on display, the richness of the furs on the manikins, and even the fine leather that went into the shoes. And when we came to our first theater and saw that an American movie was playing there, he was amazed. For an instant, he argued that we should go see it, until I convinced him that this would be a sacrilege when there were only a few hours to be spent in Paris.

And so we ventured out on the avenue and crossed at risk of life and limb to the Arc de Triomphe, arriving there with my father's mutterings that the French drivers must be blind or crazy, or both. Beneath the towering stone arch, he told me of how his grandfather had been to Paris once, in a revolution, and how he told afterward with shakings of his head how men had gone crazy with the smell of blood, and how that blood ran red in the streets. Still, his grandfather had spoken of at least the journey in pride, because, after all, there were few Basques in that day who had even seen Paris.

We strolled far up the avenue until the darkened side streets of Paris began to press against the lighted way. Tired from walking, we sat down in a sidewalk café and watched the night people disappear into the shadows. My father had a grin on his face.

“You know,” he said, “I can't tell for sure, but it seems to me that this must be the same café where Jean and I happened to be sitting one night while we was waiting to go to America. It's just about the same place, because I remember there wasn't too many lights here then either.” He shook his head and whistled. “Jesus crackers! What a night that was.”

“Well, what happened?” I said.

“Are you sure you'll never tell your mother?” he said.

“I wouldn't do that, Pop,” I said.

“Well, I'll tell you then,” he said. “But you better be sure.”

“I'm sure, Pop,” I said.

“Well, you know,” he began, “I don't know how to say it. It sounds a little funny.” He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “But anyway, we'd gotten tired from walking around, and so here we was sitting to have a little rest and a drink of wine and to watch the people going by. I don't know where they came from, but all of a sudden there was two ladies standing by our table. They had on long dresses like they wore in those days, and big fancy hats, and they smelled of perfume so much it made you a little dizzy.

“At first, when they just stood there looking at us, we thought maybe we had their table or something, and so we got up.

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