Tita

by Marie Houzelle

“But what kind of work shall I do?”

  I’ve been thinking about this. I don’t see myself as a saleswoman, a waitress, or a hairdresser — I’m too clumsy. Eléonore’s mother is a wine dealer: she runs the office, and her husband takes care of the cellars. But I’m not going to be a wine dealer. I’d just bungle it, like Father. There’s also Sabine’s mother, who’s a doctor at the hospital. Sabine’s father is a doctor too, and our families have known each other for ever, but we seldom see them. Once I heard Mother say that it’s no wonder those people live like hermits: a woman can’t both work and entertain.

  “You’ll study,” Father says, “and then you’ll see what you like.”

  “What I like is to teach my dolls,” I say. “Do you think I could be a teacher?”

  “Certainly.”

  I think of mademoiselle Pélican. “How many students do you need, to make a good living?” I ask. I plan to have quite a few children, and I’ll need to provide for them.

  Father sits me on the table in front of him, pours water into two glasses and hands me one. “You won’t be that kind of teacher,” he says. “You’ll live in a city, and you won’t work in a Catholic school. In a lycée, maybe. You won’t have to worry about numbers.”

  As we drive back to Cugnac in the moonlight, Justine dozes off on the towel bag. Coralie’s head is in my lap; there are traces of chocolate cake on her cheeks and hair, a spot of rouille on the collar of her light-blue dress. She breathes slowly and once in a while makes a soft whistling noise. She too is saved from Pélican: she’s signed up for the école laïque.

  In the front seat, Mother says, “Estelle puts up such a good front. I don’t know how she can bear it.”

  I know what “it” is. Father knows too, but he doesn’t want to discuss it.

  So Mother goes on. “Being left all alone while he...”

  Estelle, all alone? Mother doesn’t seem to know what goes on in the Vié house. Apart from her three children and four live-in servants, Estelle has friends staying with her most of the time. All kinds of friends. That’s why I like her house. Last weekend there were two women from Montpellier, mother and daughter, who were excellent company. The daughter played the flute, and Estelle accompanied her on the piano. Over dinner, the mother said I should eat only what I like because “the body knows what it needs”!

  “Estelle seems fine to me,” Father says. “She and Bertrand have never spent much time together. She’s in Béziers or Montpellier a lot, she’s so keen on bridge. Whereas he loves sailing, hunting, riding, staying at L’Etang and discussing when to prune with his ramonets.”

  Mother would call the ramonets “overseers”. She doesn’t like our local words. “No problem with hunting,” she says. “But this young woman! Taking her out in public!”

  “This young woman” is a striking redhead, the undertaker’s daughter, who’s been the subject of much gossip in the last few months. People say Bertrand always had girlfriends, but he took this one to La Vieille Auberge on the Narbonne road, and to various seaside restaurants where people like my parents go. That, apparently, is not done.

  Father doesn’t react. Like me, he’ll stand by his friends. And I don’t think Mother spoke out of sympathy for Estelle. She is pleased that Father is not like Bertrand, that he doesn’t have lovers, because it allows her to feel superior. Estelle is rich, but Mother is... What is she? Loved. Officially loved. And that’s what she wants to be. Superior, and loved.

  “Were you talking about Paris with Estelle?” Father asks.

  “Yes, I’m driving to Paris with Justine on Saturday. I’ll reserve that nice little hotel in Souillac, and we’ll be in Paris Sunday afternoon.”

  “But you know I’ve already booked a couchette for Justine!”

  “Can’t you get a refund?”

  “I don’t know. And don’t you think it would be a good idea to stay here for the rentrée, with both girls going to new schools? Just for a week or two? You could go to Paris later.”

  “I’ve already told Caroline that I’ll be there on Sunday,” Mother says. “She’s got seats for Gilbert Bécaud at l’Olympia in the evening. Cami will be eaten up with jealousy when I tell her about this, she’s so crazy about her Monsieur 100,000 Volts. She never goes to Paris, poor woman.”

  “But the girls...” Father says. “Loli won’t be done with the grape harvest until the middle of October, your mother is away...”

  “I’ll ask Ginette to take Coralie to and from school,” Mother says. “They’ll be fine. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll go to Narbonne and buy them everything they need for the rentrée.”

  But I already have everything I need. I have a Latin book, an English book, eight books in all for the sixième. No more worries. An auspicious wind has blown them all away.

  On Monday, I’ll get up at seven and bicycle, between the vineyards, to Feris Delteil.

  TITA’S GLOSSARY

  à demain to tomorrow = see you tomorrow. Demain comes from Latin de mane, “in the morning”.

  mes vaillantes valiant souls. A weekly Catholic magazine for girls, founded in 1938, nine years after Coeurs vaillants, “valiant hearts” a magazine for boys – in French âme is feminine, coeur masculine.

  apéritif something that opens the appetite. From Latin aperire, “to open”.

  Arago, François a Catalan mathematician who became a Minister for Marine Affairs and Colonies in the Provisional Government of 1948. He abolished flogging in the French Navy.

  Au ciel dans ma patrie in heaven, my fatherland. From a hymn about the Virgin Mary which starts with “I’ll join her one day in heaven”.

  avant-propos foreword.

  aventure what happens to someone unexpectedly; love affair. From Latin advenire, “to happen”.

  bac or baccalauréat the exam you take at the end of secondary education; you need to pass it if you want to go on to university etc.

  belle-mère beautiful-mother = mother-in-law or stepmother. The adjective beau or belle is used in French for all step and in-law family relationships, probably in order to encourage good feelings that might not arise naturally.

  biens paraphernaux the property of a married woman that she can use as she likes because it isn’t part of her dowry (Greek phernē).

  bigarreau large, juicy, firm-fleshed cherries, with partly white, partly bright-red skin. From bigarrer, “to give contrasting colors”.

  Bon appétit! Good appetite! It’s polite to say this to people who are eating or getting ready to eat, whether you’re sharing their food or not, whether you know them or not.

  Bon Coin good corner; good spot. A very usual name in France for cafés and restaurants.

  bons points a bon point is a small piece of cardboard with the school stamp on it, which stands for a good mark.

  bouillabaisse a traditional fish stew from Marseille. From Occitan bolha-baissa, “boil and reduce”.

  Boum, Quand notre coeur fait Boum, tout avec lui dit Boum Boom, When our hearts go boom, everything around says boom, and love is on its way... That’s the beginning of a very popular Charles Trenet song (from 1938) with a lot of onomatopeiae as well as depictions of everyday sounds: the clock goes tic-tac-tic-tic, the birds pic-pac-pic-pic, the broken dishes cric-cric-crac, the wet feet flic-flic-flac, etc.

  Bourbons a family of kings who ruled over France, from Henri IV (1589), to Charles X (1830) with some revolutionary and napoleonic interruptions. Several European countries were governed by the same dynasty, and Bourbon kings are still on the thrones of Luxembourg and Spain.

  bourgeoises feminine plural of bourgeois, which originally just meant “free town dweller”, as opposed to aristocrat, clergy or peasant.

  C’est le mois de Marie This is the month of Mary. So begins a hymn that continues “it’s the most beautiful month, to the blessed Virgin, let’s give a new song.” May has long been linked with the Virgin. Special month-long ceremonies started in Rome in the 18th century and, through the Jesuits, spread all over Italy and France. The word
May comes from Latin Maius [mensis], “month of Maia”. Maia was an Italic goddess of spring, warmth and fertility.

  cabinet de toilette a small room with a washbasin and a mirror; it might also include a shower, but never a bathtub (in that case, it would be called a salle de bain).

  Café de la Gare is the name of many French cafés that happen to be near a railway station (gare). Almost every town has one. A café or restaurant inside the station itself is usually called Buffet de la Gare.

  caillou stone.

  Caprices de Giselle (Les) Giselle’s tantrums. A novel by the comtesse de Ségur, published in 1867. Giselle is an obnoxious six-year-old who manages to get her own way by throwing tantrums. Nobody can stand her, but her parents think she’s perfect.

  cartagène a mistelle from Languedoc. A mistelle is a drink made by adding grape spirit to grape juice that has just started to ferment. The fermentation is stopped, so the juice keeps its fruity sweetness. From Occitan cartagena, from the name of the Spanish city.

  cassoulet a traditional dish of white beans and goose, from Castelnaudary in Languedoc. From Occitan caçòla “earthenware dish”.

  Catalonia a territory where the Catalan language is spoken, and which has been part of Spain and France at various times. The area that’s now part of Spain became in 1979 a nationality, or autonomous province (capital: Barcelona), where Catalan (with Spanish and Aranese) is one of the official languages; most of the French area, also called northern Catalonia, is now part of the département of Pyrénées-Orientales.

  Cers our northwestern wind. From Latin cersium or cirsium. The way Cato describes it in the 2nd century BC is beautifully accurate: Ventus Cercius, cum loquare, buccam implet; armatum hominem, plaustrum oneratum percellit, “When you speak, it rushes into your mouth; it knocks over an armed man, or a loaded wagon” (Origines, quoted by Aulus Gellius). In the 1st century AD, Pliny (Natural History) calls it “the most famous wind in the province of Narbonne, and as violent as any.”

  Champs-Elysées I wondered how Jean Santeuil could go and play on the Champs-Elysées, which is an avenue with a lot of luxury stores, crowds and cars. But Justine told me that there’s another part of the avenue that has beautiful gardens. Then I remembered that Jean Santeuil takes place in the nineteenth century: at the time there were only horse carriages.

  chou cabbage; puff pastry in the shape of a cabbage; sweet person. From Latin caulis, “stem”.

  cobla a Catalan music ensemble that plays sardanas. It usually consists in eleven musicians and twelve instruments, played in two rows, with only the double bass player standing on the right of the band. There are: two trumpets, a trombone, two fiscorns (baritone saxhorns), two tibles and two tenores (all rather like oboes, but louder). The same person plays the flabiol with the left hand and strikes the tamborí (attached to the elbow of his left arm) with the right, striking it with a drumstick called broqueta. The word cobla was already used by the troubadours to denote a group of two or more musicians. Probably from Latin copula, “link, chain”.

  Coeurs vaillants a French magazine for boys. Cf mes Vaillantes.

  cogitatione in thought; ablative case of Latin cogitatio, from cogito (cum + agito), “to intend, mull over”.

  Confiteor A prayer starting with the words confiteor, “I confess”.

  Conti short for Continental. The name of many cafés and hotels in France. I have no idea why. At least in England it could mean that the place evokes mainland Europe. But in France?

  coudre to sew.

  Crédit Lyonnais A French bank started in Lyon in 1863.

  culture physique physical exercise.

  dames de charité ladies of charity. Their organization was founded in 1617 by Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul to help the poor and the sick.

  De Profundis a prayer for the dead starting with De profundis, “out of the depths”; from Psalm 130.

  dentelle rebrodée de ruche ruffle-embroidered lace.

  département The territory of France is divided into départements: 96 of them. There are five more French départements in the West Indies, South America, and the Indian Ocean. Father and his friends all learned the alphabetical list of départements by heart in elementary school. At the time, there were only 89.

  des enfants du commun ordinary children. Le commun means “the common people” as opposed to the elite.

  Domus aurea, house of gold.

  école laïque non-religious school, state school. In France, practically all private schools are Catholic. Laïc (feminine: laïque) means “not a priest” and also “independent from all religions”.

  école libre free school, a French expression for “private school”, i.e., most of the time, “Catholic school”. In France, before the Revolution, all schools were Catholic. Then there were various visions and projects of a totally secular education system. This never quite happened but, at various times, religious orders were forbidden to teach, or even exiled. At other times, like now, the state chose to help Catholic schools financially and control the quality of the teaching.

  Ecole Polytechnique one of the most prestigious higher-education schools in France and even in the world, founded in 1794 by mathematician Gaspard Monge. It specializes in science and technology.

  faillir almost do; as in j’ai failli m’évanouir quand on m’a servi du foie de veau, “I almost fainted when I was served calf’s liver”.

  falloir need; must, should. Defective verb, which (like, for instance, bruire, concerner, découler, échoir, pulluler, résulter) can only be conjugated in the third person singular.

  félicitations congratulations. From low Latin felicitare, “make happy”.

  Fillette little girl, young girl. The magazine Fillette was founded in 1909 by Publications Offenstadt. It features the comic series L’Espiège Lili, “mischievous Lili,” about a girl whose parents have to go into exile; they leave her in the care of an absent-minded philosophy teacher, monsieur Minet.

  Filochard one of the three cartoon characters in Les Pieds Nickelés, the quarrelsome one with a black patch over his right eye. Slang filocher, “to shirk”.

  flabiol characteristic instrument of the sardana cobla, that was already used by the troubadours. It plays the introits (introductions) and counterpoints. Its sound is thrilling, birdlike; it makes you want to dance.

  Galeries Modernes a typical name for a store. Galerie comes from medieval Latin galilaea, “church porch”.

  Gallimard a publishing house founded in 1911 by André Gide, Jean Schlumberger and Gaston Gallimard under the name “Editions de la Nouvelle Revue française”.

  genou knee.

  georgette de laine wool georgette. A sheer, lightweight woolen fabric. From a French dressmaker whose first name was Georgette.

  gésir to be lying. A defective verb, used only in the present and imperfect indicative, and the present participle. On tombstones, you often see the expression ci-gît, “here lies”.

  Gilbert Bécaud French singer, composer and pianist born in 1927. Famous for “La Corrida” (1956), with lyrics by Louis Amade, “Mes Mains”, “Quand tu danses” (1954), and “Le jour où la pluie viendra” (1957), with lyrics by Pierre Delanoë.

  goûter a French meal taken between four and five in the afternoon. Also called quatre-heures, “four o’clock”, it is compulsory for children, and optional for adults, who tend to call it thé, “tea”. It usually consists in a slice of bread and a few squares of chocolate, or two slices with jam in the middle. For a birthday goûter, there’s a cake with candles, fruit salad, and juice. From goûter, “to taste”.

  grande dame a woman admired for her moral, intellectual or artistic qualities, or her elegance.

  gros pain large, long, thick bread, weighing 1 kg. It’s the most usual kind of bread, especially for tartines; as opposed to more expensive varieties: flûte (thinner) and baguette (still thinner).

  Henri IV a public secondary school for boys, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Its building used to be the abbey of St
Geneviève, founded in 506. Henri IV was a king of France (1553-1610), famous for saying “Paris is well worth a mass” when he converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. Also for wanting his subjects to have, on Sundays, “a chicken in every pot”.

  illustrés that’s what we call magazines with pictures in them, and comic strips.

  infiniment extremely. A word you mostly see after merci, “thank you”. More pompous than merci beaucoup, “a lot”, and seldom used by children.

  innumerabilibus peccatis, et offensionibus, et negligentiis numberless sins, offenses and negligences.

  Jardin des Modes garden of fashions. A monthly fashion magazine founded by Lucien Vogel in 1923.

  Jean Santeuil the protagonist’s name in a novel (or essay) Marcel Proust began in 1895 and didn’t finish. The drafts were published in 1952, thirty years after Proust’s death.

  jeune fille a girl, but one who looks grown up, or nearly; my sister Justine, at 14, can be called a jeune fille (just) because she has shapely legs, and breasts. Two years ago, she was definitely still a petite fille.

  jour de garde day of guard duty. Each Sainte-Blandine pupil engages to attend mass every week on a certain day in order to keep guard – over the holy tabernacle, I guess.

  kermesse charity fair, bazaar. From Flemish kerkmisse, “church festival”.

  L’Indépendant a daily newspapers founded in 1846 by François Arago. It is distributed in two départements: Aude and Pyrénées-orientales.

  La Belle de Cadix (1946) the beauty of Cadix. A popular operetta by Francis Lopez, then a film by Raymond Bernard (1953), both starring Luis Mariano.

  La Petite Illustration a weekly literary journal created in 1913, which published plays, novels, stories, and some poetry. It included illustrations. All the issues in our attic are from before the war.

  La Revue nautique the nautical magazine, founded in 1944.

  La Semaine de Suzette, Suzette’s week, a weekly magazine for girls founded in 1905. It featured Bécassine, the first French comic strip with a female protagonist – a young mouthless Breton housemaid in traditional costume. Bécasse means “woodcock”; also, “silly woman”. There are quite a few feminine bird names in French with the same kind of derogatory denotation: buse (buzzard), perruche (budgerigar), poule (hen), grue (crane), dinde (turkey hen), oie (goose). Not so many for men.