Nick Webster

La Vie En France

            The first thing I noticed when we arrived in France was that I now had no clue what anything said.  Nikki wasn’t kidding.  It was an entirely new language, and I knew none of it.  The second thing I noticed was even worse.  Nikki had trouble deciphering much of the language as she tried to figure out what the signs said on our way out of the airport.  Nikki learned some of the basic language before we left but not nearly enough to comfortably navigate the airport.

            This could prove difficult for the short term for both of us.  Nikki taught me a lot of what she knew, but I had limited time to learn the language since I just started to learn it on the plane, and I could only learn how to hear and say the words.  That would not help me read any signs or billboards.  Let’s hope the people were nice and would help us navigate our new environment.

            Nikki and I were on the same page.  “We need to learn the language here,” she said only a few minutes after we had exited the plane.

            Nikki first had us exchange our Russian currency for French currency.  There was an exchange center in the airport where they gave us what’s called a “Euro” in return.  However, there were a lot less Euros than the Russian dollars.  I’m not sure if they stole from us or what, but Nikki wasn’t too concerned about it.  I didn’t question it either.  Right after we finished exchanging currency, Nikki emphasized, “We don’t have much money, so we’ll have to learn the language along the way,” she said.  

            We exited the airport, and I asked my favorite question.  “What’s the game plan?”

            Nikki turned to me and blurted out, “You just never live life one moment at a time, do you?”

            I wasn’t expecting such an assertive response.  We were still speaking in Russian, and I don’t think anyone around here speaks in Russian anymore.  Several people were giving us odd looks, but that was nothing new for us.

            I didn’t respond directly to her question, but I did point out what I had noticed.  “How are we going to communicate here without either of us knowing much of the language?”

            “The only thing I need is access to a computer, and all our worries will be gone,” she said very proud of herself.

            “Well, we don’t have access to one right now,” I pointed out.

            “Silly Nick, there are libraries scattered throughout many countries including this one.  I won’t be able to search for anything too risky because the French government will find out.  Also, there are likely going to be cameras in the public library, so they’ll be alerted to video evidence of who searched.  That’s why we’re going to learn the language at the public library today.  We need to make it easier to communicate and navigate around this country,” she stated.  She started cheerfully skipping as she finished her last sentence.

            “Where’s the public library?” I asked.

            “You’ll see,” she said.  We kept heading down the same street in the same direction.

            Our flight was only a few hours, and by now, it was around lunch time.  I was hungry and starting to become impatient.  “Do we have to right now?  I’m hungry.”

            “What did I tell you?” she said.  “I knew you’d be hungry!  God.  I feel like your mother,” she said that last sentence while rolling her eyes yet still giving a little smile.

            It didn’t take us too long before we stopped.  It looked like a bus stop.  “How far away is the library?” I asked.

            “Far enough away to where you’re not going to want to walk.  And I don’t want to drag you after you collapse from starvation,” she said with a slight smile.

            “There are things called ‘taxis’ in this country.  Basically, you pay someone else to drive you around,” she explained.

            “How do we know if we can trust them?” I curiously asked.

            “Well, if they want my money, they better take us to the library!” she exclaimed.  “We’ll find some place that sells food near the library first.  Just so I don’t have to heard you nagging voice.”  She giggled as she said finished that last sentence.

            We waited for several minutes, but a taxi eventually stopped for us.  The driver started talking to us, but I don’t know much of the language, so I didn’t understand much of what he was saying.  Nikki could somewhat communicate with him.  He seemed confused but also frustrated.  Nikki did her best to try to talk to him.  She showed him her set of money.   He probably thought we didn’t have any money.  Eventually, the driver started driving us.  Nikki and I were both intensely looking outside.  We wanted to see everything around us.  Knowing where every building and every little detail may help us in the future.  You can’t be too careful, especially with all the experiences we’ve had.

            About fifteen minutes into the drive, Nikki started yelling at the driver.  “Faux!  Faux!” she yelled.  I didn’t know what it meant.  She started pointed and hitting the back of the driver’s seat.  He started yelling back at her.  What on Earth was going on?

            I don’t know if she understood him or not, but when she realized she wasn’t getting her message across.  She started yelling, “Arrêtez! Arrêtez!”  The driver kept yelling back at her too, but neither of them seemed to be getting anywhere.  We kept driving a few minutes before he pulled off to the side of the road.  He pulled out a phone, and Nikki very angrily exited the taxi.  I looked back and forth between the two angry people, and then I also exited the vehicle.

            “Wh- what happened?” I asked.

            Nikki was red in the face.  “He started taking us the wrong way.  I don’t know where we were going, but we weren’t heading toward the library anymore.”  She looked back at the taxi as it started to drive away.  She grabbed a piece of metal from the ground and threw it at the taxi.

            “You’re going to piss him off!” I said shocked that she would do such a thing.  I think we need to stay under the radar.  Making people angry will not do that.

            “Run!” she yelled.  She grabbed my hand and started running in the opposite direction of the taxi.  This was not a great start to living in this country.  Wasn’t this supposed to be the country of love? or language of love, I should say?  I’m not feeling much love here so far.

            We ran for several blocks and turned a couple of corners.  In the middle of running, we had stopped holding hands.  We finally rounded a third corner, and she stopped us while giggling.  However, after we rounded that corner, she used her arm to try to grab me.  I was moving too fast, and we both went down to the ground.  We rolled around on the ground, and she started uncontrollably laughing.  I couldn’t help it either.  Her laughter eventually made me laugh.  We both were laughing so hard that we didn’t realize how close our faces were together.  We both open our eyes at the same time.  Our faces were only a few inches apart.  I started blushing when we made eye contact, and I immediately sat up.

            “This is fun,” Nikki said while still giggling.

            I looked back at her.  She was full of joy and energy.  It was inspiring yet confusing at the same time.  How could she be so happy right now?  We just got kicked out of a taxi in a country that neither of us know unable to speak to anyone in this country.

            Nikki noticed that I wasn’t having as much fun as her.  “Lighten up,” she said.  “You only live once.”

            She sat up and brushed herself off.  “I could use some new clothes.”

            I don’t know why, but I immediately jumped on the assertive at that comment.  “Can we both do less stealing?”

            She was still laughing, but that question made her stop laughing.  “What?” she asked.  I was sure she heard me, but I think she was just shocked at my response.

            “Let’s not steal or commit anymore crimes.  I don’t want to feel guilty every time we eat or get a new shirt,” I said.  I tried to make a sad face to guilt her into agreeing with me.  I’m not sure if it worked or not.

            “How are we going to eat then?” she asked.  She said it curiously instead of disagreeably.

            “You have money.  Let’s find a way to earn some more,” I said.

            “Do you know how I got this money?” she asked.

            I hesitated.  I knew the answer.  “You- you worked a job for it?”

            “Oh, it was a job alright.  You’d be surprised at how difficult it was for me to break into that store!” she said as she started laughing.  I didn’t find it funny.

            “Nikki, that’s someone else’s money that you took.  What if someone took it from you?” I was not happy with her responses.

            “Then I’ll steal some more,” she said.  I sighed and shook my head.  She finally started to get serious.  “Look, Nick.  We don’t really have much choice right now.  We need to figure life out first.  I would love to not have to worry about stealing food.  I would love to have a home, parents, or friends.  I would love all that.  But we don’t have any of that right now.  It takes time, and we have to do what we have to do until we get there.”

            I was still angry at Nikki, but she was right.  It might come down to either starving to death or stealing, and I really don’t want to choose the first option.  I just kept looking at her with an glare on my face.

            She noticed this and softly grabbed my wrists.  She started rubbing them with her thumbs and said, “We’ll be fine as long as we stick together.  This is a big world, but we’ll figure it out.  Together.”  I started to get the feeling that she was simply manipulating me, but what else could I do or say?  She was right about everything.  At this point, we had to steal, and we had to stick together.  I was trying to steal food from restaurants, and I stole the clothes on my back even while under the supervision of the grandma.

            I pulled away frustrated.  I made a grunting noise while doing that.

            “Aww, is someone a little grumpy?” she started mocking me.  She started giggling as she said it.  I turned my back to her in protest of her actions.  Then, she suddenly jumped on my back while laughing.  This brought us down to the ground again.  She went back to her uncontrollable laughter.  I tried to stay mad, but I looked at her being so happy and peaceful.  It was hard to stay mad at her for long.  Eventually, I started laughing under my breath too.  I gave up on my frustration.

            Nikki rolled over onto her back.  Now we were both laying on the ground.  I was on my stomach, and she was on her back.  We were in an alley, so we were both dirty by now.

            A lady walked around the corner and saw us laying on the ground.  Nikki was startled; she clearly wasn’t expecting anyone to be there.  She started speaking, but again, I couldn’t understand anything she said.

            Nikki listened intensely, ready to jump up and leave at a second’s notice.  The lady seemed concerned about us.  She had a hand on her mouth and had a high-pitched voice whenever she talked.  It made me think she was genuinely concerned about us.  Nikki didn’t budge her skepticism, though.

            I’m not sure how much Nikki understood, but the women didn’t look like she was going to approach us.  I just kept looking back and forth between the lady and Nikki.  “What’s she saying?” I asked in a whisper.

            “I’m not entirely sure.  I think she’s just concerned if we’re alright,” Nikki said.

            The lady seemed to ask several questions.  Then she took out a wallet and pulled out some money.  She looked to offer it to us.  She could tell Nikki was very defensive.  She put the money on the ground as a peace offering.  She gestured toward the money and then backed up around the corner same corner.

            Nikki waited several moments before she reacted.  We both listened for her footsteps.  It sounded like she was leaving.  Nikki eventually walked over to the money that was on the ground.  She looked it over several times and felt it on both sides.  I assume she was checking to see if it had a chip on it or something.  I also should be nervous about things like that.  I was born with a chip in me after all.

            “Odd,” she said.

            “Perhaps some people out there are generous.  I lived with an old lady for a day after all,” I said.  Nikki never seems to look at the bright side of humanity, but maybe one day I could make her believe that even a few people are good out there.

            “It’s not much money,” she started, “but it will help a little bit.  I think this will be worth around two meals for the two of us.”

            “Should we see if we can see where she came from?” I asked.  I thought it might be helpful to see if she came from the building next to us.  If she did, we might have a future friend.

            “No, let’s stick to the plan,” she said.  “We’re going to need to learn this language as soon as possible.”

            “But we-” I started to protest, but she interrupted me.

            “We can always come back and find her if you’re so set on being best friends with her,” she stated.  “It’ll only benefit us if we can better communicate with her anyway.”

            She had a point.  “Alright, let’s go,” I said.  We started walking through the alley and back down to the main road.

            “Well, the library should be another 15 kilometers away.  We’ll either have to find another taxi and risk them taking us somewhere random or we could walk but we wouldn’t have as much time before they close,” she started.

            “If you’re determined to stay a criminal, we can always figure out a way to sneak back into the building in the middle of the night,” I stated.

            She hesitated.  “I think we should stay quiet until we know we’re ready to leave this country.”

            That response surprised me.  “Are you afraid of being caught?”

            “The public library will have cameras.  That’s what I’m most worried about.  But you’re right.  We can scout everything out when we get there.  We can always wait until the next day to learn the language some more.”  She seemed usually hesitant as if she was hiding something or keeping a thought to herself.

            “But?” I asked.

            “I don’t know,” she seemed confused.

            “What are you thinking?” I asked trying to prompt her to say something.

            “I’m not sure.  I just have a bad feeling about this place,” she said.  “It’s hard to describe.  But I feel like we need to leave this country soon.”

            “Okay,” I said.  “Let’s figure out how to leave.”

            Our walk took a little over three hours.  We both small talked a little bit, but we also both kept our eyes on the environment.  Memorizing our surroundings would be important for navigating this area in the future.

            When we arrived at the library, Nikki stopped and stared at the front of the building.  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

            She immediately snapped her head to stare at me.  “I’m disappointed in you.”

            “What?  Why?” I asked confused.

            “These roads aren’t exactly open.  Do not move your head or look, but the white van behind me has been following us for several kilometers.  How did you not notice them?” she pointed out.

            My eyes grew wide, but I didn’t look.  “I- I-” I couldn’t find the right words to say.

            “You are too trusting of people.  There are people who want to capture and hurt us.  You need to be aware of what’s around you.”  I think she gained a little bit of pleasure in lecturing me.  It reminded her and me that she was in charge and had power over me.  “Now, I bet you when we leave this library that van will be waiting for us.”

            We went into the library and started to learn the language.  We started by asking one of the library workers where the dictionary was.  Nikki made sure she knew several key words and phrases, such as “dictionary,” “book,” “I want,” and “Can you help?”  If you can learn several of these key words, learning the rest of the language will come if you have access to the right resources.

            The problem with this library was that it didn’t have any computers.  “It’s always easier to learn a language if you have internet access,” Nikki explained to me.  “Since we don’t, we’ll have to learn it the hard way.”  The dictionary didn’t have any pictures, which makes it harder.  The entire dictionary was in French, so it would take a while to figure out what words meant.

            The first word Nikki looked up in the dictionary was “encyclopedia,” so we could ask for that book as well.  The encyclopedia is a book like the dictionary except it describes events in history, places, and has pictures.  That would also help us learn the language, about the country that we’re currently in, and about eh people in this country.

            We both studied the language until the library closed.  Nikki was much quicker to pick up the language than I was.  For a short time, we even had a library worker help us and teach us how to say several words.  We had a long way to go, though.

            When we left the library, we both were ready to check if that van was still outside.  We opened the door, but there was no van outside.  I looked at Nikki and said, “See, you are way too worried.  There’s no van here at all.”

            Nikki had a skeptical look on her face.  She seemed to still have other thoughts about that.  What could she possibly be thinking?  I asked her about it.  “You still don’t believe it.”

            Nikki didn’t say anything.  She only looked to our left.  We were still right in front of the door to the library.  The street was narrow, but there wasn’t anyone on the street.  Nothing happened after a few moments.  I finally said, “Come on.  We have to figure out where we are going to stay for the night.”

            With the same skeptical look, Nikki started walking to the right, which is the original direction from which we came.  We turned a corner, and the same white van was sitting there!  Holy crap!

            We both paused for a second.  It seemed like eternity.  There were two people in the front of the van: a driver and a passenger.  I looked at Nikki.  She didn’t break eye contact with the driver in the van.  We didn’t have any weapons to defend ourselves if they chose to attack or capture us.

            I whispered to Nikki, “What are we going to do?”

            “I like their ride,” she said with anger in her voice.  “Come on.”

            She looked forward and started walking down the sidewalk like nothing happened.  For a split second, I looked back at the van and then started following her.

            The van started slowly driving forward and rounded the corner.  Right when it was about to pass us, it suddenly stopped.  Right before the door opened, I looked right into her eyes at an angle.  I could only see one of her eyes, but it looked like she was eager for a battle.  I was scared… I was scared because of her readiness to engage in danger at the risk of her own and my safety.

            The door opened.  There were three men who tried to grab Nikki.  They had no clue what they were about to face.  However, Nikki didn’t have a weapon, so this fight was going to interesting.  The first man expected an easy job.  When he went to grab her, she slid under him, kicked upward at his groin, and in one motion, used the van to kick and pushed that first guy, tripping him over a metal device that separates the sidewalk from the street.

            From there, I jumped at the second guy who was about the grab Nikki.  I climbed onto his shoulder and poked him in the eye.  I didn’t poke him hard enough to draw blood like I was trying to do.  Unfortunately, the third man grabbed a metal pipe by that time.  This guy was much bigger than the first two.  He was so much more intimidating!  He swung it at me.  I ducked, and the pipe hit the second guy right in the head.  Nikki kicked the third guy right above his foot.  It didn’t have as much of an effect as she thought.  He turned to her and swung the pipe as hard as he could at her head.  She didn’t have time to dodge it, but she blocked it with her hand.  “Argh!” she yelled as she caught the metal pipe.

            She grabbed onto the pipe as tight as she could without letting go.  The guy tried to shake her off the pipe but couldn’t.  She was much lighter than he was, and he simply lifted her off the ground.  When he did, she took several swings at his face with her foot.  He was simply too big of a man.

            I feared the worst would happen the longer we fought them, and now the first guy was back ready to fight.  “We have to go!”  I made sure to speak Russian, so they wouldn’t understand us.

            “Not until I get my van!” she cried in anger as she let go of the metal pipe and grabbed a different metal pipe from the side of the van.  She used it to hit the third guy in the legs several times.  He swung at her, but she was too small of a target and could dodge his swings or block them him with her metal pipe.

            The van was still stopped, but at any minute, they could close the door and start driving off.  I didn’t like our odds if that happened.  “Nikki!” I yelled.

            She immediately looked at me the angriest glare you would have ever see.  She cursed and rolled past the big guy, hit the first guy in the head, and grabbed my hand.  We both jumped from the van and took off running down the nearest alley we could find.  We kept running and running.

            When we were finally far enough away from them, we stopped to catch our breaths.  She turned to me and slapped me in the face.  “What is wrong with you?”

            I was confused.  What did I do wrong?  I just wanted her to stop fighting and escape.  I was looking out for her safety.  I looked confused and started to talk, “Wh-”

            She didn’t let me say anything.  “Of all the stupid things you could say or do, that has to be the worst thing you could have possibly done!  God damn it!”

            I was still confused.  “What did I do?”  I softly asked.

            “Even worse is that you don’t even know,” she said as she shook her head.  “Don’t ever use my name in front of anyone who is trying to kidnap us!  Now they have a way to identify us.”

            “But…” I tried to think of how it wasn’t stupid.  “Your passport doesn’t say ‘Nikki,’ and we could just use a different name for you from here on out.  I mean, it’s not like your name has to be Nikki.  We could always change it.”

            She kept shaking her head.  “It’s a way to identify me that I’ve used in the past.  It’s traceable if someone were to, oh I don’t know, track us!”

            I knew that Nikki was correct.  It wasn’t a good idea.  I just didn’t want to be blamed for anything.  I felt like I was so stupid.

            Nikki just started walking and said, “Come on.  What’s done is done.  We need to find a place to lay low.”

            We were right outside of a park.  Without saying anything, we both entered the park.  It had a few good-looking places to hide for the night.  There were a lot of trees and bushes to hide in.  The night air felt slightly warmer than Russia, but it was still around the same temperature.  We would be fine overnight until the winter came around.