photos, thatâs all that was left of my family. My inheritance.
I sat on the floor and one by one I took out the old papers and photographs from that box. Most of the papers were in such bad condition they were falling apart. The one thing I did find that was still in good condition was a livret de la caisse dâépargne de Montrouge made out to me.
Iâll tell later how I got this savingâs account booklet, and how I succeeded in collecting the money. Itâs a very funny story. But first ...
Do you know Federman what you should do before going on? You should make a list of all the stories you promised to tell us. This way, you wonât forget.
Good idea. A list like that will wet the potential readersâ mouths, if I may allow myself a liquid metaphor, and this way theyâll want to continue reading. It will keep them in suspense.
Okay, Iâll make a list of these stories before revealing what I found in that box in the bedroom closet that convinced me that my father was probably unfaithful.
List of scenes of my childhood to be written.
1. Scene describing how my uncle Leon planted a tree in the courtyard of our building.
2. Scene describing the savings account booklet I found in the box in the small closet, and how I succeeded in collecting the money when I returned to France for the first time, after ten years in America.
3. Scene describing how I once stole a ring in a department store.
4. Scene describing how after school with the other boys from our neighborhood we played soccer in the street, not with a soccer ball, but with a little wooden palette that would demolish our shoes, which made my mother very unhappy because she could not afford to buy me new shoes. In fact, concerning shoes, I had to wait until my cousin Salomonâs shoes became too small for him, to be handed down to me by my aunt Marie. But these used shoes were already too small for me because, even though I was younger than my cousin Salomon, my feet were bigger than his. I suppose, there is nothing much more that can be said about that.
5. Scene describing how mean one of the teachers in school had been, and how he would throw a metal ruler at us if we spoke in class, and how when he came back from the war he had lost a leg, and he was not as mean, and how we would laugh when we saw him walk with only one leg and his crutches. We would call him le boiteux.
6. Scene describing how one day when I went to my cousin Salomon, to ask him to help me with my algebra homework, he tried to force me to suck his cock.
7. Scene describing how, one day, when I was playing doctor with my sister Jacqueline, we almost got caught by my mother. It was the day war was declared.
8. Scene describing how my cousin Salomon, one day, when we were playing in the street in front of our house, tied me with a rope down in a ditch some workers had dug in the street, and how he shoved a handkerchief in my mouth so I couldnât shout, and how I couldnât untie myself and answer my mother when she called out from the window of our apartment for me to come home because it was starting to get dark.
9. Scene describing the Exodus at the beginning of the war, and how all the people left Paris as the German soldiers approached the city, and how my parents and sisters and me, we walked carrying suitcases on the roads of Normandy with thousands of other people, and how we saw French soldiers in retreat, and also how we saw dead people when the enemy airplanes fired at us with machine guns.
10. Scene describing how we wandered for days on the roads of Normandy, and how when we arrived in Argentan the Germans were already there, and how I was impressed with their uniforms, especially the officersâ uniforms.
11. Scene describing the house in Argentan in which the Germans put us, and where we stayed for almost a year, and how my mother would fix the German soldierâs uniforms, do their laundry, press their shirts, and how my
I sat on the floor and one by one I took out the old papers and photographs from that box. Most of the papers were in such bad condition they were falling apart. The one thing I did find that was still in good condition was a livret de la caisse dâépargne de Montrouge made out to me.
Iâll tell later how I got this savingâs account booklet, and how I succeeded in collecting the money. Itâs a very funny story. But first ...
Do you know Federman what you should do before going on? You should make a list of all the stories you promised to tell us. This way, you wonât forget.
Good idea. A list like that will wet the potential readersâ mouths, if I may allow myself a liquid metaphor, and this way theyâll want to continue reading. It will keep them in suspense.
Okay, Iâll make a list of these stories before revealing what I found in that box in the bedroom closet that convinced me that my father was probably unfaithful.
List of scenes of my childhood to be written.
1. Scene describing how my uncle Leon planted a tree in the courtyard of our building.
2. Scene describing the savings account booklet I found in the box in the small closet, and how I succeeded in collecting the money when I returned to France for the first time, after ten years in America.
3. Scene describing how I once stole a ring in a department store.
4. Scene describing how after school with the other boys from our neighborhood we played soccer in the street, not with a soccer ball, but with a little wooden palette that would demolish our shoes, which made my mother very unhappy because she could not afford to buy me new shoes. In fact, concerning shoes, I had to wait until my cousin Salomonâs shoes became too small for him, to be handed down to me by my aunt Marie. But these used shoes were already too small for me because, even though I was younger than my cousin Salomon, my feet were bigger than his. I suppose, there is nothing much more that can be said about that.
5. Scene describing how mean one of the teachers in school had been, and how he would throw a metal ruler at us if we spoke in class, and how when he came back from the war he had lost a leg, and he was not as mean, and how we would laugh when we saw him walk with only one leg and his crutches. We would call him le boiteux.
6. Scene describing how one day when I went to my cousin Salomon, to ask him to help me with my algebra homework, he tried to force me to suck his cock.
7. Scene describing how, one day, when I was playing doctor with my sister Jacqueline, we almost got caught by my mother. It was the day war was declared.
8. Scene describing how my cousin Salomon, one day, when we were playing in the street in front of our house, tied me with a rope down in a ditch some workers had dug in the street, and how he shoved a handkerchief in my mouth so I couldnât shout, and how I couldnât untie myself and answer my mother when she called out from the window of our apartment for me to come home because it was starting to get dark.
9. Scene describing the Exodus at the beginning of the war, and how all the people left Paris as the German soldiers approached the city, and how my parents and sisters and me, we walked carrying suitcases on the roads of Normandy with thousands of other people, and how we saw French soldiers in retreat, and also how we saw dead people when the enemy airplanes fired at us with machine guns.
10. Scene describing how we wandered for days on the roads of Normandy, and how when we arrived in Argentan the Germans were already there, and how I was impressed with their uniforms, especially the officersâ uniforms.
11. Scene describing the house in Argentan in which the Germans put us, and where we stayed for almost a year, and how my mother would fix the German soldierâs uniforms, do their laundry, press their shirts, and how my
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