Duel

I climbed the stairs to the club de form to get a schedule. When I came in, the owner was in the middle of a class. The  temporary receptionist was a girl of about 4 behind a tall and narrow counter.. She was on her knees on a swivel chair that brought her up to my eye level. Above her were framed  portraits, photographs in black and white of her and her parents in a tropical location. To her right, and about a foot away from her was a very large television that was fitted into the narrow space. It was turned on and showing a cartoon with a cat and mouse on a hectic adventure.

The girl was a messy purple and pink picture with a pony tail sticking out in some skewed direction. Perhaps she had pink glasses on, maybe my imagination gave her glasses to help explain why she was not understanding me.

I asked in French if there was a paper with the class schedule on it like the one that was entombed in glass in front of her on the counter. No reaction, she did not comprehend.  I kept trying. I used my hands, drawing out the paper , pointing to the classes, pointing to the master schedule, conjuring the idea of something to take with me. She tilted her head at me and gave me a look that I recognize from my dogs....huh?

I tried telling her that I was an American, that usually impresses the adults...I could have been from whatever planet the TelaTubbies are from, she didn't care. She had a 15 second attention span at most and then she would flip her pony tail and swivel back in a violet blur towards the television. She was unadvisedly  close.

I was not giving up. I tried again. Annoyed, she reached into the desk and slammed down a pale yellow flyer and turned her attention back to the TV . The red cat was choking the purple mouse so close that it was life sized.

The flyer was for some classes, not all. "Is there another" I asked using , I hoped, child appealing and patient French. She looked again, more annoyed, and came up with another pale yellow sheet and slammed it down in front of me. The cat let go of the mouse and it still to the floor, dazed, stars above his head. The schedule was still not the one I needed.

She put her elbow on the desk, chin leaning on her fist looking me right in the eye. I mimicked, eye to eye, she pulled her fist down, I followed....we were about to get into a copy cat duel...
And  her mother came behind the desk and gave me all of the info that I needed.
This is not over!