drinking in the savan.
She's right, let's enjoy life with the little things that make it tasteful.
When I called on Sunday, she had received a letter she didn't know what to do with it. I asked to her what is written on the envelop. The name she spelt was hers, so I said it's a letter for you. What is written behind. It was the address of my brother. I said to her : "Open it, it's a letter for you from your son."
She opened it and said there is a postcard with flowers, they are red and rose and yellow. I said, "Mum, good for you, your soon loves you and sends his love, say to a friend or a nurse to read it to you. I'll come at the end of the month. Take care."
Annecy May 2015
The party
It was written in the mail : "I want to see all my friends for my fifty years old party. Next one would be to Ibiza, for a week-end."
Ibiza. The beautiful sun tanned bodies, the loud electro music on the beach, the trendy restaurants and the crasy night clubs. Ibiza, it rings a bell, like a life I could have had, chosing another path. How exciting !
This party was in Madrid, where he lived.
When I received it I hesitated. Armelle was still peaced off by my selling her painting, the best one according to me, while she had promised it to friends.
Since then, the supposedly friends didn't talk to us and avoided us in the streets of our summer village, believing money was more important to us than friendship. Honestly, I just forgot to say to Armelle that I had found a customer, still it was good for her artist ego not just to sell to friends at a low price.
Armelle didn't talk to me during three days, whatever my apologies. Wifes are complicated to manage, don't you think ? Especially on the long term, if you want to keep a good relationship, and be sure somebody will with you when you become old.
Jm is my oldfriend. People nearly killed us when we were young on the Mekong river, as thinking we were drug dealers and not crasy tourists in the wrong place near the golden triangle, Jm was the one to put us in a monastery, and during one week we couldn't talk, mute bodies, bitten by mosquitoes, as it was forbidden to kill bugs, Jm was the one to enter Tibet with us after Tien Anmen, and to spend hours to write a self criticism for Chinese authorities before taking back our passport far away from the forbidden area… I like him as a brother.
I sent a texto to my old friends to check who was coming, as not wanting to share my old friend with unknown people, without memories.
The hearth break just happened in Katmandu, I couldn't forget JM was doing a trek every three years in Himalaya, and he could have disappeared as two hundreds of our citizens.
We're both from rich families. Heavy families in a way. One in Normandy, the other in Versailles, but it's the same. We like to do disruptive things, just to challenge ourselves and escape our convenient and smooth life. We got married with beautiful wifes and articulated ones. Our children are successfull. We are sportiv. We could be described as lucky guys.
Although now, our lifes are different, Jm is spending a lot of time on the latest apps such as Tinder to meet girls, having a lot of new adventures, I've stopped my love affairs in bad hotels, too tired for that, it sucked. One day, I saw my neighbour on the parking, and I realized my couple was at stake, Armelle would never accept the reality she had carefully avoided. Jm drinks a lot of mojitos near dancing floors, I usually drink a whisky after dinner looking at a movie with my wife on the sofa. When she goes to sleep, I put gore series and movies just to have fun.
Mona was coming. I never slept with her when we were young, even after late parties with a lot of alcohol and desire, but I continue to text her whatever the hour of the night, and as a single she always answers, which is pleasant. Mona would come. So I would come. It could be fun. And half a century matters. Who knows where we'll be in fifty years.
When I arrived Mona was in the wrong hotel, so it took us one hour to find each others, after an awkward hug and kiss, I had to convince her to go to the first party, before the big one the day after.
I was in a large tee-shirt and a parm pants, that make her laugh when we discovered the party took place in one of the most selected places in Madrid. We argued with the body guard, and finally gave up, drinking a mojito on the plazza close to where JM and his friends were.
We spent all day after, a Saturday, in Museums. Prado, Guernica. I was disappointed to see it as a black and white painting. I don't know why, I thought it was in colors.
In the evening, when we arrived at the big party, I did everything to show I was not in couple with Mona. The music was a good one but loudly. JM had booked a floor and corner in the huge party lounge.
A girl arrived, Brazilian, beautiful, blond hair, sexy, nice butt and long legs with stiletos, heavy make up and red lipstick.
We understood she was JM's new conquest, even if he was behaving as he was single after his divorce with Path, leaving their children with her except for week-ends every two weeks.
A two am, my friend Eric and Mona left. I stayed with the old friends, when JM was young, before getting married to Path. I was informed she was hot and had an adventure with some of them, even if not staying long in their city.
At the same time, they found her arrogant, especially when ordering her coke without ice in it, needing it separate in a jar, and nor sugar nor better on her crêpe, which is a crime for a real Normand living in Le Havre.
At three, I had drunk a lot of champagne, and a few caiperinas, and vodkas. The girls arrived. They were not invited, but we were two many boys to stay without females. So, I drank with one of them, Sonia, from an Eastern country, excited to be in Madrid.
I don't remember much, but she did well.
The day after, we walked in the ramblas before the brunch, with an umbrella as it was a rainy day, and I felt exhausted after sleeping only three hours.
At lunch, JM's parents were here. They didn't recognize me. Perhaps because I'm bold. I'm still fit. They look very old now. They looked at my darkcircles, and they looked strangely at Mona, thinking she was perhaps an ex girl friend or a fresh new one. She was talking fast. Laughing at my outfit and also at Eric's look, in thai pajamas like in the old time when JM and him had trousers with blue fabric, were smoking marijuana, and had candles in the rooms on the campus.
I don't know if it was the too oily accras, but I threw away all the food in the toilets.
I stayed in the little room like half an hour. Mona knocked at the door to check I was ok, like in the old times.
I feel old and I'm not even fifty years old.
This guy will kill me, he's looking as young and stylish with his blue eyes, tanned skined, and beautiful hair and white teeth. He smiles as you would breath.
He's my oldest friend. I love him, he seems free without Path, and I must admit I understand why.
I still love my wife, Armelle, I was never loyal to her, I think she knows it. It's not that important. I think I will get old with her. Like the two of us, hand in hand, walking on the pavement of a street, taking one coffee on a terrace, then biking towards the small market . Looking tenderly at each other.
My god, my flight is postponed. She will kill me, as she had to move all books to our new appartement. The big house was too empty to live without our three children. Wish me good luck. To come here, the pilot said he was scared of the air holes, and the flight was jumpy. Really.
Annecy May 2015
The fat woman
I've decided to live in San Francisco a few years ago. I was fed up with Président François Hollande, taxing entrepreneurs like me as if they were rich, whereas the tax plan on the value of a company was the burden that I couldn't afford. I decided to move my headoffices to the Silicon Valley, and jump where everything happens at the moment. I'm sure you have heard of the Unicorns, disrupting every field, from taxi to guest housing, from insurance to bank.
My life in Paris was a nice one. We were leaving in the best district in the seventh arrondissement, near the Invalides, a luminous flat with windows on both
sides, and a view on the Seine. So Parisian. My daughters were in a good school. I used the investments of french government in research to take the benefit of it for my start up, and I had money in an easy way. I had plenty of friends. My employees trusted me, so did my VC and investors. But something was broken, I was getting bored.
I must say something important to you. I'm a rock in roll guy. A real one. I love intense emotions and moments. By respect for my wife, I won't tell everything, but let's say I like to have fun drink with friends, play with girls when they're easy ones and don't look for anything except a good moment with you.
I play in a group. That 's part of my life. I was upset to leave my group of music in Paris, I created it when I was sixteen three years before begining my first start up.
I'm the singer. My friends were devastated. Not that I'm a good singer, but It's been fiften years that we play together. Not bad. I've heard that they have created another group with a new singer, but they don't play very often which is the begining of the end. No shouts, no cries, but dull moments that kill friendship, don't you agree ?
My wife was not as excited as me to live in California. She's got her character. Fuck the Californian dream, she said. She was at that time a teacher in a private school, with a lot of friends, playing