When You Come Back To Paris?

I would hear from the french guy every few weeks or so when I first I got back. The conversations would usually start like this -

(Phone Rings)

Me: "Hello"

French Guy: "'Allo"

Me: "Sam?"

French Guy: "Creese?"

Me: "Sam, is that you?"

French Guy: "Yes, it is me."

French Guy: "When you come back to Paris?"


I think anyone who read the posts from the New Year's trip could infer that this was NOT going to be a long term relationship. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad I went back and really, he's not a bad guy. Very courteous, appreciates Billie Wilder's humor (we watched "Some Like It Hot" dubbed in French one night - he couldn't stop giggling), a good pool player, funny, and cute. He's going to make someone else a great partner one day.

The conversations were always friendly, if brief. I got some good advice from my brother after I came back - "Quit interviewing for the job if you don't want it." So I would always explain that I probably wouldn't be going back to Paris anytime soon. It's difficult to get that kind of time off from work, especially with a new job. And although I make a decent living I just can't be spending the kind of money it takes to vacation in Paris every year. I had suggested a couple of times that maybe he should meet a nice French girl. I thought maybe he had since I hadn't heard from him recently. But he called me again tonight. From jail.

Yes, jail. You see the french guy is not French. He is Algerian. And he's been in France illegally for years. He was drinking down by the Seine with a friend when they were stopped by the police. His friend has papers, he does not. So now he is sitting in the French equivalent of a deportation center waiting to find out if his cousin managed to find a lawyer for him. He may be on his way back to Algeria within a week.

I really couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.