She’s Got A Way

Apparently, it’s hotter in the late afternoon because the sun is closer to the earth. As the sun sets, it sinks closer and closer, reducing our distance from it, thus making the temperature rise. This was Nat’s pearl of wisdom explained to me on the way, yet again, to see Yvan Jean-Jean, our mechanic. I don’t know if having problems with the car is a gift or a curse. I get to learn about Nat’s educational deficiencies, and it’s not everyday that you take your swimsuit to the mechanic. Jean-Jean got laid off after 27 years of working his way up to lead mechanic at the Peugeot garage in Sommieres. Now, he not only has a thriving repair shop out of his home, but also a big pool and, oh yeah, a vineyard.

The first day we brought Polly to see him, his wife brought out coffee for us. For two hours we sat on the back deck chatting about life and the process of getting married in France. We then lazily strolled over to the garage and watched Jean-Jean clean the filter, change the alternator and re-calibrate the engine. (This is generally the rhythm of things ‘round these parts.) Noticing that the engine belt wasn’t tight enough and that we were only using 2 of the 4 sparkplugs, he told us to come back the next day so he could replace them… But this time, to make sure we brought our swimsuits.

When we arrived the following day, he immediately popped a beer into our hands. He ushered us towards the pool and pointed to a bush where we could put our suits on. While Nat changed, I stood around the pool with Jean-Jean trying to get across, in broken French and a lot of hand and body movement, a steering problem that needed to be fixed. I was making good progress when Nat finally emerged in her bikini. Jean-Jean couldn’t regain his composure for the rest of the day. Even I could tell with my limited French ability, that he was having a tough time getting any coherent sentences out of his mouth. From then on, no matter how much sign language I pulled out of my hat, I was invisible. Nat had indeed made a new friend.

When the car was finally fixed, which interestingly took twice as long, we braced ourselves for the bill. But to our surprise, instead of digging into our wallets, Jean-Jean gave us a bottle of wine from his winery. He told us not to worry about the bill and that we could pay it next time the car had a problem. So, with a car that finally functioned, a bottle of wine and an invitation to come back and use the pool as often as we liked, we felt like we got a pretty good deal.

I’m thinking that Nat should walk around in a bikini more often. Until then, you will find me in the pool.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 5:48 am and is filed under He Said. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.