28 November 13

Trigger: An assortment of shiny items were placed on the table including: a broken lamp part, shiny gold plastic plate, tin of pate spread

Four Old Friends

Rene Pantoufle squinted at the tin in his hand in the gloom of the pantry. That must be about the last of the duck rillete spread put up by Yvonne he thought to himself. She’s been gone now over two years but it should still be good. I really do need to repair that broken lamp in here so I can see these things more clearly, he said aloud as he shuffled out of the pantry and over to the window to take a better look.

The lamp had been broken for 5 years but Rene saw no need to hurry with its repair. There was not really any hurry in Rene’s life. The day’s passed along as they came and Rene found pleasure in what each one presented.

He opened the tin and then sliced off a hunk of bread with his Opinel knife from the days old torte he had up in the cabinet, Rene sat down at the long wooden table which filled the length of the kitchen in his stone farm house. Moustique, the black and white cat with whom he shared his house, jumped up on the table awaiting his share of the rillette as Rene smeared a large swipe onto a piece of the bread. He brought the concoction to his nose first and breathed in deeply.

“Ah smell that Moustique, Yvonne made the best rillete”, he said to the cat. Having Moustique around made him feel less guilty about talking aloud. He placed it into his mouth savoring the flavor and chewed it slowly while he put a small portion on the gold plastic plate that was Moustique’s. “There you are my friend, dinner fit for a king cat.” They ate the rest of the pate together in silence until at the end, with his last bit of bread he swirled around the inside of the tin to get the juices which remained. “There we are now, all set for my walk. Take care of things until I get back.”

As he did every day after his lunch, Rene took to the path leading from his house through the woods and along the back country road that led to the small village of Astuce. Though in his 80s he walked briskly along, smelling the smells of the changing seasons. His nose told him when the weather was changing or the cepes coming in or even the hint of a truffle as he passed through the green oaks that filled his forest nearby. His sharp eyes were always on the lookout for a vestige of mushroom, pushing through the leaves. Many of his night’s dinners were made of the bounty he foraged in the woods on his daily journey into Astuce.

He approached the village as the bell sounded 2 oclock. Ah, just in time he thought as he walked into the small tabac/cafe that was the only business left in Astuce. Already at their usual table were Antoine, the proprietor, and Eugene, or Geegee to his friends. The cards were on the plastic coated red and black checked oilcloth which covered the table, minimizing the damage from the inevitable spills that occurred from their coffee cups or wine glasses when a trump hand was thrown down in triumphant glee accompanied by a pounded fist..

“Where’s Pascal?” Rene asked idly about the fourth of their quartet of lifelong friends.

“He does not get around as well as he used to you know Rene”, reminded Antoine as he poured red wine into a glass at Rene’s place.

Taking a long pull from the glass, Rene thought aloud, “Ahh, none of us do, but so what. I find I see things far more effectively when I walk slow. When I was young, I passed so much of life by in my hurry to make money or to impress a young lady. Even after I found my Yvonne, I was always in a hurry. And what did it do for me. I still ended up here with you fellows every day,” he said slyly to his smiling mates.

“Yes but think Rene, we could have been playing belotte far longer if you’d have not waited so long to retire. And you would be a better card player for certain. “

Their conversation flowed, along with the wine as they laughed and commented on the state of the weather, the harvest prospects, the English lady who had bought the house in the village opposite the Cafe, and their past lives and loves.. As old friends who knew each other and their foibles, they gently joked and talked the time away waiting for Pascal.

Antoine got up from the table after about a half hour with a bit of worry on his face and walked over to the phone on the counter. “ It’s not like Pascal to keep us waiting. I’m going to ring his house.” He held the phone out for them to hear the unanswered ringing. “I suppose he is on his way here and most likely came across a field of cepes and is filling a bag to bring some to us.”

Another 15 minutes went by and finally Rene rose from the table putting on his hat and scarf , buttoned up his thick sweater and said he would walk out toward Pascal’s house to see what was going on.

As he passed out of the village, taking the path that led through the woods and along the hidden valley field to Pascal’s, Rene thought about his life and how important his companions were to him. Even without Yvonne, Rene was a happy man. His life was simple, his pleasures profound in the things around him, his friends there for him, making no demands but clearly there to support each other. For what more could a man ask.

He walked along in silence contemplating these things while his sharp eyes looked out for signs of Pascal. He knew of Pascal’s private special spot where he found his cepes and veered off the path through the woods to the small clearing around which the mushrooms would be found. And it was there he saw Pascal, sitting on the ground, his back against a tree, a large plastic sac of cepes next to him.

“Pascal, you lucky devil, I see you’ve found your treasure today,” he spoke out to him as he walked up. But then, he saw, that Pascal’s eyes were open, unblinking, looking toward the sky, and there was no response to Rene’s voice.

“Ahh Pascal”, Rene said quietly. “You have gone away, leaving us your gift of the cepes as a memory of you”, as he sat down on the ground next to him. Rene sat and viewed him silently for a while, thinking of all the time they had spent together. “You know, you were there for me, when Yvonne died and along with the others helped me. We have led the good life, all of us together. How better to have left it today sitting in the woods, with the cepes alongside for your next dinner.”

Rene, Antoine and GeeGee continued their daily gathering at the cafe. The old friends always remembered their missing companion with a glass in his honor and his seat left empty, though he was always dealt a hand in their game. They knew their time would come in turn but they approached it with no fear. After all, they were happy men and understood that Pascal had shown them the way to their future. What could be so bad about that.