It’s All Maya!

Part One: 

I had a friend, Michelle, who saw signs everywhere to the point where we all began to think she was a little crazy. If she saw a dead bird she would say, “Uh oh! I’m going to get news about someone who died.” Or if she saw people coming toward her with a suitcase she would say, “Oh, someone’s coming to visit soon.” If the person with the suitcase was moving away from her, she would declare, “Someone’s going to be moving away.”

Michelle had tons of signs that none of us really paid that much attention to, afterall in Paris you see people walking around with suitcases all the time, especially in the 6th arrondissement where we both lived.  Then little by little we, her friends, started noticing that what she said had some validity to it.

In all the years I lived in Paris, only once had I seen a rat; thank God because I’m terrified of rats! When I told Michelle, she of course said, “Be careful you’re going to meet an unpleasant person and you’re going to get into an argument with him.” I brushed it off as “nutty Michelle” but a few days later I did meet someone like that and had an argument.

Fast-forward twenty years later to Katia’s first evening in Paris. Gérard met us at Montparnasse and we drove around the city to show Katia the sights. We drove past the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde, up the Champs-Elysées and around the Arc de Triomphe, back down to the Avenue Montaigne and over to Alma-Marceau to see the Eiffel Tower and then drove along the quays. We stopped at a red light and Katia looked out the window, “Is that a rat climbing into the trash can!?” she asked. Patrick looked out and said, “Oh my God, there’s two of them!” I refused to look out the window.  My Paris does not include rats, thank you very much!

Gérard said in French, not understanding what had just been said in English, “So Katarina, don’t you think Paris is beautiful?” Katarina answered as the car took off once again, “Yes, Paris is beautiful, except for the two rats that climbed into the trash.”

Maya Muses: As we headed home, I thought about Michelle at that moment and wondered to myself, “Hmm, are we going to meet up with two disagreeable people and get into an argument? Nah,” I told myself, “that was just crazy Michelle with her signs from years ago.  Forget about it!” And so I did….

(To be continued.)

Photo Credits:  Flickr and Personal Photos