Read Online For Sure by France Daigle - Free Book Online Page B

Terry to correct the je vas and say it properly: je vais ? Months? Years? And did he have to make the correction at all cost, at any cost? The more often he was reminded of it, the more Terry, in spite of himself, inserted proper French in his speech, but it did not always happen. Sometimes, incompatible linguistic impulses blinked in his mind when he opened his mouth, producing new errors. And so, just for peace of mind, he preferred occasionally to remain silent.
    140.30.8
    Chiac
    Babar, the elephant cartoon created in 1931 by Jean de Brunhoff, is an excellent model of socialization. His story gently introduces children aged three to seven to the values of citizenship. Babar likes to dress properly, always answers when queried at school, helps others as others have helped him, and learns that each of us has an essential role to play in society. When he becomes king, Babar makes good civil and cultural choices. Under his reign, the elephants build schools, cultivate gardens, play music and attend the theatre.
    141.7.9
    Useful Details
    â€œDey filmed lobsters underwater goin’ in an’ out of de traps . . . Turns out it don’t happen de way dey always tot it did, ha ha ha!”
    142.15.8
    Unidentified Monologues
    In the last building to have housed the newspaper L’Évangéline , all the old printing material — lead ingots, cases, linotypes — lay there abandoned to dust, at the same time as the crafts quietly vanished, a language lost its footing, reality wavered, even memories gradually but steadily fading, fading also in the minds of the elders who now inhabit the place. On my computer I point and click “format,” I read the instruction “change font” and a corner of the veil lifts, revealing that great extinguished body that death suddenly renders fascinating.
    143.54.1
    Forgotten/Recalled
    â€œDo you know how many possible colours exist in the universe?”
    Le Petit Étienne gazed at the colour chart before him as though there were already far too many to count. Zablonski continued:
    â€œWith computers, now we can create sixteen million different colours.”
    Ã‰tienne knew that a million was a lot. To give the number some weight, Zablonski added:
    â€œIt’s almost as many as there are stars in the heavens.”
    The boy’s eyebrows arched. The teacher sensed he was on the right track:
    â€œBut our eyes can’t see all the colours. We can only distinguish around three-hundred thousand. Which is still a great many.”
    Le Petit Étienne considered this.
    â€œSometimes de sky doesn’t have a whole lot of stars.”
    â€œThat’s true. The stars are not unlike colours: we can’t see them all. Because of clouds, or because they’re too far away, or because they’re not in our sky, because the earth is turning.”
    Le Grand Étienne allowed a few moments to pass before taking up his lecture:
    â€œWhat’s particular about all these colours, is that very few of them have names.”
    Ã‰tienne Zablonski pointed to the colour chart:
    â€œThese here, which you can see — marjoram, ondine, melancholy, picador — they’re very lucky to have names, because most of the sixteen million colours are known only by numbers. Or letters. Or sometimes a combination of the two, numbers and letters.”
    Zablonski wondered if the child made the difference between numbers and letters, but he did not linger unnecessarily over the question:
    â€œWhich means that there are still many colours left to name.”
    Suddenly, Le Grand Étienne seemed struck by the idea.
    â€œSo we can very well name a colour wool green or vein green, even mother’s orange, if we so desire. Nothing can stop us doing so. Nothing and no one.”
    144.2.12
    Colours
    Le Petit Étienne gazed at Le Grand Étienne. He felt somehow the incomplete state of the universe and how much there remained to do.
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    1 . The phrase