On the day of the dead when the year, too, dies…

It’s been dark and gloomy and rainy all day. The brown and yellow leaves are all wet and stuck together on the sidewalk. I can believe it’s two days after Halloween. Our nice long Indian summer has about run its course.

I can get up early enough to stand in line for my titre de séjour; the problem is I’m not big or tough enough to keep my place in that line. The crowd that gathers there isn’t the most genteel or polite. I guess the guy behind me was nice enough. He was all handsome and suave, as if he’d just come out of some Morrocan Mafia movie (if such a thing exists), slicked back shiny black hair with impeccably neat sideburns tailored to tiny points, a black jacket, and a shirt just the right shade of orange to be original and trendy but not ridiculous. He apologized to me sincerely enough when one of his agitated gesticulations hit me in the back. But he too started to push when it came to shove. Oh well. I can hardly blame them. I felt like taking it out on someone when I found out they had no more spots left for the day. And I’d had a good five hours of sleep. I can’t imagine what state the people who had been there all night were in. And who knows how many times they’d tried. Last resort: see if I can get an appointment through the rectorat, somehow, somewhere up there, my boss, hopefully sometime in December. Keep your fingers crossed.

Offusqué: offended
Tabouret: stool
Brancard: stretcher
Caler: to wedge
Gueuler: to bawl? (vulgar)
Continuer un monolougue dans sa barbe: to keep talking quietly to one’s self?
Triturer: to grind or to fiddle with
Lisser: to smooth
Caresser: to caresse, to stroke, to cherish (a hope)
S’echiner: wear oneself out doing something
Limaces: slugs
Traînée: streak (of paint, ashes etc.) or a tart (prostitute)
Songeuse: thoughtful, pensive
Se moucher: blow one’s nose
s’étrangler: to choke (food or with rage)
brancardier: stretcher bearer

From Ensemble: C’est tout by Anna Gavalda (Anasatsia lent it to me…)