Kings and Queens

"As I get older, I think back to the past more than you would. It is the fate of the elderly, who have a somewhat limited future, to dwell in the history of their lives. Your turn will come. Believe me!"
-Martin Booth
"The Industry of Souls", a novel

Twenty-five years ago today:

September 5, 1985
Thursday

I went to the Paris post-office all by myself this morning. They sent all of my postcards off to their provided destinations.

Paloma came by to pick me up and we went to her mother’s job which is with the Spanish Consulate General.  We ate lunch at some Moroccan Restaurant.   We ate bread with a kind of stew which included hariz, vegetables and lamb meat. It was good. I really liked it. We had French red wine to accompany the meal, too. Paloma’s mom was so very nice. She kind of reminded me of my own mom a little bit in terms of looks, personality and all.   She spoke Spanish, so I could understand and communicate with her a little. I really like her.

After lunch Paloma and I went to a museum called The Grevin Wax Museum. It was interesting. They had a lot of ex-Kings and Queens on display, representing the history of Paris.

Paloma isn’t so anxious to take me to The Louvre because she goes there every time a visitor comes to visit Paris. She’s tired of it.

We drove through a lot of interesting sites.  It’s fun getting new clothes. She buys interesting things and offers valued opinions for me. We went into a couple of shops. I bought a couple of  T-shirts. I’ll probably plan on getting some scarves galore for all of the felines I need to buy for back home. The Christian Dior store looked like it had some good stuff but it looked very expensive.

Paloma and I went to our respective homes with plans of getting together later this evening. At this point, Paloma was a bit tired of driving around. I am sure of it.

We went to the Pigalle area after dining at a little Italian ‘hole-in-the-wall’.  It was really good food though. I had a lean pork chop with pasta over mushrooms and sauce.   While in the Pigalle area we saw where a lot of the prostitutes, whores and sex-shops are located.  We walked into a Jazz-Raggae type of bar for a while.  It was nice but it was very expensive (like six dollars for one drink!). 

We left the Jazz-Raggae bar and visited a lesbian bar which was kind of funny and different for me. There weren’t a lot of people there.
Paloma said, “I’ve never been here before.”
I noticed the other ladies were certainly checking-out Paloma. 

After that place Paloma took me home.   I guess it was time to end the evening.   When I walked in to the studio apartment I thumbed through some of the PHOTO magazines that belonged to Paloma’s friend.  Signs seem to point that the lady that lives here is very much a lesbian.   I don’t know what to make of it.


It was too early to go to bed.  It was too late to bother going for an evening walk, something he might not enjoy in any case.  He sat down in the obligatory chair in the hotel room and looked around.
-Stieg Larsson
"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"