European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 12, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Les girls discover Hambo Gaires and hot dogs by Hugh a. Mulligan associated Pressi t was a Hare guttural encounter of the Isen kind that Ito a leaping Stoa. Bounded Over the generation Gap. Las girls came to our House in Edge Fleks com from the Provence in Franca to practice fix eng tort toe a month before entering High school Dufal cede bosc. Just turned 14, was Tram Avignon. Eto to Lapland her school Friend and my Goddaughter. From across the Rhone River in the nerve Tes Avignon was a year outer. It was their final visit to the United Stales. I had met it ode t lather Bernard in Cambodia in 1070 when president Richard Nixon sen in . Troops to destroy North vietnamese sanctuaries. He was an Dovber to the cambodian government and his Wile Nootio. Was my French inter Pielli. Wailing Lor the plane lion Paris my wife. Brigid. And t wondered what French girls in the set Bloom of adolescence were like. Incipient Madame Bovary m to Gulf and precocious  wide eyed and innocent Colette demoiselle m Gigl Straw halt and school uniforms truant from a Monet held of topples the so Fang slender Young ladies dragging enormous suitcases from the customs Hal turned out to be shy and winsome. Their eyes were wide with Small town wonder Al Manhattan s skyscrapers looming ghostly in the Haze As we crossed the White Stane Bridge. The Empire Sale building was High on their must see Fisl. Right after the statue of Uberty who to them still retained her French citizenship. Graceful As awns the girls projected a feminine elegance even in Blue jeans and to shirts that could Only be French. Happily they still dung to some of die glories and goblins of childhood a menagerie of stuffed animals on their Beds and a night fight to banish any phantoms hovering from the ghost stories they begged my write Lote. But they must not be True a tote specified. Lea Girts they were amused by the cede name i had scrawled on the Calendar for the arrival Dale enjoyed their first taste of com on the cob. Rhubarb. Harvard beets and French Toast which they had newer heard of in France. They Load cooking out in the Beck Yard Over  charcoal especially  which they piled High with onion tomatoes. Reduce cheese and pickles Smo shored with Ketchup and Mustard. Monday. October 12, 1967 they were shrewd shoppers frugal with their Irav Gler s checks and conscious of Quality. They searched endlessly Lor a certain Brand at sports shoe that Cost three times As much in Avignon to Are bourgeoise Elodie casually proclaimed. In Franco that is not a pejorative  pejorative showed the depth of her English vocabulary alter Only two years of class work and my old French dictionary upheld her definition of Bourgoise an Independent woman of competence and respectability which suited them to their Chic to Shirls and miniskirts which invariably bore the name of some designer. They eagerly accompanied my Wile to tha super Saikol. In Hopes of Envoi no Cong Paul Newman their malice idol who lives in a nearby town. They were astonished when the clerk in the cheese shop offered around generous samples on the tip of his carving knife. In Franco Cecils confided through a Mouthful of Stilton the merchants never give anything  Al i heir Choice Only English was spoken outside i hair bedroom. I try not to think what impression their stay Here will make on their English Leacher next semester but 1hey were Quick to pick up the local patois Gimme a break will a no sweat gel  an assignment took me to Mew Bedford mass., the girls Camo along. They knew All about moby Dick and capt Ahab of the Pequot. The scope of their Reading amazed us the Scarlet letter Huck Aberry finn of mice and men gone with to a wind Catcher in the Rye. They knew More american literature than any native eighth graders of our acquaintance Cyl they Seldom looked at a newspaper or listened to the news on to which seems to to the duly of the lather in a French household. They were surprised when a waitress took their orders in a new Bedford lobster House Back Home this is a Man s profession like being a Chol Elodie explained. Neither one could come up with the French word Lor waitress. The fireworks and the quickening of the town s patriotic pulse on the fourth of july excited them. Mindful of the Marquis de Lafayette s contribution to Independence they Hung out old glory and iced lha Beer for our Barbecue. But 10 Days later their fairness doctrine dictated that we celebrate Bastille Day with even More splendor Champagne and is cuisine a Oncale which they prepared. The Kitchen was of limits to my Wile for hours As they concocted a banquet of Omelette Aux pommes do tire Sata to  Patti de Hie gras Aux truffles which they had brought from Home and which Ceyte Surg Cafty sliced with a knife dipped in hot water. The dessert was pores Belle Helena. They Sang la Marseli hate As i toasted la  with their gift of Poires Williams an 86 proof liqueur from Avignon with the Zap of an exor cel missile. But my Praise Lor their hauls cuisine was almost nullified by my referring to the Low gras As Pale.  Elodie rebuked me a for the Cai " hid dogs pizza Kentucky Fried Chicken  trivial Pursuit. Kojak Dallas and other american cultural exports Are now As much a part of the ambiance in the mid As Van Gogh s sunflowers. But to our Reket even at top Nufi volume they preferred opera to Rock probably because Elodie was studying the violin and Cecile took piano. Both had Beautiful voices trailed in a Church choir and Iho House Piton echoed with frets Jacques and stir Lepont d Avignon new York s mad Bustle and sad decay confused them. Having Ridden the Tiv. The world s fastest train they laughed at the Dinky  a Toog me of so Yea Road coaches into Manhattan on our Danbury Kne. They found our subways dirty ,1 and at a loss of words merchant evil or Fui of double. Now us Gita Are Back in France tilling their Tarim with new Achen Duref. This old House is strangely empty. But late in the evening when the bats Fly Low and the raccoons come prowling the curtains in Ine guest room seem to Rustle with faint echoes of it arc Jacques and gallic ghosts in soil Soprano whisper of Paul Newman the stars and stripes Page 13