Dr. Jedidiah's Diary Episode #75. Mathilde, ma chérie

Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary

Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single father who lost his wife to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life…. or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.

            

Episode #75. Mathilde, ma chérie

 

For quite a while, I’d never go straight home after my office hours. The easiest and the most effective way to snap out of my fatigue caused by daylong talks with patients was to stop by this small brasserie named Serein. There I would find peace of mind and have a perfect breather, enjoying simple dinner and a bottle of beer. Since the owner of that place was a French woman who tended to serve a morsel of flavorful food, I didn’t have to worry if I’d get crapulous even when I could eat a horse. Above all, there was a stage for amateur stand-up comedy every Friday night. Their jokes were mostly not good, but the owner Mathilde’s jokes were always bringing the house down. She never laughed or smiled giving her performance, but what she said seemed to be a shot in the arm at the end of my long days. I had gradually fallen in love with her verve to make people laugh in her own small way.

 

 

Most of Mathilde’s jokes I still remember were the ones politically tinged or self-deprecating as a French person,

…..such as “What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up? The Army.”

“Anyone see the French Military Rifle on eBay? It's never been shot and only dropped once!”   

(*the source of the jokes: https://www.liveabout.com/france-jokes-and-funny-quotes-about-france-4068523)

Just like the name of that gin mill “Serein”, the time I spend there was like the long-awaited sweet rain in my desolate life or sometimes like a gusty pampero when the heat was unbearable on a long Summer day.

 

 

When I leave Serein, I’d often say to myself ‘hey, you need to make hay while you can. Just make it your turn to treat her with a nice glass of wine and your home made American dish…even if it’s gonna be a petty bowl of mac ‘n cheese.’ And the night came when I finally asked her out in the back of her stage. Mathilde looked me in the eye and smiled. “I think you are seriously more trustworthy than all those fly boys I dated in my home country. They were all ‘jouisseur’.” I asked how she could be so sure that I was more reliable man to go out with than those fellas in her country. She said my eyes were in her sight when she was on stage every Friday night. “Your eyes were full of hesitation, uncertainty, but feelings of warmth I hadn’t felt for a long time.” That was the most bashful moment that I had in front of someone I’d really wished to date. Embarrassed, but not bad at all.  As we were heading out to the parking lot together, my mind was already ransacking inside my kitchen and pantry, hoping the only thing I got home is not just a box of instant mac ‘n cheese.

 

 

Expressions

 

1.   brasserie: an informal restaurant, especially one in France or modeled on a French one and with a large selection of drinks.

 

2.   serein: the supposed fall of dew from a clear sky just after sunset: mist or fine rain falling from an apparently clear sky.

 

3.   a breather: a brief pause for rest

 

4.   a morsel of…: a small quantity of…

 

5.   crapulous: marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking; sick from excessive indulgence in liquor

 

6.   to eat a horse: (illustrating that someone is) very hungry

 

 

7.   to bring the house down:  to win the enthusiastic approval of the audience

 

8.   a shot in the arm: stimulus; boost

 

 

9.   verve: the spirit and enthusiasm; energy; vitality

 

10.      politically tinged: containing a slight degree or nuance of poliotics

 

11.      self-deprecating: modest about or critical of oneself

 

12.      desolate: joyless, disconsolate, and sorrowful through or as if through separation from a loved one

 

13.       pampero: a strong, cold southwesterly wind in South America, blowing from the Andes across the pampas toward the Atlantic.

 

14.      to make hay: to make the most of a favorable situation while it lasts

 

 

15.      jouisseur: pleasure seeker in French