There was a time I believed everything I read, even in Reader’s Digest.
One such story was about a French soldier in the world war one who,
in his breast pocket carried a notebook full of verses written for his
true love in Lyon, a daughter of a welder. His adulation saved his life.
It was not for me to reflect upon how a note book could stop a bullet.
I told mother I wanted to join the French foreign legion get wounded,
not too serious mind, all this to impress the girl next door she didn’t
like bookish boys who wore round black framed glasses. I threw my
glasses away and for two weeks couldn’t read and tended to walk into
lamp posts. I challenged the biggest bully in the school yard for a fight…
and got a bloody nose. I became a trainee cook and the girl next door
laughed till she cried. Back then cooking was not a big deal. Now that
no one, not even women know how to make an omelet ,cooks or chefs
are super stars and show their skills to adoring fans on TV.
