I sidled up to them while they were distracted by smiling and posing. I'm sure that they did not see me until after the father retrieved the camera and turned back around. He immediately approached me, waving the rest of his family over.
"Bonjour, monsieur," he said. "Comment allez-vous?"
French tourists. Of course. "Ne parle francais." I knew that much. "Anglais?"
The father shook his head, but the older daughter stepped in. "Oui. Yes. What brings you here, today?" Her accent was nice, crisp, with that careful concentration on each word.
I looked up at her, studying. She had her mother's face hardened with the boredom of a teenager. The umbrella twirled in her hands as she talked. I smiled, small and timid. "I come here because I like the sound the water makes." True. It drowns out so much else.
Her father said something complicated in french. She looks at him a second, then back at me. "Is your family here with you?"
"No." I looked down. I knew how to play this part. "I don't have a family. Not anymore."
"C'est terrible. Il guerre?" asked the mother. I'd heard that word often enough and nodded. It had been a war, just not The War. My family had lost. I had won.
"Si tragique." The mother shook her head then gave the father a significant look. He nodded and spoke to the older daughter again. She shrugged. So french, so teen. "My father and mother would like to buy you a meal. Will you eat with us?"
"Yes, please." I said. "Anything you can spare."
"Good." She looked to her father again. He spoke, looking at me. "We are the Clausens. My mother and father, my sister Marie and I am Angelique."
"It is good to meet you. I am Robert. Thank you for inviting me to eat with you. It has been a while since I've sat down with a family."
"Consider it our pleasure," said Angelique. We walked off to one of the small bakeries surrounding the fountain square. My stomach growled causing the mother to smile.
I'm sure that they will be tasty.
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