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I looked around surveying the place and saw only several people sitting on the chairs reading books, magazines or newspapers. Most of the chairs were unoccupied, creating an atmosphere of leisure around, I thought, therefore, it was all in order to play on my shackhachi then and there.
After having played some of my usual tunes, I saw a man in carmine blouson approaching me. He looked like Jean Marais – once a famous actor who had starred in movies such as La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast) directed by Jean Cocteau. As he showed interest in my playing the bamboo instrument, I did my best to explain in French “ C’est chanson d’ enfants et je joue de la flûte en bamboo. De nos jours, désolé, personne ne la chante pas encore.” Listening to me speak in his mother tongue, he nodded to my words, but I was not sure if I was having him understand me. So, I asked him if I should speak in English for his better understanding, but he replied saying something to the effect that he wouldn’t use the language and that was his good-bye. He turned around and went away.
Next, I noticed a woman jogging toward me. She stopped and stood in front of me. I said “Bonjour” and she said something in French too fast for me to understand. A moment later she said “continue” smiling adding in English “good music” before she left. I smiled back thinking the word continue was also English, but long afterwards, I realized that the word had been a French verb – continuer – in its imperative case. Come to think of this, I remember reading a book – A History of The English Language – by A.C. Baugh that reminded me of ‘the Norman Conquest’ – an historic event that took place back in 1066 when the Normans conquered the English, which had a real great effect on the development of English language including the vocabulary. No wonder, therefore, I come across lots of French words that are found in the English.
A while later, again there came a lady clad in dark clothes that was emanating a military look. She came striding along in my direction. What occurred to me at first was the impression that she was kind of à la mode, fashionable type of woman paying attention to what she wears. I expected to hear some nice words from her mouth about my music. At that moment, I was playing my favourite tune – “Scolded” and soon I found myself scolded not in the song but in reality. She met my eyes and spoke in English from the outset. “You can’t disturb other people and the peace here. You see, you can’t play music in this place unless you are going to play with other musicians. They will have a concert of music by Chopin tonight.” Although her tone was soft, she flatly denied me my music. “Oh, I’m sorry.” I started apologizing right away. “I didn’t know that it is not allowed to play music here. Sorry for making a noise.” When I said so, she looked a little relaxed and even lenient with a slight smile on her cheek and said, “No, it’s no noise.” I felt encouraged by her word and, seizing on this chance, dared to speak in French. “Je suis Japonais et Je suis ici à Paris la première fois.” She looked at me nodding, and was kind enough to correct my pronunciation of the word fois. I repeated the word time and again but was unable to pronounce it correctly, which I saw from the expression on her face and the way she looked. Finally, she nodded resignedly and off went her way.