Breaking News: Paris was quite agreable at Sunset

Sunday evening in Paris, the chilling drizzle ended. A Taiwanese girl and an American boy sat on a bench on the upper-level terrace of the Centre George Pompidou, waiting. Inside, someone looked closesly at a Dali and a group waited nervously for a small, metal scultpure of a man sitting motionless to jerk forward and sound the bell. Everyone would jump and laugh awkwardly once it happened.


The American boy was hungry, and he asked the Taiwanese girl what they were going to eat for dinner. She said they had steak, and he almost exploded with elation.


"Je veux steak, epinards, fromage avec baguette," he said, and she smiled. "Et pommes de terre."


"Comme tu veux, monsieur," she said.


"Et chocolat," he added.


A cold breeze gave the American boy chills, and the Taiwanese girl rubbed his arms up and down to warm him up. He wished he had worn a jacket and not just his plain old, forest-green shirt that made him look like a lumberjack.


What would a lumber-jack be doing at a modern art museum anyway?


The American asked the Taiwanese girl if they had time for him to take pictures. She said, "oui." The walked out on the platform and he made a joke about her being scared of heights. She glared at him and wandered down to the end of the platform while he took these pictures:

Then, the girl came back, and the American boy said, "J'ai pris des bons photos, ma petite." She smirked at his mock-ego.


They stood and looked at the sun, which sent streams of light from behind the clouds like water that sprays from a dam that was slowly breaking down.


The American boy took another picture, and the Taiwanese girl rolled her eyes, letting the boy know that pictures are great but if you keep taking them you're not going to be able to appreciate what you're taking pictures of. The American boy put the camera back in his bag, but he still wanted to take pictures.


The left after a couple of hours. They didn't say anything about wars or countries or race, like they were used to. The American boy said, "Je veux un grand steak," realizing he didn't know how to say steak in French.


She understood, though.