Un Bon Chien

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

I haven’t written too much about Atlas lately, but he’s really turned into a wonderful dog. He’s very affectionate and intelligent in a variety of ways. But most surprisingly, the other day we discovered that he speaks French. Yes, the language of amour, and he’s quite proficient at it. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I was speaking French to Atlas, as one does, because I like to practice every once in a while to make sure I haven’t forgotten the basics. I was keeping a running commentary of what I was doing— “Ah, mon bon chien, tu es très intelligent, n’est-ce pas?” and “Je vais faire des pommes de terre à la place du riz” and whatnot. And then I needed some salt, so I said to Atlas, who wasn’t really paying attention at this point, having given up on getting any cookies, “Où est le sel, mon ami? Ah, c’est ici!”

And when he heard the word ‘ici’, he immediately ran to the door and started barking like a maniac, because ‘ici’ means ‘here’, and whenever he hears the word ‘here’, he assumes that someone has come to our house. I had to shush him and open the door to prove that no one was ‘ici’. But I was super-curious:

Me: Since when have you been able to understand French?
Atlas: Oh, you know. You pick it up here and there.
Me: And can you speak French as well?
Atlas: Bien sûr. Je ne suis pas un idiot. Contrairement au président des États-Unis.
Me: That’s pretty good. Your accent is as solid as your understanding of current politics. Hang on—have you been spending time with that French bulldog on the corner? Is that who’s been teaching you French?
Atlas: Among other things, Maman. Ooh la la!
Me: Take it easy there, Loverboy. Stop drooling. Thank goodness you’re neutered.
Atlas: What does ‘neutered’ mean, Ma?
Me: Oh nothing.

Sigh. They grow up so fast.

In other news, my job shadow training at the radio station went really well. It doesn’t look anywhere near as difficult as I thought, and on top of everything, one of the authors didn’t show up so to fill in the time, the other host offered to let me read from my new short story collection, Dark Nocturnes, which is currently on Kindle pre-sale with the paperback being released on April 5th. I’m so excited about it, and the cover is incredible, thanks to Jane Cornwell, my publisher and artist extraordinaire. If you’re interested, you can find it by clicking here: Amazon

It’s already gotten some fantastic advance reviews but if you’d like a review copy when it’s released, let me know!

25 thoughts on “Un Bon Chien”

  2. The cover is extraordinary, Suzanne. I love it and look forward to reading.

    And Atlas speaking French. What a riot. I can’t understand French except the comment about the US President is loud and clear in any language. 🙂

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  3. barbaramullenix's avatar barbaramullenix says:

    Well, thanks to you I now know that my translate to English search works! Although it’s true what D. Wallace Peach said about the phase being obvious, I still needed verification. Also, less salt is better for you, or so I’m told. Congratulations on the easy shadowing and getting some air time. You’ll be fantastic at this.

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  5. I would say Atlas is clearly smarter than our current president but that would be damning with faint praise. It would be more fitting to say Atlas c’est un chien Einstein. I hope my French is close to correct there. Someone I worked with recently left to spend a few months in Paris even though she speaks no French. I told her the most useful phrase she could learn is “Je suis perdu. Ou es les Metro?”

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  6. Congrats on the book release! And dogs are so smart! The host family that I stayed with in Spain had a dog, and he knew a few select words and phrases in English–especially ones that involved treats.

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  9. -giggles- Please tell Atlas that his take on politics is spot on! I still remember enough French to know what he said.

    Btw I watched Trudeau’s fairwell speech yesterday and I’m curious about the new guy. He looks kind of…staid? in comparison but I know you don’t have to be a brilliant orator to be a good leader.

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