There she was, meeting all his family for the first time and what did she do? She put on her clown suit and painted her face. And did a one-woman show. I grabbed the camcorder. Roll camera! Take One: Bonjour, says the first card she holds up. No one says a thing. So she leans forward. She points at the card again and cups her hand over her ear. They get it. “Bonjour,” they all say back. Je suis Molly, says the next card. Je suis une anglophone, says the third. Then a fast fourth, MAIS… A fifth: Parfois, la langue n’est pas le problem! There’s a lot of giggling and some polite claps. Then she grabs Jean-Paul and makes him sit in a chair. He doesn’t know what’s going on. For ten minutes my mother, with almost no words, tells the story of how they met and fell in love. “Vroom, vroom,” and “Oh là là” are the only sounds she makes. When she says, “Oh là là” she wiggles her butt, which is stuffed with pillows. And honks her red nose. And does a little hop. She’s a hit.
