Why Parlez-Moi?

This post is a reprint from Parlez-Moi Blog, July 23, 2005.

So I decided to call my on-line press “Parlez-Moi” and I’m glad that I did. It has proven to be a good name - “talk to me” - communicate. Communication is vital. Now that I am undertaking this blog it seems particularly apt.

I chose the words from a scene in my first novel, The Old Mermaid’s Tale. In it, the central character, Clair, has a nearly obsessive fascination with a tavern called The Old Mermaid Inn in a waterfront neighborhood in a city on the Great Lakes. One night as she and her boyfriend are walking past the Inn she hears a man singing inside. The song is the old Edith Piaf standard "Parlez-Moi d’Amour". Her boyfriend translates the words for her as they stand outside listening. The song, and the voice of the singer, haunt her and, months later she meets and falls in love with him. His name is Baptiste and he is a Breton mariner who lost a leg in a shipwreck and now earns a living singing in taverns. He becomes the great love of her life.

Hearing his voice for the first time is a turning point in her life and so I chose the words “Parlez-Moi” to be the name of my press and blog. Simple as that. You never know when a brief moment will change the course of your life.

When I was a girl in the 50s and 60s, I used to spend vacations with my godparents who lived in Erie, Pennsylvania. My godfather, my wonderful Uncle Buddy (left), used to take me down to the docks to watch the big ships come in and I became mesmerized by the neighborhoods that we drove through on our way down State Street to the public pier. My uncle told me that those places were dangerous and it was not safe to be there alone but, to a romantically inclined kid like me, that was just an added incentive.

Later, as a college student in Erie in the late 60s, I used to do exactly what the novel describes Clair doing - riding the bus through those neighborhoods just to peer out the window on the off-chance I might see something “dangerous”. During one of those rides I noticed a bar called the “Mermaid Tavern” and my imagination went wild. Much of what Clair describes in the novel comes from that moment.

Years went by. I went on to another college and then moved to another state but in the back of my mind that fascination lingered. Finally, somewhere around 1985, I was in Pennsylvania and drove to Erie to visit my grandmother who was living with my godmother by then. My godfather had died some years earlier. By this time I was living on my own in Houston and was quite experienced at going into bars (ahem). I decided that I was going to visit my grandmother and aunt and then take a drive down State Street and stop at the Mermaid Tavern for a beer. I was really excited at the idea.

That drive down State Street proved to be a pivotal moment in my life. When I crossed Sixth Street and entered the rough and tumble neighborhood that had once fed my wild imagination I was shocked to discover how it had changed. All the old bars and flophouses were gone and in its place were smart little shops and restaurants. Where the Mermaid Tavern had been there was now a chain family restaurant. I was devastated.

For a year the disappointment I felt festered and then one day I decided to write about it and, thus, The Old Mermaid’s Tale was born. You never know where inspiration can come from. You never know when your life might change.

So, I decided to name my press and my blog after the fateful moment when Clair’s life changed and the title of the song seemed the best place to do that. Thus Parlez-Moi Press was born.

You never know when the world will take an extra turn.

Thanks for reading.
©2005 Parlez-Moi Press originally published on Parlez-Moi Blog.