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‘Sure,’ Noah agrees easily, ‘but first breakfast’

Breakfast is socca at a stall in the Cours Saleyahot in the back of a scooter by a man Turns out it is a traditional peasant snack and is basically a very large chick pea pancake with a lots of pepper It is served on paper with no cutlery, and is surprisingly delicious served with a glass of local rosé

Feeling pleasantly tipsy after the one and a half glasses of rosé so early in the , I lean into Noah’s hardness as we pass by a ether, our bodies so on the vehicle-free streets The sun beats down on my head and I can taste the salty air on let tied up with string

‘Oh ruesome in the ?’ I exclaim with surprise

‘That’s prochetta An Italian style specialty It’s actually a hollowed-out pig filled with chunks ofroasted on a spit They slice right through it and serve it in large thin slices as you would luncheon meat

‘Ugh Food with faces Just no’

‘It’s actually very delicious,’ he tells me

‘Why did you buy a house here?’ I ask him nosily

He shrugs ‘The weather is pleasant and I like that there is a big Russian community here’

‘Do you speak French?’

‘Nope I get by with English and Russian Do you?’

‘I studied it at school, but I’m rusty’

‘Good, you can do all the speaking from now on,’ he says

‘Tell me, ere you like as a child?’ I press Left to his own devices, he says very little I want to know everything there is to know about him

He gives ht as if no one had ever asked hier to please Loyal, very loyal And you?’

There it is again Turning the conversation back to me I look at him behind my eyelashes Never mind, he cannot hide forever Little by little I will teach him to trust me and reveal himself to me

‘I was a plu In the summer et dressed, and in the winter I ran around looking for places to hide so I could juhten my mother and Baba’