A Paris Doll Story by Christine Rapley

Chapter 1

Fi – (please remember that it’s Fi rhymes with tea, not Fi rhymes with sky) and never call her Fiona. Fi Onna is a very proud young Scot. She’s the manager of Fitz Dolz Vintage Department Store in Mossy Well. “FitzD” has been open for a few years now and specializes in all things vintage.  Fi is very ambitious.

Fi tells Chanelle “The store is doing quite well but we need to get many more sales especially in the fashion departments.  

I’m disappointed that the new tartan trousers I designed aren’t flying off the shelves.  I’ve got a lot more of the tartan fabric to get more made as I thought we’d soon be sold out”.

“I imagine it might be because tartan isn’t on trend at the moment” replies Chanelle diplomatically.”

But thinking quietly to herself – or at any time in the past 50 years! “Also it might be off-putting (a wee bit she thinks, but doesn’t say so as Fi might think she’s making fun of her Scottishness)- that we wear the same pattern as uniform. Customers might be worried that others would think they work here”.

 Fi: “I was flicking through a fashion magazine and what caught my eye was an advert – with an article all about a fashion show at Masque Department Store. You know, the well known one in Paris? We’ve only had a tentative go at holding a fashion show . I thought perhaps I could go for a week or so to see the fashions. Tip could hold the fort here.”

Mister Tiprego, who everyone calls Tip, is the chief buyer, accountant, and Assistant Store Manager. 

Chanelle says with barely disguised surprise “But you don’t speak French do you Fi?” Chanelle is half French and fluent like a native speaker. And she reckons that she has much more fashion sense than the store manager. Look at her suit, for a start Chanelle ponders- Fi looks like a little old lady. But she must surely only be in her early 20s.

“I don’t, no. But I know a few phrases and I’d get by. After all, I moved here to England and I manage despite the difference in accents and expressions. I know for example, Ms Hoity Toity – that grand magasin is French for department store.”  

When Chanelle is on her break Tip comes in to help with the display in the Casa department. Fi tells him her idea.

Fi says “If I want to get inspiration for how to hold a fashion show at Fitz Dolz, what better place to find it than Paris? I’ll need you to act up as manager for a week or so Tip – would you be agreeable?  You’d get extra pay of course.”    Tip says “OK, but I might need to phone you if I need to ask you something. You’ve been running the show here ”. 

In her lunch hour that day, Fi rushes to visit the local travel agency and gets information about flights to Paris. She finds that Bambolair has a daily flight to and from Paris.

Being a bit cautious by nature, she holds off from booking her ticket. Firstly, she realises that she doesn’t have a passport because she’s never been out of the UK so far. Also she will need to re-read that magazine at home to check the Masque dates. 

She’ll arrive a few days prior to the show and can explore Paris and take a break from her work at the store. Dashing round the shops because she is now really excited Fi buys an English–French/ French-English dictionary, phrase book and a good guide book to Paris.

 She’s done a bit of study, but the language doesn’t come naturally to her. All that tu, vous, il, elle, nous. Croissants – easy; baguette, ditto. Du pain, du vin, du Boursin! Le metro, le train, l’avion, l’hotel. Et l’amour? She daydreams. She imagines what l’amour might be like – as most girls do.  Fi has only had one boyfriend in Scotland and that was quite some time ago. She wonders whatever happened to Hamish. He probably found some nice provincial Scottish girl and married. But Fi Onna really is going to Paris, so she sits surrounded by the clothes she’s going to pack. And looks at her turquoise silk purse full of Euros and new credit cards. And the all-important plane ticket. Her passport finally arrived in the post yesterday.

The day she travels Mister helps her put her luggage into his car and lets his new girlfriend Carolina Papa drive Fi to the airport. The big red Range Rover is his pride and joy so before they drive off, he leans on the boot as if to urge Carolina to drive very carefully. And of course, he also wants them to be safe.

Mister is now temporary manager at Fitz Dolz store and can’t be spared to drive Fi to the airport. This is the first time she will have flown.

Carolina helps to calm Fi’s nerves and on reaching the airport waits with her for the flight to be announced.  The journey to the airport was exciting but the flight to Paris fills her with trepidation.

Going through passport control and customs isn’t exactly a breeze.

 The stocky airport policeman looks stern – and his Alsation dog looks quite fierce.  But Fi sits quietly and has no worries about the contents of her luggage. There’s nothing that oughtn’t to be there.

 The customs policeman asks her to open her suitcase.  To her surprise, the dog sniffs a pack of sausages.

 Fi expresses amazement and says she has no idea how that got into her case. Who could possibly have put them into her case?

And when did anyone have an opportunity to do so she wonders. The sausages are confiscated as they are one of the items

 one is not allowed to take abroad. The dog is not very happy when he sees the sausages disappear into a bag for disposal – although he probably doesn’t know that.

From inside the airport building Fi sees the Bambolair plane from the departure lounge window. It’s a small plane. An unusual shape for a plane and Fi wonders if it is safe.

She boards and chats happily with the pretty stewardess who puts her hand luggage up into the compartment for Fi.

The stewardess sits down beside Fi, the only passenger.

 The seats are quite comfy. “What’s your name, Miss?” asks Fi. “I’m Camilla. This is my second year as a stewardess. I love the job. Would you like a sandwich and a salad?”

Fi says “Oh, I’m too excited to eat much. Besides it’s a short flight, isn’t it?” Camilla confirms that they will only be in the air for about half an hour or so.

 She brings Fi a cake and coffee.

There is going to be a bit of a delay as they wait for clearance for take- off. Very soon they are up in the clouds.    

Chatting with Camilla, Fi says “I expect you are really used to all this -but it’s so strange and wonderful.

In no time at all they are landing at Charles de Gaulle.

 At the French airport, Fi is very surprised by the vigorous frisking she has to endure by the young blond security man. He seems to enjoy it.

And she feels a bit violated. She’s certainly not used to such intimate up close and personal behaviour. Impertinence!

 She wonders whether he is just doing his job – or perhaps also taking a bit of an advantage. How many young women or men does he do this to every day?

She can’t help but notice that the older Paris airport security police officer looks just like the one at the London airport. Almost an exact copy.

They could be brothers. But this man has a moustache (she’s now starting to think in French). “Qu’est ce que c’est ca?” The officer says. He doesn’t speak English.

The airport lady in blue looks on and grins. Fi thinks she probably knows what they are, but it’s not her job to say anything. “They are just hair nets, monsieur”.

“..airnets?” The officer pulls a face and his nose puckers.  Fi gestures frantically to show they are for her hair.  “Ah oui, je comprends”, the officer says.   

That was not pleasant thinks Fi and she hopes that Paris is not going to prove to be difficult.

Used as she is to being in charge of people at Fitz Dolz store – going through customs and security at both airports was not at all easy. She feels out of her depth.

 Grand Magasin emailed just before she left England to say that they hoped to send someone to pick her up from Charles De Gaulle Airport. But how will she recognise them?

She’s hoping that if there is someone to meet her that they will speak English. Especially after her un-nerving experience she doesn’t feel much up to trying to communicate in her ‘pigeon’ French.

 “Ou se trouve l’autobus pour le centre de Paris?” She knows that phrase if she needs it, but doesn’t think she could possibly understand a response. Especially when they are bound to speak too fast.

 Whenever she has seen French people talking on TV, they always speak too fast to catch anything. The words get jumbled together and she knows too little.

  

Fi imagines that the handsome young man works at the store in one of the departments. If he speaks any English maybe he can tell her a bit about the fashion show and all about Masque.

Their eyes meet. Time stands still.  And her heart flutters. This is quite exciting.

Louis introduces himself to Fi but doesn’t say much at this stage. 

“I am Louis Lefranca. I’ve been sent by Masque Grand Magasin to drive you to Hotel La Muette where you will be staying. I think you will be very comfortable there.

 It’s a family run hotel with an excellent restaurant. Valentin the manager is really good, and his wife Albertine is also sympa – how do you say that in English?

 Oh I remember, it’s “nice”. They are a great team.” Louis opens the door for Fi and says he’ll put her luggage in the back carefully.