And it was Lisette's turn to say the Benedic Domine before the meal, which she said, as every good French girl can, and does, in Latin, three times a day. Therese the housekeeper always thought Lisette's pronunciation of Latin particularly fine for a mere housemaid and always wondered if Lisette was concealing some illegitimate nobility in her background and blood.
Frederic, Rachel's tutor, always had an unkind word for this ritual, as he would, the mad socialist who never missed an opportunity to remind everyone he was part of the Commune government in '71 who overthrew Napoleon III, but Therese could not help herself and said that she was amazed at how little trouble he had responding 'Amen' as a communist who hates 'us.'
Frederic simply shrugged and responded that as a socialist it costs him nothing to worship idols.
Frederic had an answer for everything, and Therese could, as usual, not help responding in a tone that was at least 1% shouting "how can you believe we're idolators?"
"Look at all those statues you bow down to in your Cathedrals."
"They're not gods."
"Certainly they're gods."
"Saints, gods, it's all the same!"
"How can you possibly say that?"
"At least the Trinity is real gods, but the Saints are like pagans! You pray to Joseph to replace your ceiling as though he's Vesta then you pray to Matthew to pay for it like he's Juno. And I'll tell you something else, back in '71..."
And Lisette as always came to the rescue:
"We know, you were there when they shot the Archbishop, unless you pulled the trigger this time we don't want to hear about it."
But ever since graduating Le Cordon Bleu, Louis never missed a chance to work his new political views into conversation. One would think that as one of the most celebrated chefs in Paris, he'd be more concerned with his work than ever, but in fact, the standard of cooking had fallen off a bit with his new celebrity, and Louis was more concerned with his outrage from whatever he'd read this week in La Libre Parole. Sometimes he even got his points from l'Antijuif but he knew better than to tell anyone in Maison Bloch.
"I can have at least have a little appreciation for socialism, at least you care about the poor, even if your poor is everyone but Frenchmen."
Frederic seemed almost eager to take the bait tonight: "It's Frenchmen too!"
"Frenchmen can't get what they need if they have to share it with the whole world!"
"Why shouldn't we care about everyone?"
"Because you're a Frenchman!"
"I'm a Frenchman? How many times have our antisemtiic cook told us that Jews can never be Frenchmen."
Louis still didn't seem to understand this point Frederic had made to him nearly every day for more than two years. "How are you a Jew Frederic? You're a socialist!"
"I have Jewish blood!"
"I thought you told me that only your grandfather was a Jew."
"Doesn't that mean that my Frenchness is impure?"
"I don't understand why you're so anxious about this Frederic. There's not a single antisemite in the world who would consider you a Jew just because you have a Jewish grandparent."
"You shout all the time about how Jewish blood pollutes the purity of France!"
"Frederic, nobody has pure French blood."
"They don't?"
"Frederic, you're an Alsatian, I'm an Alsatian. Even if you're part Jewish, you're part German too, and German blood only improves French blood."
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