I may try and post tomorrow. I tried on a fantastic pair of boots last week, and wait 'til you hear what I'm reading!
And now, Pascal from December '05:
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Originally uploaded by writer_mama.
Stella was home sick from school on Monday, but I could not put off interviewing the Christmas Tree Guy another day. Lately, I've barely been able to walk by there feeling so guilty, asking for an interview and then not interviewing.
So Monday morning, I zipped Stella into her stroller sleeping bag, slung a kiddie chair on the back, went out and bought a cup of hot chocolate which I held in one hand, and pushed the stroller in the other, and headed over to see the Christmas tree guy.
He seemed startled to see us.
"Is it okay that we still do this?" I asked.
"Yes, yes," he said, reaching somewhere deep within a pile of trees and pulling out, like magic--a camp chair. "I have a chair for you."
"And I have hot chocolate for you," I said. This was a thrill. Next to the Nutcracker, interviewing the Christmas tree guy was the coziest event thus far. Stella sat slumped in her stroller like a Peanuts character and drained hot chocolate from her cup through a straw.
The Christmas tree guy pulled up his camp chair, and I opened my laptop.
The first thing I noticed that I hadn't noticed before was a little ersatz nightstand on the sidewalk next to their parked van. On the stand were bottles of vitamin supplements: something called "Men's Complete Formula" and "Super Cleanse." Things for all parts of the body. They must need the support, I thought. Some nights the temperature dips under 17 degrees, and Christmas tree guys all over the city are out here all month, with nary a break.
I asked him his name, which was thefirst question I thought of. I glanced at Stella. She was sucking up her hot chocolate at an alarming rate. I had to start firing off questions. Please put a French Canadian accent on the answers.
"My name is Pascal Bergeron," he said.
Q: Where are you from?
Quebec City, Canada
Q: How long have you been selling trees?
For five years. This is my fourth year on this corner.
Q: How did you get into the business?
Somebody that I knew in Quebec City knew someone who had sold Christmas trees for ten years. He gave me a number and I phoned. It's all done by word of mouth. A lot of sellers come here from Canada, mostly from Quebec.
Q: What do you do the rest of the year?
I work as a tour guide in Quebec City, a tour escort--from the end of January to end of October. Then I come here and sell trees, because this is a low tourist season in Quebec. I will go back for Winter Carnival.
Q: What are your hours here on the block?
From 7:00 am to 11:00 at night. Then I try to do the paperwork. Hopefully, by midnight I'm in bed. Sometimes it takes an hour before I can fall asleep. I get very wound up. Sometimes my muscles hurt from handling trees all day.
Q: Is your partner sleeping right now? (I motion to the van behind me.)
Yeah.
Q: It is hard to sleep in there?
The first two years it was hard. And the first week out here it is always really hard to sleep in the van. I have ear plugs, and an eye cover. It is very noisy.
Q: What do you hear?
Fire trucks, ambulances, going right by me. Partiers on weekends, usually from 10 pm to 4 in the morning. Lots of drunks. It is very noisy. It is hard to sleep.
Q: Has anyone ever stolen a tree?
Three times, one that I ran after. The guy dropped tree on corner. I did the night shift for two years. This is my third year doing the day shift.
Q: Has anything strange happened this year?
Three nights ago, on Friday night, when I was sleeping, Carl went to get something to eat. I could hear a girl saying, "Can I buy a tree from you?" six, seven, eight times. I thought she was talking to Carl, but she had opened the van door and was trying to wake me up. I said, "Give me a minute to put my boots on."
And then last week on Sunday, this couple came to buy a tree. They looked like normal couple, not rich not poor. They agreed on buying a tree: they were going to pay eighty dollars for a big tree. Sometimes like I'm not totally woken up. Most time I check the money. Once this couple left, I checked, and there was only 70 dollars in my hand, instead of 80. Then something clicked, and I remembered them, and they had done the same thing to me last year.
When something like that happens, I think I should have been tougher. I was biting my fingers, Is that the right expression? I should have said something right away.
Q: How else do you pass the time?
When I wake up I try to read, local newspapers, nothing too serious. There are so many good articles in the New York Times.
Another things I do is some drawing, cartoons and stuff. I try to make stories about things that happened during the day. I started two years ago. Once two years ago, an Italian guy came up to us: Vinnie from Mulberry Street, he called himself, so I made a story about him, and then Carl started the same thing. But I'm just not feeling the inspiration this year.
But there is always something to do to make the stand look nicer, make the trees look nicer. I'm always trying to improve the site.
Q: Do you read any books?
I haven't been reading much this year. Last year, I read only one book: On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
Q: That's one of my favorite books! And Kerouac was French Canadian.
His parents were French Canadian. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Q: How do you get your meals?
I have some food delivered, but I try to eat at a restaurant, because it's good to get away, take a break at a restaurant at night, so I won't get sick of it here. If I eat here, I get interrupted, and my food gets cold.
Q: Where do you go?
The Thai food cafe right by 1st Avenue. Bereket, the Turkish place, Katz's deli, but only for soup. Punjabi. I usually get breakfast at the Dominican place.
Q: You haven't made those miniature Christmas trees this year out of sawed-off tree stumps. Will you make those?
I don't feel like making those this year. I took a gym pass for one month, but I only went two days. I'm too tired.
Q: How many trees have you sold?
We sold over 5000 trees this weekend. We don't know until the end how much we get. After expenses, whatever is left is shared between the company and the salesmen. We have to pay for gas, lighting, generator, supplies,
Q: Is it worth it?
Yeah. I don;t know, compared to New York standards, maybe not. You don't want to count the hours. On a good month back home, the money is basically the same as when I work as a tour guide. Here it's harsher conditions. As a guide, I sleep in a hotel.
Q: On very cold nights I sit in my apartment and really wonder how you guys are doing out here.
I brought two sleeping bags to sleep in. Sometimes I start up the van for a bit. This year it's been colder than any other year that I've been here so far. Maybe I'm more sensitive to the cold. Maybe I'm getting old.
Q: Do people bring you presents?
People bring us food. Two girls brought us a pot of pasta, but it was too bad we had just eaten.
Q: Have you ever met any girls doing this?
Well, more women than girls, but then again it's strange. Two that we met invited me to go to their place to take a shower. (Starts chuckling, trails off, a little embarrassed)
Q: You don't have to talk about it.
This woman who invited me over, she had brought me a hot pot of soup. Stew and everything. She said, "I want to show you where I live. Whenever you want to take a shower and rest, you're more than welcome." I felt a little strange, but then I went up, saw her apartment. Before I left, I kissed her on the cheek.
Q: French style.
She said, "I like the French. I'll see you on the corner!" It's funny that I never saw her again.
I wonder if some little things are just different here. This woman that I noticed--new in the neighborhood--walked by five or six times a day. She approached me once when I was talking to someone else. I guess this was easier for her. She asked me if I had any mistletoe, and I said, "No." She smiled at me the next the day, and I smiled at her. I was attracted to her. And I've never seen her again. And I then, I think, what did I do? (Shrugs and laughs.)
(Note: If you have any additional questions for Pascal, leave them on my comments page. He and his partner, Carl are here until the early, early morning of the 25th.)
I STILL WANT TO MARRY HIM !!!
ReplyDeletegood luck on your interview - please keep us posted.