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Everyone Evelon

By Jo Ann Plante

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The Invitation
“What am I doing here?” she asked herself. Five days a week, she sat in this basement office doing paperwork. What she did, didn’t seem to matter too much to anyone in the office. She was left out of the meetings and the guys never talked to her about any of the cases, they were working on. She was sorry she had ever taken this job, but she couldn’t find a “good” job after graduating from college, so she decided to apply locally. She had always lived in Rhode Island and going to college in Connecticut had opened a whole new world for her.
“Why did I major in French in college?” she asked herself for the millionth time. She had hoped to work in an embassy, or as a customs officer, or at least a teacher, but she had no connections in those circles and soon found that without them, she would have to spend years working her way up the ladder.
She applied for this job and was accepted almost immediately. She was warned, however, that any information she came across was to remain secret. She was not to talk about anyone or anything. That would be easy, she thought, because not much happened in Rhode Island.
As she sat there going through her paperwork, Detective LaPensee came through the door. A man in his late thirties, he had sparkling blue eyes and light brown wavy hair. The others shunned any attention paid to them, but Detective LaPensee was different. He loved the spotlight and felt that being recognized by the public would help his career in law enforcement. He often appeared as a guest speaker at banquets or at athletic events, relishing the chance to speak to people. Maybe it was his slight French accent, or his way of always knowing what to say that endeared him to so many people. Being a police officer, then a detective, made it easy for him to keep his finger on the pulse of what was happening in town and sharpen his intuitive skills.
He married shortly after becoming a police officer. He and his bride were from the northern part of Rhode Island, but after graduating from the police academy, he chose to work where he could make a name for himself. He was someone who everyone liked and found easy to talk to.
As the years progressed, the couple badly wanted to have a family. They tried everything possible and finally settled on adoption. They adopted a beautiful baby girl, three months old. They were ecstatic and the whole town was happy for them. Detective LaPensee and his wife, Francine, were practicing Catholics of French-Canadian descent. They had fervently prayed for a baby and adoption was their answer from God.
That was almost five years ago and now their biological child was born only three weeks ago. This birth was more than they could have hoped for. They consider their adopted daughter, Suzette, their good luck charm and love her dearly.
As Detective LaPensee came into the office, he gave Maryse Melançon a big smile.
“Are you doing anything Saturday evening?” he asked, leaning over her desk. Maryse looked up in surprise. Imagine a married man asking her a question like that! Her shock apparently showed on her face and he started to laugh.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m not asking for myself.”
Maryse was a quiet, educated, soft-spoken young woman. She also came from a Catholic family of French-Canadian descent, like most people in town. She was obedient to her parents, because they were a close family. They had weathered her mother’s illnesses, two heart attacks, and the family’s tough financial times. Her father worked in construction and was laid off for a few months during the winters. They stuck together and prayed and worked to get things back to normal. Maryse appreciated all that her parents did for her and realized how lucky she was to have such parents.
As she looked up at him, her face turned from pale to beet red. Detective LaPensee laughed again and said, “You must have been totally absorbed in your work.”
“Not really,” Maryse managed to eke out.
Detective LaPensee continued speaking. “My wife and I were wondering, if you would like to come to dinner at our home next Saturday evening.”
Maryse didn’t know what to answer. The LaPensees had never shown an interest in her before, and she could not possibly imagine why they would want to invite her to a dinner party.
The detective, sensing her hesitation, continued, “We have relatives coming down from Quebec for a visit and thought that you would like to join us. We know you are interested in French-Canadian culture and you speak French fluently, so we thought it would be a good opportunity for you to practice your French.” His eyes twinkled as he said this and she sensed a double meaning to this invitation, but she had no reason to refuse it, so she accepted.
“Yes, I would be happy to come. I’ll call your wife and confirm,” Maryse said, trying to sound gracious. “I still don’t know why you want me to come, but it would be great to practice the French language and find out what’s going on up there.” She smiled at him and he gave her an even broader smile and said, “Fine, we’ll see you then.” With that he left the office and she was left to wonder what all of this meant.

* * *
It was a sunny, somewhat hot day in Beauharnois, Quebec. Yvon Evelon looked at his watch. It was almost three o’clock. He couldn’t wait for his shift to end, as he was going to the United States for a family visit. For a long time, he asked his parents, if they could visit their relatives in the USA. He had studied English and wanted desperately to test his language skills. He attended McGill University in Montreal and was taking courses to ensure his future as an electrical engineer and was not interested in getting married. He enjoyed his freedom and wanted nothing more than to fish and hunt and study about electricity in his free time.
He came from a typical Catholic, French-Canadian family. Couples marry and never divorce, no matter how difficult things get. Even though no one was happy in the Evelon family, divorce was not an option. Yvon had three older brothers. They were married—happily--and living far enough away from their parents so as not to get caught up in the family’s unpleasantness.
Yvon was different from his brothers. He loved to spend time with his father, while his brothers sought refuge with other people. Yvon did many things with his father and they both loved the outdoors. Although André Evelon longed for his son to settle down and get married, he understood why his son was not running after women to marry.
André had married a woman he loved, but that woman did not love him in return. She was constantly dissatisfied with everything--the money, the house, his job, even the children. The marriage lasted all these years, simply because they were Catholics. He knew Yvon felt this unpleasantness and that was why it would take a very special woman to get his attention.
Yvon, like his father, liked his job, but longed for more responsibility and more challenges. There were job openings from time to time to teach apprentice courses in the United States. He wanted to apply for one of these positions, but was unsure of his English. If they visited relatives in the USA, Yvon could test his English-speaking skills and then make his move. Teaching would look good on his resume. He was book smart and had hands on experience.
Finally, his father contacted the LaPensee family and asked if the Evelons could visit for a week. The response was definitely positive. The LaPensees were always ready to entertain, and with the birth of the new baby, they were pleased to be hosts to relatives from Quebec.
Yvon was not one for socializing, but he could endure the gossip and comments from his relatives in exchange for testing his skill with the English language. He couldn’t wait to go. His father told him that he would spend a lot of time on the front porch listening to stories about people he did not know, but the experience would be invaluable. Both men laughed and knew that as long as Madame Evelon was happy, everyone would be happy.
* * *
For the next several days, Maryse spent her time at work thinking about the dinner party. She couldn’t quite figure out why Detective LaPensee was so happy to ask her to go, but she was going to find out. Maryse had an agenda of her own.
During her childhood, she heard stories from her grandparents about how great life was in Quebec. How beautiful the landscape was, especially in winter, and how wonderful it was to smell the clean, fresh air. The winters were so cold, but Maryse was told countless times how God protected and guided those families and helped them survive year after year.
“So why did they leave Quebec?” she asked her Pépére (Grandfather) Jouve. “Not enough food or work?”
“We did not leave because we didn’t like it. We left because we couldn’t survive,” he told her. “The winters are very long and cold and the summers must have good weather to provide crops for the rest of the year. We took little clothing and no food, but carried our faith and culture with us. It was part of us. Our lives and decisions were based on Catholic teachings and faith in God,” her grandfather proudly proclaimed.
Maryse was feeling bored and unfulfilled in this job. She could not think of anyone in town that she wanted to go out with, let alone marry. She had gone to college in a large Connecticut city and she liked city life. It was always alive and there was always something to do. She dreamed of going to Quebec, renting an apartment, and getting a job. After all, she already spoke the language fluently and she had office skills and a college degree. Quebec had to be better than Rhode Island.
She would go to the dinner party and get to know these Quebecois (Quebec people). She would ask them questions and plan her strategy for getting out of town and getting on with her life. Her parents couldn’t possibly object, because she was going back to her roots. For now, though, she had to find something to wear and wait for her opportunity.

* * *
Saturday was the most nerve-wracking day she had had in a long time. As the day wore on, she became nervous and jittery. “Why, why am I nervous?” she asked herself. “I don’t even know these people. There will probably be other people at the dinner party, so I can just blend in, or leave, if I want to.” With that in mind, she calmed down and, at three o’clock, began to get ready for the evening.
She chose a red, V-neck dress with short flounce sleeves. The neckline was not too low, but it accentuated her bust and made her round face look less round. “Thank God I don’t have any tan lines yet,” she thought. Her skin was smooth and white and the red dress added color to her cheeks. She had dark brown, curly, shoulder-length hair with warm, friendly, dark brown eyes. She was beginning to get nervous again as she dressed and tried to push those thoughts out of her mind.
It was a humid day, and that was always cause for concern because her hair curled up with the humidity, twisting and turning in many ways with a mind of its own. She did her best to tame it and knew it would have to do. She applied her makeup carefully, not wanting to put on too much or too little.
She must have looked in the mirror over a million times growing up and knew where every flaw was. Although she still didn’t know why she was invited, she sensed it had some kind of hidden meaning and wanted to be ready for anything good that might happen.

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