Josephine's Last Stand

Not surprisingly, the morning we moved, Josephine had her part in the story.

Those huge cranes that lift furniture up into or out of an apartment are commonly used when people move in the city because stairways are so narrow or there is no elevator and 5 flights of stairs, etc (pictured in the post below). If you recall, when we moved into this apartment a year-and-a-half ago, Josephine was wringing her hands in the courtyard, afraid that such a huge machine would fall through the tiles and down into the cave below.

This year, her tone changed. Roles reversed and the neighbor on the first floor was outside almost in tears, while Josephine was assuring her that we had been first-class neighbors and that the crane-machine was not as vicious as it appeared. We were shocked.

Josephine defending us?

She came over to our side of the hallway later on that day to commiserate a bit, telling us that it was absurd how upset Marie-Laure had become - it was only a machine for moving people after all. We nodded in speechless agreement and then, inspired, Xavier ran to get the camera because we knew that she would be talking without cessation for the next ten minutes, regardless of what we did or said (including holding a camera in her face while she spoke).

So here it is: Josephine telling a tragic tale of the sick neighbor below and then, almost weeping, abruptly changing the subject to display her beautiful grandchildren (she even got Marguerite to concur that they are 'mimi' - cute).

I think she had caught wind of the fact that we would be moving that morning - she was dressed, coiffed and ready to go at a very early hour...

Ah, but I will miss the white-topped mushroom in her floor-length t-shirt sauntering outside of our door, trying to get a peep in.