Chapter Twenty-Three: Cultural Differences

Sadie was elated to be in France. Pedaling through the warm Mediterranean summer morning, she even thought that being outdoors didn't seem so bad here.

Her first destination was the Champs Les Sims Nectary, which lay on the outskirts of the town of the same name, where she was staying.

She was here to pick up a bottle of wine to deliver to her contact later this afternoon, and as she walked through the doors she hoped that she could get the business part of her trip over quickly so that she could spend the rest of her time sight-seeing and exploring the town.

Sadie browsed the extensive racks, but didn't really know what she was looking for--she was only just old enough to legally drink back home and hadn't had a whole lot of experience with alcohol. She finally decided on a bottle with a pretty label and took her purchase with her to the address Mallory had given her.

Her contact, Berthe Girard, was just leaving the house when Sadie arrived, but waved her over as she approached.

"Ah! You must be from Mallory's museum," Berthe greeted her.

"Mallory said you had some pieces for our collection," Sadie got quickly to the point, after introducing herself and presenting her gift.

"Oh, yes, well... I was just heading out to lunch, why don't you join me and we can discuss business afterward, yes?" Berthe replied.

Not wanting to offend, Sadie agreed to accompany her to a small, local cafe. Berthe suggested that Sadie pour the wine while she placed their order inside.

Sadie decided to play it safe with a bowl of what seemed to be fish soup, not quite ready to try the local delicacy of frogs legs, which Berthe was enjoying. The food was pleasant, but as they chatted over their meal, Sadie noticed that whenever she tried to bring up the museum or the artifacts she was there to collect, her liason would quickly change the subject.

"I do not wish to be rude, but I must notice that you know very little about French wine," Berthe mentioned as they were finishing up, "I have many things to do this afternoon, but I have a coupon for a discount class on winemaking at the Nectary. Perhaps you would like to learn more while I am busy, and we can continue our business tomorrow, yes?"

Sadie sighed. This trip was turning into more of an ordeal than she had expected. She didn't feel like it would be a good idea to refuse, however, so after lunch she reluctantly returned to the Nectary.

It turned out that the winemaking class was quite thorough, and involved harvesting your own grapes to start from. The warmth of the morning had grown steadily, and now the late afternoon sun prickled the back Sadie's neck uncomfortably as she bent over in the garden. Swatting away some bugs that were trying to compete with her for the fruit, Sadie wondered how she ever thought that being outdoors could be pleasant.

She had to admit that the next part of the process was sort of fun, though, if a bit messy.

It was a long, involved process, and by the time she was ready to head back to the little bed and breakfast that Mallory had set her up in, the sun had sunk almost completely below the horizon.

She went straight into the tub when she arrived, eager to wash off the residual stickiness from smashing grapes with her bare feet. She soaked for a good long while, relaxing and thinking over everything that had happened that day.

When she got out of the bath, she picked up the phone to call Phoenix, as promised.

"Oh, did I wake you?" Sadie asked apologetically, hearing a stifled yawn on the other end, "Everything's fine, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, I was exhausted after the flight, and then today I was so busy."

"Well, it's just Berthe Girard, the contact I'm supposed to be picking things up from is being really odd," Sadie confessed, "I get the feeling that there's something she's not telling me and I'm afraid that something's going to go wrong with the deal."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she replied, feeling a bit better after sharing her fears with her husband, "Goodnight, I love you."

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I wasted a lot of time in France doing silly nectary oppotunities before I realized I could cancel them and look for better ones, so I figured I should work some of that into the story. Here's a bonus shot that didn't make it in, of Sadie jogging through the town (another opportunity):