Yaqui

(The folks got a kick out of this all those years ago.)
    In 1979, I was lucky enough to spend the summer on a study tour of France led by our French teacher (also owner of a travel agency) Mrs. Palyok. Part of the trip was a family stay for, I think, ten days. There was a group near Paris in Chevreuse, and our group in Mulhouse (in Alsace, near Germany). My family, the Madigniers spoke little English, which was the idea. The French families, I'm reasonably sure, were instructed to converse with us only in French. They were a sweet bunch, though.
    Parallels with my real family were eerie. They were also Catholic, so they also had 118 children. (OK, we had 5 and they had 6, but still.) Our family had a new silver Impala with a red interior marred by seat covers, and they had a new silver Citroen with a red interior marred by seat covers. Both families consisted of one girl and the rest boys. (This is the point where I'm supposed to say that Mlle. Madignier was a raving beauty. It is to my deep regret that I am unable to do that.)
    The big difference was that they had a dog, a dachshund called Yaqui. He was a good fellow. I remember Madame Madignier bringing him along when she showed me the Alsatian countryside. I think I still have the pictures somewhere. I wasn't much of a dog person back then, but I liked him a lot.
    One night Madame Madignier served us a meat dish for supper. It was conspicuously delicious, and I asked what kind of meat it was. She said it was just meat, maybe a trifle evasively, and I thought, "Where's the dog?" And I completely lost it. I just dissolved into giggles, and there was no way in hell I could tell them what had caused it. I eventually just said that it was an American joke, and got myself calmed down.
    (When I told my folks about this, they, especially my dad, said that I should have told the Madigniers what made me laugh, and maybe I should have. With the perspective of decades, it seems likeliest that the meat was horse. I don't know if there could have been any comfortable way out of that situation. Fortunately, even then I was pretty relaxed about people thinking I'm crazy.)