Ferdinand has a French tutor. She comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 for dinner and at 7:00, I do the dishes, and they do the French. She is a friend of mine and as reliable as the sun rises and sets. In she comes, and right behind her, my son. I make them meat sauce with bucatini or little steaks with chive butter, chicken parm or a pile of rice and lentils with a starter of red pepper potage, and they laugh and talk and then somehow a little miracle happens, and the two of them plow through a semester of vocabulary and verbs.
I am so entirely grateful.