He was puzzled at first but he asked politely “do I know you?”. I told him maybe we might have met before in a seminar or something. If he was a s...raight guy he would have reacted differently. So I boldly took out my cellphone and dialed my room number on its screen and I saw him taking a glance on it. I left the bar in five minutes and was in my room for a shower. In about half an hour or so there was a knock on my door, it was him. I opened the door with a towel around my waist and asked “how. " That's the snail." Sam stretched her scant knowledge of French andpulled a face. "You didn't eat any of them, did you?" I didn't, as it happens, although Mark had them as a starter and I'dhave joined him except I had the caviar, so there." So what? They're only over priced fish eggs, I expect the cod fromour local chippy tastes better. Anyway how much were they? I hope hewas stung for your boring evening." I don't know how much they were, my menu didn't have prices on it." I bet that. We pulled into the large stable corral next to the railway track and the owner told us we were welcome to rest there, and he would feed out stock for a reasonable rate until we moved on to our final destination. He was a giant of a black man and had arms that bulged with muscles. Apparently, he was also the town’s only blacksmith. His name was Thomas and he joked with me that he was the only “BLACKsmith” and the only dark skinned person in the town.The older Mormon wife in my retinue was. In short Fran, so far as she was concerned, had an idyllic childhood. Not until she arrived at university — incidentally the first person from her village ever to do so — and saw the possessions that her fellow students took for granted did it dawn on her that she had been raised in dire poverty. It was a sharp blow to her self-esteem, but not half so bad as when, after four years of diligent study with every prospect of an excellent degree at the end of it, she applied for jobs and found.