Nick and the Orphan

Stephan Herman

Nick Nobles was alone when he went away from his family and left them to live in Paris. He did not know what to do with himself, except to work seven days a week and get drunk in Maxine’s after work, because work was hard, and at the end of the day he ached and did not want to feel it. He would go to Maxine’s and drink with the other workers, and try not to feel anything. He did not want to feel anything. “That is why I came to Paris,” he would tell himself. “I came here to lose myself in this city.”

It worked pretty well. Between the working and the drinking, memories of his village grew fainter and he did not think about Nicollet often, now.

One day, a Muslim on the street laughed at Nick, for no reason. It was a young Muslim, about Nick’s age, and he had thrown his head back and pointed his finger at Nick and burst into raucous laughter. Nick had looked at the Muslim for a moment, because he did not understand why he laughed, then looked angrily away. There was no reason. After that, Nick had started swearing at the Muslims along with the other men on his work crew. They were no good. What he, Nick would do to the Muslims, if he was the Prime Minister! He would make a plan for the Muslims, to deport them all. He would know what to do with them.

He did not know what to do with the baby. He had found it in the alley on his way home. “Ah-ah-ah!” it had cried, and he had looked down, and there it was, lying on the newspapers by the garbage can. “Ah-ah-ah!” It was a little Muslim baby, brown, smiling, and it stretched its arms out, and looked at him and smiled. He thought about the riots, and he paused, looking down at the baby, and took his hat off.

“There is a little Muslim baby. I don’t like the Muslims. I don’t understand what they are saying, and they are a great nuisance. They have many strange ideas. But I always wanted a little baby, because they are cute,” he thought. He struck a match and pulled a cigarette out of the cigarette pack from his breast-pocket and decided to bring the baby to his apartment.