And when Saoirse was five, Madame, a former French teacher, insisted on beginning lessons with my children. I grew defensive about French lessons, perturbed whenever Madame would call to ask me questions about my plan of education. Madame and Helmuth stood together picking up their chickens one afternoon when I finally burst into a spate of apologies. As Ula grew into her own readiness to learn French, Madame and I learned to teach together. It goes without saying that our Wednesday French lessons were cancelled last week.