It's So Easy | Buddy Holly

Larry

January 27th, 1959. 1:17 am, the Tour Bus

"That place was weird." Ritchie says after we all get settled on the bus.

"Eau Claire means Clear Water in French." I say absentmindedly. I'm so used to translating everything in my head that sometimes it slips out.

"Really?" Dion asks.

"Oui."

"Cool. Are you ever gonna speak English to me again?"

"Nien."

"Stop siwtching languages!"

"D'accord."

"Buddy, why did you marry such a petty girl?" Dion glares at me.

"She's speakin' three languages. I wouldn't say its petty as much as it is impressive that she can switch so quickly." Buddy smiles at me.

"Do you have sort of a mental switch between them?" Ritchie asks. He's so innocent.

"Yeah, it's a weird three way switch."

"So do you think in English?"

"Usually I think in French, honestly. I've been speaking English for over half of my life and I never have thought in it. I just have a sort of translator filter in my head so the words come out as English." I look at Buddy's watch. How is it already one in the morning?!

Ritchie nods. "Since I've just been speaking English since I was born, I think in English and then I have a translator for Spanish."

"Damn you bilingual people for sounds so smart." Waylon crosses his arms.

"Here, do you want to speak German? I can keep French and English." I joke.

"Yeah, sure. I'll never use it, but I bet it's fun to speak another language."

"I'm so used to knowing three that it doesn't occur to me that normal people don't have three rattling around in their heads."

"Wait!" Buddy's head snaps towards me. "You spoke German with Luka!?"

"Yeah, what? Why? Of course I did. Conveniently when you weren't around." I look back at him. "Luka barely spoke English."

Buddy raises an eyebrow. "You said he spoke French?"

I nod. "Most people in Europe know more than just one language."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner that you speak German?"

"I don't know. I guess I was embarassed by it, but now it's just a part of my life. It used to bother me so much. I hated that I knew that language. I'm over it now, I speak German and I honestly think its a damn cool language."

Buddy grabs my hand and taps it twice with his middle finger. Code for "are you okay talking about this?".

I tap back. Yes, I'm okay talking about this.

"Uh, is it okay if I ask a couple of questions about when you were a kid?" Waylon turns to face us.

I nod. "Hit me with them."

"So, did you learn French first or German first?"

"Well, I was around three of four when the Nazi forces invaded, so I already had a grasp on French. When they came in, we started on German aswell as continuing French. To answer that, French first, German second."

"When did you learn English again? You've told me a million times, but I have a shit memory."

"I knew basic phases when I was a kid. Um, Wilhelm Koch taught me them. Things like "Hello my name is..." "how are you?" And colors and such. Then when I was adopted, my parents only spoke English and we lived in England with them, so we got English quickly. There's no faster way of learning another language than being in an environment that only speaks that one." I can feel myself tensing up, but not NEARLY as bad as it used to be.