A big book of small stories

Misunderstanding

Disclaimer: A good portion of this story
is in French, and unfortunately there are no gender neutral pronouns in French. So if I accidentally use a male pronoun, please note that I'm not assigning the reader's gender. Male pronouns are simply the default in French.

Everything was going just fine. It was a perfectly normal day, with the bean at work and you happily borrowing. Until you tripped and fell off the counter, getting your ankle tangled up in your rope. You tried desperately to get yourself free, but with the blood rushing to your head you quickly became disoriented.

You eventually gave up, and let yourself dangle high above the kitchen floor. You didn't know how long it had been, but soon enough you heard the jangling of keys. You knew the bean was coming home, and there was nowhere for you to go. You heard the bean's voice immediately after she opened the door. It sounded like she was on the phone.

"... non mais franchement! Je te dis, il est un connard. Il faut lui laisser. Allez on va te trouver un meilleur chum ce week-end et-" she paused when she locked her eyes onto you.

" 'Tant minute, j'vais te rappeler."

She hung up and slowly brought her phone into her pocket. You were completely frozen in fear as she came towards you and crouched down in front of you, her upside down face was uncomfortably close to you. She looked over your small form in awe. Her gaze eventually drifted to your bag that was still on the table. And full of stolen food. You were expecting her face to contort in anger upon seeing the stolen articles, however no such thing happened. Her eyes drifted back to you and her brows furrowed in concern.

"Peux tu... peux tu parler?"

See the thing about this bean, was that you never understood a word she said. When she moved in to the apartment, you once heard her mention that she came from a place called "Québec", whatever that meant. Even though you hadn't a clue what she was saying, it sounded like she was asking a question. You didn't respond, and remained quiet.

"Je vais prendre cela comme un non," she turned her head to the left and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ok, respire Marianne, il y a une petite personne dans ton salon, c'est rien," she took a deep breath and looked back at you. Moi," she gestured to herself with her hands. "c'est Marianne."

It seemed like she was trying to introduce herself. So, her name was Marianne.

"Je veux t'aider, ok?" she said was she gestured to the string.

She was pointing at your leg, the one tangled into the fishing line. It sounded like another question. Did she ask you if you wanted help? No, of course not! She was a human bean, she didn't care about you. Her hand moved towards your leg and you couldn't help but close your eyes and flinch. Her fingers, which were nearly as tall as you, pinched your ankle.

You felt the tightness of the rope leave your ankle, and you let out an involuntary sigh of relief. You opened your eyes again, and saw yourself slowly being lowered onto Marianne's other palm. She slowly set you down on the warm, leathery surface. She stood back up, and you had to force yourself to not look down. She set you down on the table and handed you your hook and fishing line. You sent her a questioning glance. Was she... letting you go? You didn't think a bean would ever do that. She smiled at you sweetly.

"Allez-y, t'es libre maintenant," she said as she made a shooing motion with her hands.

"T-thank you," you stammered.

You knew it was against the rules to talk to a human, but you had to say something. She just... saved your life!

"Pardonnez-moi, je ne parle pas bien anglais, mais you're welcome."