Anir

It was a Saturday evening in mid-October 2019. We arranged to meet at Châtelet — the center of Paris, with several metro lines and RERs (suburban trains) passing through, and a large shopping mall built on top.

It was past 8 PM, and the evening was growing colder and darker. I waited for a few minutes at the station, then received a message from Anir saying his work had been delayed and he’d need another half hour to arrive. So, I quickly headed upstairs to the mall to avoid harassment from loiterers and vagrants.

In Paris, there aren’t many cockroaches, but there are plenty of rats. As I sat in a chair, mindlessly scrolling through my phone, I vaguely noticed small, fast-moving creatures darting across the floor. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were rats.

I didn’t panic; after all, it wasn’t my first time seeing rats. But I still pulled my feet up onto the chair. Fortunately, the chair was long enough for me to sit cross-legged.

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After a while, a teenage boy approached me and started a conversation. My French wasn’t great at the time, and I could only understand about 30 to 40 percent of what he was saying. He asked me a question, and I stared at him blankly. He tried explaining again in French, and I realized he was asking if I had any paper for rolling tobacco.

Of course, I didn’t carry any: “J’ai pas, désolée” (Sorry, I don’t have any). He responded politely and left.