Sébastien: What It Means To Grow Up

As for young Sébastien, his was a lonely life, without social interaction, and with for horizons the dingy kitchen and the cavernous storefront with its glossy, depressing, drab olive green walls. In these two rooms, he spent a great part of his childhood, surrounded by women and rolls of fabric and yarns. The dominant customers indeed, were the region farmers' wifes who used to exclaim before him, as if he was deaf and dumb, statements like: “Poor little bastard, all the same, he looks like an angel.” or “ He might be fatherless, but my, what a handsome devil.” This outright female attention and praise were not lost on the clever child, and he promptly learned to utilize his charms to further his gains, despite the rebuff, meanness, and insults