They were to eat peaches, as planned, after her nap, and now she sat across from the man who would have been a total stranger except that he was in fact her father. They had been together again for almost a hundred years now, or was it only since day before yesterday? Anyhow, they were together again, and he was kind of funny. First, he had the biggest mustache she had ever seen. Second, he wore a blue-and-white striped jersey instead of a shirt and tie, and no coat. He was barefoot, and so was she.
He was at home in Paris. He was thirty-six; and she was six, just up from sleep on a very hot afternoon in August.
That morning, she had seen peaches in a box outside a small store, so he had bought a kilo. Now, the peaches were on a large plate on the card table at which they sat. There were seven of them, but one of them was flawed. It looked as good as others, but where the stem had been there was now a break that went straight down into the heart of the seed.
He placed the biggest peach on the small plate in front of the girl, and then took the flawed peach and began to remove the skin. When he had half the skin off he ate that side, neither of them talking.
The man held the half-eaten peach and looked down into the cavity, into the open seed. The girl looked too.
While they were looking, two feelers poked out from the cavity. They were attached to a kind of brown knob-head, which followed the feelers, and then two large legs took a strong grip on the edge of the cavity and hoisted the rest of the creature out.
The man studied the seed dweller, and so did the girl. The creature paused a moment, then continued to come out of the seed and walk down the eaten side of the peach.
The girl had never seen anything like it—a brown thing with a knob-head, feelers, and many legs. The man placed the peach back on the plate. The creature moved onto the white plate and stopped.
"Who is it?" the girl said.
"Gaston."
"Where does he live?"
"Well, he used to live in this peach seed, but now that the peach has been harvested and sold, and I have eaten half of it, it looks as if he's out of house and home."
"Aren't you going to squash him?"
"No, of course not, why should I?"
"He is a bug. He is ugh."
"Not at all. He is Gaston the grand boulevardier."
"Everybody hollers when a bug comes out of an apple, but you don't."
"Of course not. How should we like it if somebody hollered every time we came out of our house?"
"Why would they?"
"Precisely. So why should we holler at Gaston?"
"He is not the same as us."
"Well, not exactly, but he's the same as a lot of other occupants of peach seeds. Now, the poor fellow hasn't got a home, and there he is with all that pure design and handsome form, and nowhere to go."
"Handsome?"
"Gaston is just about the handsomest of his kind I've ever seen."
He opened the seed and placed the two halves near Gaston.
"Is that where he lives?"
"It's where he used to live. Gaston is out in the world and on his own now."
"Now what has he got?"
"Not very much, I'm afraid."
"What's he going to do?"
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, we're not going to squash him," the girl said.
"What are we going to do, then?"
"Put him back?"
"Oh, that house is finished."
"Well, he can't live in our house, can he?"
"Not happily."
"I want a peach with somebody in the seed."
"Well, I'll go out and see if I can find one."
He went out. She watched Gaston wandering on the plate.
The telephone rang. Her mother was sending the chauffeur to pick her up for a party, and tomorrow they would fly back to New York.
"Let me speak to your father," she said.
"He's gone to get a peach."
"One peach?"
"One with people."
"You haven't been with your father two days and already you sound like him."
"There are peaches with people in them. I know. I saw one of them come out."
"A bug?"
"Not a bug. Gaston."
After the call, the girl watched Gaston. She actually didn't like him. He was all ugh. He didn't have a home and he was wandering. She cried a little, but only inside.
The man returned with more peaches, hoping to find another flawed one.
His daughter was in her best dress.
"My mother phoned," she said, "and she's sending the chauffeur for me."
"I liked being in your house."
"I liked having you here."
"Why do you live here?"
"This is my home."
"It's nice, but it's a lot different from our home."
"Yes, I suppose it is."
"It's kind of like Gaston's house."
"Where is Gaston?"
"I squashed him."
"Really? Why?"
"Everybody squashes bugs and worms."
"Oh. Well. I found you a peach."
"I don't want a peach anymore."
He helped her get ready. When the chauffeur arrived, he walked her down. In the street, he was about to hug her but decided not to. They shook hands instead, as if they were strangers.
He watched the car drive off, and then went for his coffee, feeling a little, he thought, like Gaston on the white plate.