The PBTB in Paris

The French Powder Blue Tuxedo Boys

The French Powder Blue Tuxedo Boys
August 11th, 2024

Editor’s Note: This story is about the Frolics Barre on Boulevard Des Italiens in Paris. There, Patrik and Timoti wear powder blue tuxedos and are successful writers and emcees of major events.

The Frolics Barre has a bartender named Charles. He looks and acts just like Charles Bukowski of Los Angeles literary fame.

For ease of understanding, I have translated the French into English.

It is a sunny Sunday afternoon and the last day of the Paris Olympics. Patrik and Timoti are in their usual booth at the Frolics Barre drinking Kronenbourg (Carlsberg) beer.

….

Patrik: Sacre bleu! I can’t believe we lost the Writers Marathon at the Olympics.

Timoti: It was grueling. We had to write a story and then tell it for 26 minutes to an audience of 100 people. Whichever two writer’s team held the most audience members for 26 minutes won gold.

Patrik: But the audience was all over the place. There were children, old people, men, women, trans, Its… how do we write a story for such a diverse crowd?

Timoti: You’d think more than ten people would have stayed for the whole 26 minutes of our story.

Patrik: Five of them were asleep!

Timoti: Perhaps we didn’t put enough sex in the story.

Patrik: Maybe, but which sex? What kind of sex?

Timoti: impossible n’est pas français

Patrik: Well, certainement, but it sure seems impossible to me. How do we please such a diverse audience?

Charles comes over to the booth with two more beers.

Charles: You should have told a story about a beautiful young woman with a great ass. The French love those stories.

Timoti: But what about the kids?

Charles: The kids would have loved it.

Patrik: And the old people?

Charles: Enraptured by your tale.

Timoti: So, we should have told a story about Kim Kardashian?

Charles: Gold medal, for sure.

Patrik: If we’d had slides of Kim, it would have been a lock.

Timoti: Damn! Well, maybe we go to Los Angeles in 2028. They have a Frolic Room there on Hollywood Boulevard.

Patrik: I’ll call my cousin Edouard. He runs the bar at the Frolic Room in LA.

Timoti: Should be a good time.

Patrik: Maybe we’ll make new friends.

TJM