Jean-Paul and Catseye

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye's encounter with a waitress embarrasses Jean-Paul and prompts a discussion on naming conventions of humans.


Devouring her burger in record time, Catseye eyed Jean-Paul's burger suspiciously, tail swishing in the booth as she pondered the consequences of stealing his meal. "Can Catseye get another burger when BigRoundFoodBringingGirl comes back?" she asked him. She had money from her job at Elpis, but Jean-Paul was supposed to be taking her out to celebrate her passing his course- the first time she'd ever passed the subject without going to summer classes- so she decided that meant he should pay.

It wasn't often that he was out and about with Catseye, so Jean-Paul could perhaps be forgiven for choking on his burger when he heard the name she'd chosen for their waitress. He reached for his water glass just as the person in question reappeared. The girl was obviously a summer hire, probably a year or so younger than Catseye with curly blonde hair and carrying about twenty pounds above and beyond what was needed to qualify for "chunky" status. She offered them both a cheery smile.


"Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

"Catseye would like another burger please BigRoundFoodBringingGirl," Catseye answered with a nod, "with no green things or red things please, thank you!"

It was like watching a trainwreck. Jean-Paul swallowed as fast as he could, trying to get out an apology between coughs.

"I am so sorry, mademoiselle. She does not mean..."

But the girl's shocked expression had already crumpled to one of dismay, then red-faced humiliation. Stammering, she excused herself, but still didn't manage to turn away before the first tears slid down her cheeks.

Catseye cocked her head at Jean-Paul. "How come BigRoundFoodBringingGirl is crying?"

Jean-Paul winced. "Do not call her that again, all right? Just...give me a moment, to talk to her." He rose to his feet and headed out after their waitress.

-----------

It had taken far more than a moment to find the sobbing girl, and before Jean-Paul could really talk to her, the manager had shown up. He'd managed to explain to the man -- the girl's uncle, at that -- that Catseye's socialization as she had grown up had been somewhat lacking, but that hadn't seemed make the girl feel any better. Retreat had seemed the best option in the end. Jean-Paul paid the bill, tipped obscenely well, then herded a very confused Catseye back to the car.

"But Catseye didn't get her second burger; why do Catseye and MisterPointyEarsBeaubier have to leave?" the purple-haired girl was protesting. "Because BigRoundFoodBringingGirl was crying and crying?"

"We can pick up another burger on the way back. And I asked you not to call her that again." Jean-Paul kept his voice level as he held the car door open for Catseye. "We are leaving because the waitress is very upset. You may not have meant it as such, but the name you chose for her is a cruel one."

"Can Catseye drive?" she asked hopefully, though her attention turned quickly back to the topic of their leaving the restaurant. "Why shouldn't Catseye call her that name? That is what she is. Why is that cruel if BigRoundFoodBringingGirl is big and round and brings food?"

"Not today." Jean-Paul circled around to his side of the car. "For starters, you should not call her that name because she already has a name; it was on her name-tag. Also, by choosing that sort of name, you have effectively reduced her to her job and how she looks. No one likes to be judged on appearance alone, and I am sure she has been made fun of for her weight before. That may not have been what you meant, but that is how that girl felt."

"Everyone who looks nice likes people calling them nice names when they look nice," Catseye defended herself, frowning. "And people who don't look nice should know they don't look nice already. Catseye does not judge. Catseye says what is real. What is true. How come humans don't like hearing what is true, and how come they don't like being named for what they are?"

"On the contrary." Jean-Paul started the engine. "You are mistaking an occasional compliment for an encompassing constant. People get just as upset about being thought of only as a pretty face as they do about being seen only by the measure of their waistband. To your point of view, you are only saying what is plain to see and there is no judgement attached, but to most people, there are many connotations that come with drawing attention to physical appearance. That girl, for example, is most likely used to people who draw attention to her weight thinking of her as ugly, weak-willed, dull, and lazy, all before they know anything more about her than she is overweight."

"Catseye does not understand," she said with a shake of her head. "Catseye wants to understand, but Catseye does not." She didn't understand some of Jean-Paul's large words and phrases. "How is calling the big girl 'Big' different than calling her Max?" That was the name on the tag that Jean-Paul had talked about earlier. "Max only says a plain thing, one thing, just like 'Big' or 'Rude.' And Big and Rude mean something. Max doesn't mean anything."

Frustration was clear in Catseye's tone and the increasingly agitated motions of her tail. She was not obstinate by nature, Jean-Paul had found, but she was strikingly direct and responded best to explanations that shared that directness. Jean-Paul just wasn't sure he could condense the importance of a name so easily. He considered for a moment, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel.

"At the very least, calling a person by their name is a neutral thing. But names do have meaning." They pulled out of the parking lot, only to be halted at once by the corner light. Jean-Paul glanced over at Catseye. "It is hard to put into exact words, but, for many people, a name is who they are. It is a part of them they have carried through every experience they have had. When you call a person by their name, they feel that they are being spoken to as a person. If you call them by what they look like or what they are, many will feel that you speak to them as if they are a thing and that one thing is the only way you see them. A fat girl. A dark man. A pointy-eared mutant." He half-smiled, though there was little humor there. "Even if you in particular do not intend to be hurtful, as I said, most people do not appreciate being defined only by what can be seen. I did not when we first met, but I was told enough of your life to know that you meant no harm by it. The people you meet outside of the school will not have that information. At the least, they will find it an odd way to be addressed. At worst, they will be angry or hurt."

The purple-haired girl was silent for a long time as she mulled over Jean-Paul's words. The way he'd put it this time, she felt like she was beginning to understand, especially the part about carrying the name through every experience in one's life, and about the difference between the name of a person and the name of a thing. "Catseye does not mean to make people sound like things," she admitted, quiet and sounding chagrined. "Catseye used to think humans were a kind of a thing, when Catseye first came to school. They were a very different thing from what Catseye was. It didn't hurt Catseye's head so much to call people by what they looked like or what they did, because the other names they had were hard to understand and remember- even though Catseye is a veryverysmart mutant!" she added quickly. "But Catseye does not think humans are a kind of a thing anymore. Humans are humans, like cats are cats. And things are things. But even things have their own names. Catseye thinks she understands more now. About names being special to humans to carry all around life, because it is part of them and part that not many other people have. There can be lots of RoundGirls," she mused, "but not so many Max, so Max is more special?" She made it into a question, to see if her teacher thought she was really beginning to comprehend.

"That is the essence of it." Jean-Paul turned his attention back to the road as the light changed. "Really, when it comes down to it, I suppose it is just about manners, about not hurting a person's feelings if you can help it. We can get your burger and talk about that more in-depth if you like. I agree that you are a very smart young woman, and if you wished to start addressing people by their real names, I have no doubt that you could manage it."


"Catseye does not really wish to," she shrugged, taking him literally, "but Catseye thinks maybe she should try, for manners and not hurting feelings even though Catseye thinks humans should be strong enough not to have hurt feelings if someone calls them fat when they are. Catseye can definitely manage though, nyah!" she assured him, wrinkling her nose.