Zadig & Voltaire – Meatpacking District, NYC

It was in Le Bon Marché in Paris; there I stood looking lost in the massive men’s department when a woman walked up to me and asked me if I spoke English in what I could only assume was bad French.
Her face lit up when I said I did, I know that feeling… she asked if I knew what floor Zadig & Voiltaire was on.
“Mais oui… Voltaire écrivait Zadig, non?” I joked in what I’m sure was bad French.
I told her it’s on the second floor; I remembered because I’d been intrigued, and I’d wanted to make that joke too but skinny french shopgirls intimidate me.
And then I asked her… I’d been wandering the halls for a while, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to get to La Grande Epicerie – did she by any chance know?
That she did; I needed to go out, it was actually the building next door.
I thanked her and she thanked me, the next day I downloaded a free copy of Zadig and read it days later on the plane home.
It had been on my list of books to read for years now.