It was a mild September morning in Le Moyne when Bertrand Frontenac stepped out his front door, checking his watch to make sure he could still be five minutes early for his train. Just an ordinary day, he told himself.

 

      His alarm clock had gone off at 5:25, and Bertrand had laid in bed for a moment, willing himself to get up. Two minutes later he had found himself shaving in the bathroom, noticing that his razor was a little dull. For breakfast he had eaten a bowl of Fibres cereal. It was 5:52.

 

      No different than any other day, he told himself, as he walked down Rue Chantal towards the train station. Bertrand had always been nervous when it came to big meetings. He wondered why his boss even bothered to send him anymore. They both knew how jittery he got with big-deal meetings. It was 6:02.

 

      As Bertrand waited for the train his gaze fell upon the statue of Pierre Le Moyne, the proud Frenchman who had founded Le Moyne in 1687. Le Moyne was one of the oldest cities in New France, a fact that its citizens were very proud of. It had been there before New France was even a country. Le Moyne was a very important city, but New Orleans was more important, even though it had been founded over thirty years later, in 1718.

 

      New Orleans was the pride of the New French people. The international metropolis had flourished since colonial days, and now saw over 43% of the combined commerce of the United States of America and New France. Of course, New Orleans owed its success to the Mississippi River...

 

      At 6:16, the train came rushing into the station, one minute late by Bertrand’s watch. With one last glance at the statue of Pierre Le Moyne, he boarded the train. It was 6:25, and Bertrand had checked his briefcase seven times to make sure he had all the material he had received from his boss about the Mississippi River Maritime Incorporation. “New Orleans,” it said, “is the biggest commercial city in the Western Hemisphere. American businesses importing and exporting at New Orleans draw an average 72.3% of their total revenue from these enterprises. Another similar port of commerce common to our two countries is expected to generate revenue substantial enough to --”

 

      Bertrand could not concentrate. Revenue and ports of commerce spun around in his head. Remember, you represent not only the New French Mississippi Company but all of New France in this new business deal... Bertrand’s boss’s words echoed in his head. He could see no sense in sending him as the representative of the company, when his public speaking and social skills were possibly the worst in the company. The only reason he could think of was that he spoke the best English, and was willing to wake up at 5:25 to catch an early morning train. But how would speaking good English help him if he couldn’t get a single word out of his mouth? What if when they asked him –

 

      But Bertrand did not get to finish his thought, because somewhere, hundreds of years away a quill was scratching on paper, and a document was being whisked off of a table. A man named Thomas was laying down his quill, and Bertrand along with New France, was gone.