Everything in Marseilles, and about Marseilles, had stared at the fervid sky, and been stared at in return, until a staring habit had become universal there.
Hindoos, Russians, Chinese, Spaniards, Portuguese, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Genoese, Neapolitans, Venetians, Greeks, Turks, descendants from all the builders of Babel, come to trade at Marseilles, sought the shade alike--taking refuge in any hiding-place from a sea too intensely blue to be looked at, and a sky of purple, set with one great flaming jewel of fire.
So, with people lounging and lying wherever shade was, with but little hum of tongues or barking of dogs, with occasional jangling of discordant church bells and rattling of vicious drums, Marseilles, a fact to be strongly smelt and tasted, lay broiling in the sun one day.
One week later, the patient was admitted to the infectious diseases unit of a university hospital in
Marseilles, France, with persistent fever, myalgia, and a 7-kg weight loss; she had no digestive manifestations.
In September 1998, she simultaneously announced her resignation from the Paris Opera Ballet and began working in
Marseilles, where she is replacing Roland Petit as the director of the Ballet de
Marseille and its prestigious dance school.
In October 1998, a 65-year-old man came to the Felix Houphouet Boigny Hospital of Tropical Medicine in
Marseilles, France, for evaluation of fever, nausea, vomiting, myalgias, and diarrhea.
And the Vieux Port of
Marseilles is a magic place in which to assist, especially at dusk--that blue hour--when the masts of the little boats, the flags, and the twinkling lights on the water suggest a painting by Raoul Dufy, while more than a few of the local inhabitants drinking at the cafes fringing the harbor remind you that this is Marcel Pagnol territory.
