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He seemed to be very interested in my ideas about the creation of a sports car magazine intended for young people who hoped to become racing drivers and offered to hire me as editor-in-chief of a newspaper that was to come out in a few months’ time. He showed me the factory that he was going to buy to set up his printing office, introduced me to the printer in Dijon whom he had hired to be the director, and showed me the house where my wife and I could live, at a stone’s throw from my office. I replied that it would suit me, provided I could cover and participate in races. He then told me that he was also looking for someone capable of running a competitions department, since he intended to launch the new newspaper by racing some cars painted in his own colors. That would enable me to be right where the action was, and I agreed to be the director of the competitions department for this company. A week later, I moved from Paris to Dijon with my wife, Marie- Paul. I had been married for about three months, and she was expecting our daughter. I had met Marie-Paule in the month of June, and we had not left each other’s side since the first day we met. We had married three months later, only because her family was shocked to learn that we had no intention of getting married religiously. Her family was very old-fashioned, and at first I prayed with them before meals. My stay in Dijon, however, lasted only two months, and I received no salary. It transpired that the “rich American” who had wanted to tore . coe wa create a newspaper had in fact just come out of prison without a penny. He had swindled sums of money ranging from 150 francs to 300 francs from more than 500 young people dreaming, like me, of becoming racing drivers or photographer-reporters. I had worked two months for nothing, and I found myself full of ideas, but penniless. This time I decided to make a start alone in the great world of publishing. I moved to Clermont-Ferrand, close to my mother who was then looking forward to becoming a grandparent very soon, and started my own publishing house to produce a magazine in my own way. This magazine was soon born, thanks to a 135 My Lire UNTIL THE First ENCOUNTER - POETRY