it was the gracious orderly france he 'd dreamed of back in middletown , but two-dimensional and hopelessly archaic , a vision totally contradicted by the real france he 'd seen with its rainy sugar-beet fields , sex shops , fast foods , violence , and , here and now , the background noise of pinball machines , tv soccer , binging and buzzing pinball machines that he could hear as he sat nauseous at a formica-topped table .