GARANCIERES, France -- When Ludovic Chanson and Luke Sargent met during a student-exchange program, each gained a soulmate from a different continent.

"They shared something special,'' Frank Capozza, Luke's father, said by telephone from Mendham, N.J., yesterday. "I believe that they were both extraordinarily sensitive young kids. There was a common feeling of love between them.''

The boys have traveled back and forth to visit each other, with Ludovic spending time this summer with Luke.

"Ludovic went there on holiday this time because they had continued to write....," said Francois Arlot, deputy mayor of this idyllic village that has been stunned by the 12-year-old boy's death on TWA Flight 800 Wednesday night, as he was returning home.

France is mourning 42 victims of the explosion over the Atlantic Ocean. People here in Garancieres are especially mourning one boy, the youngest of three siblings.

Capozza said that Luke, 14, had visited France once and was planning to return next summer to Ludovic's house, which lies surrounded by corn fields and other quiet, ancient farmhouses in this village 30 miles to the west of Paris. Ludovic had enjoyed visiting the United States so much early last year that he couldn't wait to return, said Arlot, who started the exchange program four years ago.

Now two homes, two communities and two countries are twinned in grief.

The Chansons are a large family, and Ludovic's parents and older brother and sister are surrounded now by a large cast of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Two police officers are stationed at the end of their long driveway, making sure that only close friends and relatives see the grieving family.

"I am close to Nicole, [Ludovic's mother] and it's very difficult because you want to help her, but you can't do much because it's so terrible to lose a 12-year-old child,'' said Francoise Baudry, a family friend. "You feel like you can't help as you would like to. So it's frustrating, but we share the horror of this. The people in the village are behind the family.''

That's the way it is in Garancieres. The people here know each other and look out for each other. It's a place of innocence: a teenage girl strolled down a deserted street yesterday, stuck out her thumb and hitched a lift to the next hamlet without worrying for her safety.

In the meeting room of the cool but sun-drenched village hall, Arlot recalled that it had been difficult at first to persuade his fellow villagers to send a whole class of students to live with American families for a while. "At first, we had to convince a lot of families,'' he said. "Actually, my daughter and Ludovic's brother were in the first class to go to the U.S.'' four years ago.

Arlot's pioneering spirit opened up a whole new world to Ludovic, a fanatic basketball fan.

"When he got on that plane, you couldn't tell what country he was from," Capozza said. "He had Dennis Rodman shoes, a Michael Jordan shirt and a Nike hat. You name it, he had it.''

Now Ludovic's parents, officially notified of their son's death late Thursday, wait to find out if their youngest child's body has been recovered from the Atlantic. And they wait to find out if he was the victim of an accident or a crime.

"They don't talk about it,'' Arlot said, "but we think they believe it's terrorism. We think so, too."