Free Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather by Pierre Szalowski

water in it, and too many stones at the bottom. He grabbed the saucepan and dipped it in
the aquarium, then ran to empty it in the toilet. After a few trips he faced the bitter truth that this manoeuvre would take hours. At this rate his four little treasures would end up frozen. There
was only one thing left to do. He grabbed his fishing net.
    Boom ba-dah boom!
on the stairs.
    Still sprawled on the sofa, lost in a dream, Alexis didn’t budge. Alex was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, enjoying every moment.
    ‘
Je . . . t’ai . . . bébé
. . .’
    Boris Bogdanov pounded on Julie’s door. It had taken him over half an hour to catch his four fish. In any group there’s always one that doesn’t want to follow the others. When
Julie opened the door, she was wearing her red bathrobe, the collar carefully wrapped high around her neck. She had just got out of bed.
    ‘I didn’t think you were going to come after all!’
    She saw the saucepan in Boris’s hand and the four fish wiggling around in a terrible knot.
    ‘That’s very kind of you but I’ve had dinner already.’
    Boris Bogdanov had never had much of a sense of humour, and even less so in the presence of his four little treasures who were swimming their hearts out in their iron coffin.
    ‘Can I see your bathroom?’
    ‘Dream on . . .’
    ‘It’s for the fish!’
    Julie felt a bit sheepish. She pointed down the hallway. Without a glance or a thank you, Boris Bogdanov ran to it and locked himself in.
Slam!
Julie opened a cupboard and took out a
blanket, which she left on the sofa, careful not to disturb the two cats sleeping there. Then she went up to the bathroom door.
    ‘I’ve left a blanket for you on the sofa. Don’t think you can sleep anywhere else, otherwise you’ll wake up in the emergency room!’
    ‘
Da!
Thank you very much!’
    ‘The towels are under the sink.’
    ‘
Da!
Thank you very much!’
    ‘Where are your fish?’
    ‘They’re here with me.’
    ‘Can I see them? They were all on top of each other in the saucepan.’
    ‘
Nyet!
I’m too busy!’
    Astonished, Julie reached for the doorknob. She thought for a moment of turning it and going in without warning. This was her house, after all. But this intrusion, so totally unexpected and
unlike anything she’d ever experienced, was a change from her usual routine. It was about life, and where there’s life, there’s hope. She went to her bedroom and looked out of the
window at the falling ice. Yes, the ice storm had completely emptied Sex Paradisio, something unheard of in that world of men who love girls, but she wasn’t sorry. There were other things in
life besides money.
    Day was breaking and Julie hadn’t managed to get to sleep. From the bathroom there came a continuous sound of water running, then stopping, then running again. For the
first thirty minutes or so she figured it must be the unexpected, unique nature of the event that was keeping her awake. There was something of a lullaby about it. But even the sweetest refrains,
if they’re repeated too often, will get stuck in your head and become unbearable.
    ‘It’s time to calm this mathematician down!’
    Forgetting to put on her bathrobe, Julie rushed into the hallway, wearing nothing but her fine, see-through nightie. She flung open the bathroom door without knocking. This was her house, after
all!
    ‘Now you and your fish, you are going—’
    ‘
Shh!
’
    Boris accompanied his command by putting his finger to his lips. Without knowing why, Julie obeyed. He was on his knees facing the bath, surrounded by flannels and scribbled sheets of papers
strewn everywhere, and he motioned to her to come closer. She froze for an instant. Her short nightie wasn’t hiding a thing. Boris wasn’t looking at her, though.
    ‘Come and see, in the bath.’
    Julie obediently knelt down. From behind, the scene was one of torrid indecency. Julie’s bare buttocks bounced next to Boris’s worn jeans. When