Free And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine, Justin Phipps Page B

frost.

28
Guy Loses Thirty Pounds
    Guy didn’t come to the door. Ferdinand went around by the garden, but the kitchen door was locked. He had to break a window to get in.
    Now they were sitting side by side on the bed. Ferdinand talked of Guy’s responsibilities for Mireille and the children. Gaby wouldn’t have liked his letting himself go in this way. It would have made her really sad. But above all, for God’s sake, she’d have hated the fact that he had gone a fortnight without a shower or shave. She would have certainly demanded a divorce: the man stank! Guy gave a weak smile.
    Down below Mireille was doing the dishes. She broke a glass and shouted: oh shit! Ferdinand raised his eyebrows, but secretly he was delighted.
    Guy agreed to wash up. He could barely stand, so Ferdinand helped him up. It wasn’t surprising, he’d lost thirty pounds in a fortnight and was skinny to begin with. He fetched some clean clothes from the wardrobe and leaned on Ferdinand’s arm to go down the corridor.On reaching the bathroom, Guy pushed him away and told him to go downstairs and wait for him. He could wash himself; he wasn’t bedridden.
    An hour later, he came downstairs looking neat and clean-shaven. Mireille had prepared something for him to eat: scrambled eggs, with tea and bread and butter. He made an effort, but had trouble getting it down.
    At a quarter past ten Mireille had to go out to work. She gave Guy a hug and rubbed his back, as though trying to warm him up. He whispered in her ear not to worry, he would soon be better. She stepped back to take a look at him and he smiled. She wanted to believe him and gave him an affectionate kiss. She had opened the door to go out, but then changed her mind and came back to kiss Ferdinand on both cheeks. Until that point she had always kept her grumpy father-in-law at a distance when she greeted him.
    Once they were alone together, the gloves were off, Ferdinand went on the attack. He asked Guy what he would miss most if he ever had to leave his house. And Guy snapped back: nothing. Ferdinand was caught off guard; he hadn’t expected such a blunt response. So Guy explained. Neither he nor Gaby had ever really liked the house. On retiring they had been forced to sell the farm to pay off some debts and with the money left over they hadn’t been able to find anything better. That’s how it was.
    Ferdinand put his cards on the table. He told Guy about the idea that he, Mireille and Marceline had come up with. And of course Guy said no. But Ferdinand was undeterred. He had already found the right words and arguments the first time around with Marceline; he wasn’t afraid to start all over again. He knew Guy like the back of his hand.A real stubborn old fool. You couldn’t push him; if you wanted him to budge, you had to catch him by surprise.
    That’s what he tried to do all day, but without success.
    Finally, running short of arguments, he put his jacket over his shoulders and said, “You can’t stay here, Guy. It’s not good for you. Come on, let’s go.”

29
Two plus One at the Farm
    Guy refused to take any of his belongings, even his pajamas. Ferdinand thought that was good. No reason to take offense. It meant there was still life in the old dog. In any case he had some pajamas; he could borrow his. It was weird: since Marceline moved in he hadn’t had the dream, the one where he swam with the dolphins in the warm, blue waters of a tropical lagoon. In a way he was sorry, it had been a really nice dream. But on the other hand he was no longer wetting the bed, and that wasn’t so bad.
    When they entered the farmyard Cornelius was standing in front of the kitchen door, busy examining the handle. A few minutes more and it was clear he would have opened it. Guy had of course heard all about his exploits from Gaby—he could still recall her pleasure, saying how that donkey, he was one of a kind! But he’d never had a chance to see him in action. For Ferdinand it was