Beyond the moon - 1 : Dreams

15 - THE CHALET

The journey lasted two and a half hours before the first stop. We stopped at a rest area to have coffee and nibble. Gribouille seemed to endure the journey, until now. She had slept a good part of the way on my lap.

We stopped every two to three hours during the trip. My mother had prepared sandwiches for lunch and a pasta salad for the evening, in case we arrived late at the cottage. In the afternoon, she and Patrick took turns driving. Patrick would take the wheel again once we reached the Geneva side.

Samuel, Ethan, Allison and I spent our afternoon playing different card games and Samuel continually blamed Allison and Ethan - who teamed together - with cheating. It seemed like they were constantly guessing the cards we had in their hands. Patrick burst out laughing each time, but had finished, by taking a more serious look, by asking them to play in the rules. As a result, game games became more equitable.

After leaving the motorway on the outskirts of Geneva, my mother gave way to Patrick. He had previously been careful to put chains on the van's tires, so as to gain easier access to roads that were not cleared of snow. We arrived at the chalet at about twenty-thirty in the snow. The weak wind allowed us to unload the vehicle quickly, then Patrick parked it in a shed on the side of the chalet.

The atmosphere of our holiday resort was warm. Like any cottage, it consisted largely of wood, but also stones. I loved the decoration of our new habitat for our holidays. The entrance included a counter to welcome guests who came to stay, when Patrick's brother and his wife opened the cottage in a guest room. The cabin apparently had ten rooms on two floors, not counting the owners on the ground floor. The living room and the dining room were one big room. Two large fireplaces sported each gable. Above one of them hung two carbines, and on the other the fateful deer's head. The kitchen and scullery were in the basement, as well as a large wine cellar.

I took care of Gribouille's things and gave him food, and my mother quickly put the sacks of food in the scullery and hastened to make hot drinks. She seemed to be in her element and easily found what she needed.

All exhausted by this long road, the evening ended quickly and we rejoined our rooms. Samuel was busy packing our suitcases in ours while I made sure that Gribouille did not miss anything in the basement. My mother assured me that she would take it with her for the night, in her room, and that she would come back for her later that evening.

Now reassured, I took the stairs to the landing and stopped for a moment in front of the door of our room. I dreaded a little the night that Samuel and I would spend together sharing the same bed again. I knew we both wanted to take our time, but would I be strong enough to resist the temptation? My mother had made an appointment the week before that the doctor prescribes the pill, lest an accident happens, but especially so that she feels more reassured.

Entering the room, Samuel was already in his pajamas and was waiting for me, lying on the bed, reading.

- What are you reading ?

He closed his book and put it on the bedside.

- "Dangerous Liaisons" for the French course.

- It's weird! It's not the same cover as my book, I realized.

"Yes, it's because there was no longer the same copy as yours when I went to the bookstore last week. So, I had to buy it in another edition.

- I thought you had studied it last year?

- Who told you that ?

- Well, you! One day, in the park.

- You must have confused with another book.