Read And Then Came Paulette for Free Online

replied that they didn’t know each other well enough to suggest such a thing. But why? He explained that generally you only shared your house with members of your family, not usually with strangers. Why? Because you didn’t feel quite right in other people’shouses, you didn’t have the same tastes or habits. Why? At that he just said: Because, that’s the way it is. Ludo grumbled: That’s not an answer. And Ferdinand agreed with him, but he had no other arguments to offer, so he preferred to leave it at that. It seemed he had more pressing things to do than think about such trifles.
    Finally they found the perfect place. They put the swaddled instrument on a table. Then they raised the blanket to look underneath, but there was a case and they didn’t dare open that. Next time they would ask Madame Marceline to play the fat violin for them, Little Lu said. The other two smiled.
    After lunch Ferdinand took the children home.
    When they arrived at the restaurant Mireille was busy cleaning the kitchen floor. She shouted at them to keep off the parts she had washed. They had to wait for her to finish before they could give her a kiss. She warned them that Roland was still asleep, so they couldn’t go up to play in their room yet. This irritated Ferdinand but he gave nothing away, just muttering between his teeth: What a damn idiot! Mireille acted as if she hadn’t heard and offered him a coffee. He looked outside. The wind had started to blow again and it was raining horribly. He refused, saying he was in a hurry. He gave Ludo and Little Lu a kiss and left.
    As soon as the door was closed, Mireille turned to Ludo.
    “You and me need to talk.”
    All that going on the road with their bikes and giving Little Lu a tow, he’d known he’d pay for it, sooner or later. It was only to be expected, it had been his idea and he was the oldest.
    But before she had time to get going he asked, innocently:
    “By the way, Maman, will there be another big dinner next week?”
    “No, why?”
    “Just wondered.”
    Little Lu made no attempt to hide his disappointment.
    “Sugar! That’s awful.”
    Which annoyed Mireille even more. So Ludo got a real earful.

12
Ludo Prefers to Get an Earful from Mireille
    So, even if she does go on a bit and sometimes says nasty things—she’s quite strict, my mother—I still think it’s better when she yells at us, not Papa. He always wants to slap us, or smack us. I hate his face when he gets worked up and his eyes look like they’re about to pop out. He goes bright red just like that and his voice goes all high, like a lady shouting. When he loses it you have to make sure you’re by the door, then you can get away if he lifts his arm. He never runs upstairs after us, especially now he’s got so fat. He gets tired out and he starts snorting like a bull. One of these days I reckon he’s going to die of a heart attack. Anyway if he did try to catch us, Maman would definitely stop him. He doesn’t dare lift a finger against her. He’s too scared she’ll leave and never come back. But he says his mother was right about bringing up children. She was called Henriette, his mother. Weird sort of a name. Maman, she tells him she hates people who hit their kids. She thinks it’s horrible, reminds her of her parents. They used to hit her all the time when she was little. And one day the police cameto get her and they took her away to live with Uncle Guy and Auntie Gaby. They were nice to her. They didn’t have any children, so they spoiled her a lot. She tells everyone they’re her real parents, but it’s not true.
    When it’s Maman who yells at us, it’s easy. You just pretend you agree with everything she says, even if it goes on for hours and in the end you have to cry real tears, jump into her arms, say you understand and you’ll never do it again. Then that’s it, it’s all over. And afterward sometimes you get to have a glass of Coke and a bag of chips before supper. Once Little Lu