Lots of Kisses and a Fleeting Image
I should have been happy. All my friends congratulated me while we moved the desks back to the classroom next door.
Charles-Antoine walked me home, and we talked about new projects we could do, but my heart wasn’t in it.
Later, when I was lying in bed, I couldn’t sleep. There was one thing… a memory, an image… that haunted me.
Suddenly I cried out: “Aaaargh!”
For a brief moment I saw it again.
It had happened when I was telling my story, while I was playing the part of Miss Charlotte on stage. I was describing the cave with the sparkling walls when she appeared in the window, the middle one, high up on the side of the assembly hall.
I saw Miss Charlotte. She looked at me and smiled.
And then she disappeared.
I slipped on some clothes over my pyjamas and ran to the door. Outside the air was mild.
I nearly got lost. It was not a neighbourhood I’d been to very often. Certainly not at night! But it wasn’t long before I recognized Miss Charlotte’s street…
Charles-Antoine was there, outside the house, next to the garden gnomes. He’d guessed it too.
Our new teacher was gone.
She’d left during the meeting in the assembly hall.
I sat down next to Charles-Antoine. I gently put my head on his shoulder. There are moments when it’s very important to have friends.
Charles-Antoine held a sheet of paper in his hands. I slowly read what Miss Charlotte had written.
Dear friends,
I spent a couple a fabulous weeks with you. I thank you…
I would have liked to stay a little longer, but another school very far from here requires my services. Their Year 5 teacher has caught the whooping cough…
I know that you can manage on your own now. Each of you has tons of plans in his or her head, and you have millions of stories teeming in your brains. Talk about them to your next teacher. Don’t be afraid. I am sure that he (or she) will understand.
I will often think of you all, and I hope that every time you have a chat with your toothbrush or shoelaces you will think of me a little too.
A million kisses,
Miss Charlotte
PS: This afternoon I saw a young girl who looked a lot like me on stage in the assembly hall. I want her to have Gertrude. My poor pumpkin is tired of travelling… One day, perhaps, I’ll come back for her.
Charles-Antoine lifted up one of the garden gnomes, and there was Gertrude.
She looked very small and lonely. I took her in my hands and stroked her a bit.