Next morning Dad drove Alice and me to pick up our bikes. It was strange. Now that the sun was shining, and Dad was there with us, and we knew where we were going, the forest didn’t seem like a scary place anymore.
Our bikes were there, exactly as we had left them. Alice was still resting her foot, so Dad and I tied the bikes on to the bike-rack, and then we went back home.
‘Lucy left this place spotless for us,’ she said. ‘And it has to be spotless again. Take this mop, Megan, and wash the dining room floor, there’s a good girl.’
An hour later, the house was sparkling clean. Lucky Alice couldn’t do much, because of her ankle, so she had just sat on her bed, and folded and packed all of our clothes. When everything was ready, Mum made us all sit in the garden, so we wouldn’t get the house messy again.
She looked at her watch.
‘We’ve got an hour before we have to leave. Anyone want to do anything?’
Dad jumped up.
‘There’s this museum––’ he began.
‘No!’ shouted everyone together.
Dad didn’t seem too upset.
‘I’ll just sit here and read my book then.’
Alice stood up.
‘Can Megan and I cycle in to the village one more time?’
Mum looked surprised.
‘But your ankle?’
Alice smiled.
‘It’s almost better. And cycling won’t hurt it a bit. And … Er … Sheila … do you think we could take that bowl of lentil stew that’s left in the fridge? Megan and I could have a quick picnic in the village.’
Mum beamed at her.
‘That’s a lovely idea, Alice. I’ll pack it into a plastic bowl for you.’
Mum got up and went into the kitchen. I followed Alice around to the front where our bikes were.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked. ‘We don’t need to bring food. Surely you don’t think we’re going to get lost on the way to the village?’
Before she could answer, Mum was back, with the stew all packed up in a bowl with a lid. She handed it to Alice, who strapped it on to the back of her bike.
‘I’m so glad it’s not going to waste,’ said Mum.
Alice smiled at her.
‘You can rely on me, Sheila,’ she said. ‘I promise not one single scrap will be wasted.’
I shook my head in wonder. Had Alice spent so long with our family that she was actually losing her mind?
Anyway, I had no time to wonder, as Alice was already half way up the road.
‘Bye, Mum,’ I called as I jumped on my bike. ‘We’ll be back in an hour. We promise. And this time we mean it.’
* * *
We got to Bruno’s house, and Alice knocked on the door. Bruno answered. He was wearing denim shorts and a nice white t-shirt.
‘Hey. Cool clothes,’ said Alice, and Bruno smiled shyly.
‘Is Pascal around?’ asked Alice then.
‘You want see Pascal?’ asked Bruno.
Alice nodded.
‘But …’ Bruno said.
‘But …’ I said too.
Alice ignored us.
‘I only want to see him for one minute,’ she said. ‘There’s something I need to show him.’
Bruno looked at me.
I shrugged. How was I supposed to know what she was on about? She’s only been my best friend for thirteen years.
‘Whatever,’ said Bruno, and I smiled. That was one of the words I’d taught him.
Bruno went inside and a few minutes later he was back with Pascal following a few steps behind him.
Pascal was fixing his hair as usual.
‘What you want show me?’ he said to Alice.
Alice smiled at him.
‘It’s over here,’ she said, propping her bike against the garden wall. ‘It’s a surprise.’
Pascal walked towards her. As he passed Bruno, he gave him a sneering smile, as if to say, See, I’m the cool one. I’m getting to see the surprise.
Pascal stood beside Alice with his arms folded.
‘What is surprise?’ he said impatiently.
Alice unstrapped the bowl of lentil stew from the back of her bike.
‘It’s called lentil stew,’ she said. ‘It’s an Irish delicacy.’
We all watched as she took the lid off the bowl, and held it towards Pascal. He looked in, sniffed, and said,
‘I not like.’
I smiled. I agreed with him about that.
Then, before anyone could move, Alice gave a big laugh.
‘You not like?’ she said. ‘Tough luck.’
Then in one quick movement, she lifted the bowl, flicked her wrist, and dumped the entire gooey, disgusting stew all over Pascal. It dripped down his precious hair, onto his face, and down on to his white t-shirt.
‘Ooops,’ said Alice happily. ‘Sorry about that. My hand slipped.’
Pascal didn’t say anything. Maybe he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, some of the stew might get in. He tried to wipe the stew off his face, but there was too much of it. The more he wiped, the messier it got. So in the end he just stood there, with slimy stuff dripping off him, into little brown puddles at his feet. He looked like an escapee from a horror movie.
I looked at Bruno. He was standing still with his mouth open, like he was in shock or something.
‘It’s funny,’ I said. Then, suddenly he started to laugh, and as he laughed, Alice and I joined in.
‘It very, very funny,’ said Bruno, and we all laughed some more.
Pascal had had enough. He walked quickly in the side entrance of the bakery, slamming the door behind him.
Suddenly, there was a big screech from inside the bakery and Pascal came running out again, chased by a very cross-looking woman, who was shouting loudly in French.
‘Is my mother!’ said Bruno, ‘She say Pascal make the floor not clean. He not happy! He has fear of my mother!’
Now Pascal was standing obediently in the garden, while Bruno’s mother turned on a tap, and picked up a hose.
‘She wouldn’t!’ gasped Alice, just as Bruno’s mother turned the hose on Pascal.
Pascal screamed, but by now Bruno’s mother was holding him tightly by one arm and he couldn’t escape. He stood there shivering as every last drop of lentil stew was washed off him onto the ground. As soon as he was released, Pascal shook himself like a wet dog, and then ran inside again.
As soon as the rest of us had finished laughing, I turned to Bruno.
‘I hope he won’t give you a hard time over this,’ I said.
Bruno laughed.
‘It not matter. Is worth it. Anyway, he leave tomorrow. Now you please wait here and I get something.’
He ran into the bakery and returned with a bag of pastries. The three of us sat in the square eating them. Bruno wanted to hear all about our night in the forest. Alice talked most, and listening to her, it sounded like a fun adventure, instead of the totally scary experience it had really been.
After a while Alice got up.
‘I want to see the church one more time,’ she said.
Since when had Alice been so interested in churches? I went to stand up, but she pushed me down again.
‘You wait here,’ she said. ‘I’ll be back in three minutes.’
Suddenly I knew that she wanted to leave me on my own with Bruno. As she walked away, I wondered desperately what I should say to him.
Sorry for thinking you were a loser?
Sorry for laughing at your shorts?
Sorry for using you just because we wanted to get close to Pascal?
Nothing sounded right, so I just said ‘sorry about before’, and Bruno didn’t even ask why I was apologising. He just said ‘is OK’ and that seemed to be enough.
By then Alice was back.
We’d better go,’ she said. ‘Can’t get your mum and dad worried again, can we?’
Bruno and I stood up. And we all walked over to where our bikes were propped against the wall of the bakery.
Bruno turned to Alice.
‘Au revoir,’ he said, and he kissed her on both cheeks, the way the French do.
Then he turned to me.
‘Au revoir,’ he said, and he kissed me too – first one cheek, and then the other. And then my tummy started to do funny, jumpy things, and I could feel my face going red.
Bruno went inside, and Alice turned to me.
‘You like him,’ she said. ‘You really like him. Why didn’t you tell me?’
I was going to deny it, but then changed my mind. After all, Alice and I had been through a lot together, so it wasn’t right to have secrets from each other. I sighed.
‘I didn’t tell you before, because I didn’t know until right this second.’
Alice laughed.
‘That is sooo cool. Call him back, or run after him or something.’
I shook my head.
‘We have to go. Mum will be going crazy. Looks like I left it a bit too late.’
Alice thought for a minute.
‘When we get home, will I pretend my ankle is really sore, and your mum and dad will have to get a doctor for me, and then you’d have time to race back here to say a proper good-bye to Bruno?’
What was she like? I could see that Alice was perfectly serious.
I shook my head.’
‘Thanks, Al, but no thanks. I think I’ve had more than enough excitement for this holiday.
Alice sighed.
‘Whatever.’