Read Online Léon and Louise by Alex Capus, John Brownjohn - Free Book Online Page B

beyond the villas at the southern end of the beach, quite a lot of driftwood had collected. This he planned to use as firewood. It was growing chilly now. The last of the bathers had gone home to rinse the sea salt off their bodies and titivate themselves for dinner. Léon and Louise found a dry, sheltered spot between two big boulders at the foot of the chalk cliffs. They scraped away the pebbles until the sand was exposed, then spread out a blanket and Léon lit a fire of dry seaweed and driftwood. Meanwhile, Louise sat on the blanket hugging her knees and gazing out at the orange and lilac sea as if it were the most dramatic spectacle imaginable.
    â€˜Let’s get the mussels,’ Léon said, rolling up his trouserlegs and taking the saucepan from his bicycle. ‘There should be some out there in the pools among the rocks, where those gulls are strutting around. The tourists never collect them, they prefer to buy them in a shop.’
    The gulls emitted angry screams and reluctantly spread their wings. They took a couple of hops and rose into the air after two or three wingbeats, were caught by the updraught and sailed up the cliff face to the green meadows above, only to dive back at once with their sharp beaks menacingly directed downwards, then go into a glide just before impact and soar into the air again.
    There were plenty of mussels in the rock pools, so the saucepan was soon full. Producing two knives from his pocket, Léon showed Louise how to scrape the algae and beards off the shells. Then they returned to their spot between the boulders. He flopped down on the blanket with a sigh. It had been a perfect day; his cup of joy was overflowing. But Louise remained standing. She paced irresolutely to and fro for a bit and lit a cigarette.
    â€˜Come here and make yourself comfortable,’ he said. ‘I won’t do anything to you.’
    â€˜Be thankful I don’t do anything to you. ’
    â€˜Are you cold?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Like to do anything before it gets dark? Shall we go for a walk along the cliffs?’
    â€˜I’m hungry.’
    â€˜Supper won’t be long.’
    â€˜Shall I buy something?’
    â€˜We’ve got everything,’ said Léon. All I have to do is slice the carrots, onions and leeks and boil them for a few minutes.’
    â€˜Should I get something sweet for dessert? A couple of chocolate éclairs?’
    â€˜It’s half-past nine,’ said Léon. ‘I’d be surprised if the pâtisserie is still open.’
    â€˜I’ll try.’

    She was back within half an hour. Meantime, the earth had rotated nightwards. The first stars were twinkling in the sky, the moon had not yet risen. Some dark clouds were drifting so low over the bay that the flashes from the lighthouse grazed their undersides.
    Léon removed the saucepan from the fire. He could hear shingle crunching under Louise’s feet behind him.
    â€˜Supper’s ready. Did you get the éclairs?’
    She didn’t answer.
    He stirred the saucepan, fished out a piece of eelgrass and an empty shell. Then he felt Louise come up behind him and rest her hands on his shoulders. Her hair tickled his neck, her breath fanned his right cheek.
    â€˜You tricked me.’ Her right hand released his shoulder, slid beneath his armpit and pinched his nose. ‘You did it deliberately – you played me like a fish.’
    â€˜Your fingers will rot off in the night.’
    â€˜Is it true, what it says on that slip of paper?’
    â€˜Absolutely. For ever and ever,’
    Léon freed his nose from her grip, turned round and gazed into her green eyes, which were shining in the firelight. And then they kissed.

 
6
    L éon couldn’t have known that, at the moment when he was woken by a steamer’s foghorn, half a million exhausted German soldiers were lacing up their boots in readiness for a final assault on Paris. If he had, he might