‘You really want to change your bedroom?’
He knew that this would be in order to keep an eye on him and an eye on Félicie. The bedroom she was in now was the largest and best lit. And it also looked out on the farmyard and the garden, so that she could lie in bed and see the livestock.
‘Do it quickly. You can call me when it’s ready.’
She didn’t wait for him to tell her. She dragged herself along, barefoot, with a blanket wrapped around her. The room had been used to store fruit and there were shelves along all the walls.
‘Go and get a hammer and some pincers. You can take down the shelves. And fetch the bedside table from my room. Look!’
And she pointed, through the open window, at old Couderc, who was pacing timidly around his two cows.
‘He’ll make it over here in the end. Just let him in, without saying anything. Try to get him to come up, and I’ll see to it he won’t go back to Françoise. Off you go to get the hammer and pincers.’
She was perspiring with every effort, but did not remain quiet for an instant.
‘Félicie wasn’t buying meat?’
‘I think I may have seen her.’
‘But you said just now you hadn’t seen her.’
‘I wasn’t paying attention.’
He pulled down the planks. There were holes left in the wallpaper where the nails had been.
‘Push my bed nearer the window, so I can see their house. Well, at any rate, while I’m ill, they won’t be able to get up to anything. Ah, now, Couderc’s seen me.’
And the old man had indeed raised his head and was standing still alongside the cows.
‘You can go down, Jean. Time you had something to eat. All I’ll manage is some milk and some mashed vegetables.’
He thought about Félicie all day, and that was partly Tati’s fault, since he could feel that she was also thinking about her all the time. When he went to move the cows, he scarcely dared turn towards the brickyard, because Tati was watching from her window.
At first, Félicie did not realize that. With her baby in her arms, she had walked towards Jean and watched as he hammered in the stake. Perhaps she was about to speak to him when she looked up and saw her aunt at the window.
So with a shrug of her shoulders, she moved off. Did she imagine he was afraid of Tati?
‘What did I tell you? I knew she’d start hanging around you. She does the same to every man she sees.’
And he had to make an effort not to retort:
‘That’s not true, Tati. You’re saying that to put me off her. Even if it was true, it wouldn’t bother me.’
Tati had had him bring her a walking stick, which she kept at the side of the bed all day. When she needed something, she banged it on the floor. Or if he was outside, she called him with the shrill voice that mothers use to call their children.
‘Jean! Jean!’
And he was embarrassed, since Félicie could hear.
‘You know who’s just arrived on a bike, Jean? See, there’s a bike up against the house. It’s Amélie. She must have come to find out the news. She’ll be wondering what I’m going to do. Look! There she is at the door.’
The distance between the two houses, Tati’s large one and Françoise’s small one, was perhaps two hundred metres as the crow flies. Françoise was looking at Tati’s window. Tati was looking at Françoise.
‘I wonder if she’ll have the cheek to come over here.’
Amélie did come, wobbling a bit on the bicycle, which she was obviously not used to.
‘If only she could fall in the canal! Stay here, Jean. She’d be capable of taking advantage of me while I’m in bed, to …’
‘Are you there, Tati?’ came a voice from the kitchen.
‘As if she didn’t know I’m here!’
‘Can I come up?’
‘Oh, come up, you old bag,’ Tati muttered through her teeth.
‘So, what is this they tell me at Françoise’s? That you’re not well? That the doctor’s been twice? Something to do with your blood?’
Tati did not invite her to sit down and went on staring her sister-in-law straight in the eyes.
‘How will you manage all on your own to take care of yourself? They told me Papa has decided to live over at Françoise’s. It’s natural, isn’t it, for him to prefer living with one of his daughters.’
‘Jean, could you get me a glass of water.’
‘We’ve been wondering, Françoise and me, what to do. Don’t you think you’d be better off in a clinic than all alone in this big house where anyone could walk in when you’re in bed? I know you might not like it, but if I were you …’
‘I’m not all alone.’
