silence please … Camera. Action.’
Adèle had not moved from her crate. Her mobile phone was still clenched in her hand. For once, she was grateful for the silence. On top of the commotion caused by her dropping her phone, she was still in shock from the text itself. Finally, she worked up the courage to loosen her fingers and look down at the screen.
Hpy Bday Adl, luv frm ur granpa.
(Happy Birthday Adèle, love from your grandpa.)
She managed to keep herself from crying, but couldn’t hold back the smile that suddenly lit up her face and spread a warm glow through her chest. Because this silly, slightly awkward text that was trying to sound young was something truly special. Poetic even, and so touching. As well as totally impossible, of course.
There are things in life that are meant to be kept private. And others that are to be shared with all and sundry. This text belonged to the latter category. This was a story that had to be told, and Adèle felt restless and full of emotion.
It was decided that the scene would be shot a sixth time. But Adèle was no longer paying attention to the filming. She was thinking about her story. It was not a particularly long story but it had to be told in full in order to convey what was so extraordinary about this text message. Yes, she had to start from the beginning, one month earlier, 18 September. A month was not a long time, yet in that time hearts had opened, suitcases had shut, and tears had fallen where they were no longer expected. And as a drama played out for the sixth time in the other room, Adèle used these last moments of silence as a chance to remember.
In the dimly lit corridor, she replayed the events of the last month in her head, events that had changed her life in a small way, but which had changed the lives of others beyond measure.
Chanteloup (Deux-Sèvres)
After about ten rings there was finally an answer.
‘Hello?’ said a slightly shaky voice.
‘Hi Grandpa, it’s Adèle.’
‘Hello?’ repeated the old man.
‘Grandpa?’
‘Yes?’
‘It’s Adèle!’
‘Oh, hello, sweetheart. How are you?’
‘Oh, fine, and you?’
‘Oh, you know, I’m …’ he replied with unmistakable weariness. ‘Why are you calling?’
‘Well … Mum explained that she’s going travelling, didn’t she?’
‘Yes, in Peru, she told me.’
‘OK, good, well I just wanted you to know that you can call me if there are any problems. I can come and see you.’
‘Oh right.’
‘While she’s away, I mean, you can call me,’ Adèle kept on, a little disappointed by her grandfather’s lack of enthusiasm.
‘Okey doke, that’s good,’ he replied politely.
‘And you’ve got my number, Grandpa?’
‘Yes, your mother gave it to me. But Adèle, are you still living in London, dear?’
‘Yes, but don’t worry, it’s not that far. I can get the train to you, it wouldn’t take long,’ Adèle lied.
‘Oh yes, you just get the train to Poitiers and then the bus, don’t you?’
‘Exactly,’ said Adèle, who had no idea how to get there, having not visited him for almost ten years.
‘And how long would the journey be overall?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, half a day, maybe a little more,’ guessed Adèle. But she suspected it would take a lot longer than that. Her grandfather lived in a hamlet near Chanteloup, a minuscule village tucked away in the forest in Deux-Sèvres.
‘Jolly good. But there’s no need anyway. Right, lots of love, bye.’
‘Wait, Grandpa, do you still have the phone that Mum gave you?’
‘Oh, you know, mobile phones …’ said her grandfather, who considered cutting-edge technology to be a lot of old nonsense. But luckily for Adèle, he would tolerate phone conversations on the condition that they were kept very short and were limited to the bare essentials. And a rant about progress did not, for today at least, count as essential.
‘But you still have it, right?’ Adèle persisted.
‘Yes, yes.’
‘Good, well, keep it with you and call if you need anything.’
‘Oh, I don’t need anything. Right, goodbye, sweetheart.’ And with that he hung up.
No, of course he didn’t need anything. His heart hadn’t been right since a heart attack in 1995, he had a pacemaker in his chest, a knee that threatened to go at any moment, and a pair of lungs that had been thoroughly blackened by forty years of Gitanes … But he went about his life as he always had, ate like a horse, tended his garden, whistled as he did the dishes. And he still had enough fight in him to fire swear words at his doctors, who regularly predicted he had only a few months left in him. They had said the same for almost fifteen years. Well, that was the story according to Françoise, Adèle’s mother; Adèle herself had very little contact with him. And this was no cause for guilt, since he repeated incessantly, with the delicacy and restraint he was known for, that he just wanted to be ‘left the hell alone’.
Adèle put her mobile phone into the pocket of her combat trousers. 7.23 p.m. She had been standing there waiting in the middle of the street for at least a quarter of an hour. The September evening air was still warm, and Brick Lane was filled with the sound of drunken laughter coming from the overcrowded Swan pub. Adèle had never liked this part of town, even if her friends assured her that it was the coolest place in London. On rare sunny days, she appreciated its vibrant colours and found the odd gem in its unusual shops. But on grey days, her senses were overloaded with the smells of curry spices, the rubbish everywhere, the waiters hawking outside the Indian restaurants and the dark, dirty buildings. And yet over the next month, she was going to have to spend many long days and even some nights in this area. For here, on a road with a bilingual English and Bengali street sign, was the one and only filming location: a three-storey house built of stone as grey as the English sky. The house was barely noticeable amongst the old warehouses lining the gloomy little street whose most regular visitors were junkies and groups of drunken girls. Adèle was standing by the front door. Inside, things were already getting started. 7.27 p.m. Her working day was just beginning, and it had not got off to a good start.
She pulled the staff memo from her pocket and read it over for the third time. The leading actor was expected in make-up at 7.30. Her name – Adèle Montsouris
