George's Grand Tour. Caroline Vermalle

my … And there I was with nothing. Have a look at that hand, not even a face card, totally useless. We take more points without the joker as well, I think …’

      ‘No, no more points, just your admiration, gentlemen … So minus twenty for yours truly and two hundred points each for you two.’

      ‘Well, this is off to a good start … Right, who’s dealing?’

      ‘The idiot who asks who’s dealing,’ guffawed Charles, a regular at the belote table.

      As George dealt out the cards, Ginette cautiously picked up the conversation.

      ‘But what you say about mobile phones, George … Well, I’ve got one and—’

      George ceased dealing and stopped her there.

      ‘Me too, Ginette, me too, but I don’t use it!’

      ‘Well, actually you do use it, George,’ Charles pointed out. ‘You’re diverting all of your calls.’

      ‘Yes, but that’s different.’

      ‘George is using his phone to make everyone think he’s taking it easy in Chanteloup, when actually he’s doing the Tour de France,’ Charles explained with a wry smile.

      ‘But that’s just so they don’t get worried!’

      ‘And you can do that with mobile phones, can you?’ asked Ginette, impressed.

      ‘You certainly can!’ Charles answered proudly. ‘I’m the one who set it all up, give it a try if you like.’

      ‘Alright Charles,’ interrupted George, who had suddenly sobered up. ‘Are you playing cards or giving a lecture on technology? It would be great if we could start playing before sunrise.’

      ‘All I’m trying to say,’ Ginette began again, ‘is that I have a mobile and I think it’s great.’

      ‘There you go!’ exclaimed George. ‘Like I said, women can’t get away from their phones.’

      ‘Not at all, and I can prove it: I have a contract that allows me one hour of calls a month. A month!’

      ‘Psssh, that’s already too much.’

      ‘Well I think it gives you more freedom, in a way. I get out and about a lot more now I have my mobile.’

      ‘Oh right,’ laughed Charles, ‘because you were living like a nun before?’

      ‘No, I just think mobiles bring people closer.’

      ‘Closer?’ said George. ‘The reason I live in the country is so I don’t get pestered all the time, so I’m not sure that bringing people closer to me—’

      ‘George,’ Charles interrupted, ‘you’ve been living in the country for eighty-three years, it’s not like you chose to.’

      ‘No, but if I had been given the choice, I would have chosen to live exactly where I am. So that no one bothers me!’

      Nobody had a good hand, and tiredness was starting to set in. The laying of cards had given way to wide yawns. Finally, Ginette was named winner and they put away the mat in the dresser covered in trinkets. It was time to unpack their bags and put on their well-ironed pyjamas.

      Ginette’s house was large, although she only occupied a small part of it; the rest was rented out in the summer to two families who had come here for their holidays for years. There was no lack of spare rooms, and so George and Charles each had their own.

      George brought his things into his new quarters, a small bedroom with a bolster (far better than those little pillow things), a brown chenille bedcover and a large wardrobe that smelled of mothballs. The mattress looked like a good one. And if he was honest, if there was one thing that really scared him about this mad trip, it was the beds they’d have to sleep in. He had brought earplugs for the noise and citronella for the mosquitoes, but bedding was anyone’s guess. After carrying out the briefest of ablutions in the small washroom he shared with Charles, he sat on the bed, pulled off his slippers and lay down carefully, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. This bed would do just fine. He picked up his book, a thriller by Mary Higgins Clark, but found he could not concentrate on it. His head was spinning, buzzing, humming, restless and full of thoughts. It seemed like his mind was trying to tell him something. It had to be said, George was unfortunately prone to occasional rushes of optimism.

      Good grief, he was feeling marvellous. It was as though the bed had been made for him, and around him it was as silent as it was in his own home, with nothing but a very quiet rustling if he really listened hard – was it the wind in the pine trees or the sound of the Atlantic? Perhaps he was imagining it. The geometric pattern of the wallpaper in varying shades of beige was soothing, almost hypnotic. The two meals had been delicious, yet unpretentious. George couldn’t stand pretentious cooking. Or pretentious anything else, for that matter. The meals had been simple, as if Ginette had not gone to any great pains to prepare them. But fifty years of married life had taught him that she had probably spent the whole morning cooking, and perhaps even the night before as well. Did she cook like that all the time, making simple dishes just how he liked them?