C’était un matin vif et glacé. Elisa, emmitouflée, les yeux à demi fermés, marchait en sautillant jusqu’à la gare, en respirant à petites bouffées pour empêcher le froid d’envahir ses poumons. Les rayons du jour qui s’annonçait diluaient lentement la nuit bleutée.
Read More
It was like a breath of fresh air. The smell of youth, oxygen pixels, a movie she had seen so many time but that she loved, time after time.
There was nothing nostalgic or sad as she was browsing, head titled, weaving the moments, the season, the years, the homes where they lived, the countries where they had moved to.
Most she remembered easily, prompted by the images. But sometimes she would look at strangers, a place she had no recollection of. It was often sunny on the photos and they were leafs on the trees, flowers in the gardens. A string of summers, vacations, travels with seas and rivers and mountains and castles and statues in parks and on fountains, bas reliefs on the building. She would smell the summer air, the scent of the garden flowers, the iodine breeze of the ocean.
The rain had not stopped for days. Luke slept better on rainy days, window wide open. The regular soothing noise, the soft moisture in the air. In his lung and eyes.
He would forget his umbrella in places he could not remember. Offices and homes and shops may be. They all looked the same. His hair would curl slightly, little unruly hair on his temple. He had curly hair when he was a baby.
It had never occurred to him before that the rain made him look different. His wife Elisa would tell him: "You look different". She did not know why.
Read MoreJoy and sadness were inseparable. One would follow the other at some incredible pace. She would beam, laugh, talk without stopping, marvel at small things and hug us tight... we loved her most in those moments, she was fun and playful, our mother and best friend. She would chase us in the garden and in the streets in her sleeping gown, hair wild, eyes bright and mischievous. We would scream and run in front her her. Never mind the neighbours looking at us through their window, the old lady in the house with the red door nodding her head with contempt...we were happy and free and she was the most wonderful mum on earth.
Read MorePartir. Fermer la porte. Glisser les clefs dans la boîte aux lettres. Descendre la rue jusqu’au métro. Je ne peux me résoudre à quitter cet endroit, pourtant trop petit, bruyant, mal situé.
Mon pas résonne dans les pièces vides.
Je circule de pièces en pièces. Je revois ma première visite. Cette enfilade de pièces qui m’avaient semblées vastes. Mon imagination qui dessinait l’emplacement de chaque meuble, de chaque objet. Puis, le soir venu, mes trous de mémoire qui me faisait douter de l’emplacement d’une cheminée, d’une porte ou d’une fenêtre.
Read MoreAfter all those years, his hands have never betrayed him. They firmly caresse the pieces of wood, gage its hardness. He checks for imperfections, rugosities and cracks. He welcomes them, anticipates the meeting shapes they will draw on his creations. He designs around them. Under his hands, they become embroideries, vigorous veins, mysterious maps on the wood.
Read More
Tom never sleeps alone. He always brings someone in my room. Tom is one of my regulars. But there is no pattern or apparent logic to his stays. He just appears occasionally. I do not know much about him.
Read MoreI trudge through the soaking woods, the lush green stillness trembling in the afternoon shadows. There is no one around me, and the wild desire to pierce the thickness of my solitude is immense. Mother is gone, and I know very well that she will never come home. When she left, I think she was already fading away. It was something I never understood, and that is why I am standing in sheets of rain, vulnerable, and weaker than I have ever been, here in the unknown. The stories she would tell me! Mother, I mean. She would grab me by the waist, slip her hands under my knees, and carry me, breathless, to the old Moroccan rug next to the hissing fire. I think dreams were here favourite thing of all, but the harsh truth of reality confused her.
Read MoreMaria always chooses Room 27 when she visits her dad. For a long time, I assumed that her Dad could not host her. Maybe his flat or house was too small. But I understood after listening to a couple of conversations over the phone that Maria's dad was married with someone who did not want to meet his children.
Read More“Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.” D.H Lawrence, Piano (1, 1-4)
« Ben, Ben, réveille-toi…réveille-toi ». Emilie chantait doucement dans l’oreille de Ben, une main posée sur son ventre. Ben se retourna en grognant. C’était le milieu de la nuit, une nuit d’été moite et sans lune.
Read MoreIt was a small provincial hotel, in Marseille "vieux port". In the guides, they called it "hôtel de charme". Its original name was "hôtel Beauséjour". It was renamed "hôtel du Vieux Port". Room 27 remained room 27.
Read MoreJoseph est méconnaissable sous son armure étincelante de chevalier et cette idée l’enchante. Passer devant la maison de Mme Robert la voisine sans avoir besoin de dire bonjour. Descendre le petit chemin de l’école, d’un pas lourd, en faisant trembler la terre sous ses pieds tout en tenant fièrement Zénon en laisse. Il sent tous les regards braqués sur lui. Les femmes sur le pas de leurs portes, effrayées, rappellent leurs enfants et se calfeutrent à l’intérieur de leurs maisons en attendant que Joseph soit passé.
Read MoreThey would meet every Easter Sunday at Kew Gardens. Family tradition. The kids were running ahead, laughing and chasing each other. The adults were walking in a disorganised line, peacefully, and Emma would move from one to another.
Read MoreC’est un rêve qui revient souvent. Je suis blottie dans ses bras. Enfant. 3 ou 4 ans. Plus peut-être. C’est un homme brun d’une trentaine d’années. Je le connais à peine et pourtant je le reconnais. Mon père. Souvenirs fabriqués recomposés à partir de photos ou de récits.
Read MoreL’avion atterrit au petit matin, par un jour de grand vent. Lors du décollage, sa voisine s’était présentée : « Samantha Brown, on m’appelle Sam » et lui avait demandé s’il venait pour affaires ou en vacances. Il avait murmuré pour toute réponse, sans la regarder : « Paul Lullies, je viens en pèlerinage ».
Read More‘She is a fish’, Tom had said to Lea one day, looking at their little girl, Marine.
Marine had loved being under water since she was a baby. From the moment she was born, Marine’s bath was the most extraordinary moment. Marine would not mind at all having her head under water. She would open her eyes, her face covered by water, and giggle.
Read MoreThere I was, my feet curled around the windowsill, twitching as unpleasantly cold night air came to greet them. The window was three stories up, it was extremely long, rimmed in washed-away white wood. I had flung it open, shortly after settling the cream envelopes (I ran out of white ones) onto the large mahogany desk of my father’s office.
Read More