Madame Pamplemousse and the Enchanted Sweet Shop by Rupert Kingfisher & Kingfisher

Author:Rupert Kingfisher & Kingfisher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Chapter Six

The names Madame Pamplemousse and Camembert no longer meant anything to Madeleine. She had forgotten that they ever existed, just as she seemed to have forgotten so much lately, ever since the day when she had fainted at school – the same time when she had that peculiar dream.

Certain dreams or nightmares are so powerful that they leave behind an atmosphere; a strong mood that can linger like a bad taste in the mouth. Turning on a bedside light is usually sufficient to dispel it, but for Madeleine it never quite went away. She could still vividly remember that icy bedroom with the sinister babysitter waiting next door.

Soon after the day she fainted, she had been passing a café when she stopped outside the window. Something inside caught her eye: a figure sitting at one of the tables.

She noticed his clothing, which was coloured silver and old-fashioned in style. Seeming to sense Madeleine watching him, he lowered his newspaper. His face was ghostly white and shaped like a crescent moon, and on seeing Madeleine he smiled.

Madeleine stared in horror, transfixed by this apparition. But then a second later she blinked to find an old lady sitting there instead. She assumed her eyes had been playing tricks with the shadows.

Madeleine had also forgotten quite how she and Madame Bonbon had first met, although Madame Bonbon assured her that it was months ago, soon after Madeleine first moved to Paris. She told Madeleine that she had been the one to discover her great talent, and now she was going to make her a star.

Madame Bonbon had arranged for Madeleine to appear on television, on a live game show called Cook around the Clock. The producers were delighted, since they had been trying to get their hands on Madeleine for some time. To publicise the show, they had booked a photo shoot. Madeleine was given a complete makeover. She was dressed in the latest children’s fashions and her hair was styled by the city’s most expensive salon. When she looked in the mirror now, Madeleine hardly recognised her reflection.

In fact, sometimes Madeleine did not even feel like the same person at all. She would stare at herself for ages, trying to remember who that person was, but could find only a strange emptiness; a sense that it was not just her memory that she had lost, but something more vital and irreplaceable. Only Madame Bonbon seemed able to make her feel normal again, by giving Madeleine one of her white chocolate truffles.

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