P�tronille by Nothomb Amélie

Author:Nothomb, Amélie [Nothomb, Amélie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary
ISBN: 9781609453008
Amazon: B014WS8IU4
Goodreads: 27205953
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 2014-08-20T07:00:00+00:00

Being Pétronille’s drinking companion was not the most restful thing on earth. Not long thereafter, while she and I were sipping some Moët during God knows what literary event, she expressed an urge to go skiing. I don’t remember exactly how the topic came up. I will resort to imagination and verisimilitude to reconstruct our conversation:

“Just look at these baboons. I swear, the more I hang around them, the greater my need for some fresh mountain air.”

“I love the mountains,” I said, innocently enough.

“Perfect. It’s December. Before the month is out you and I will go skiing. Let’s find someone.”

I don’t remember whom we contacted, but by the following morning we had a reservation for two people in an Alpine resort which for the sake of the story we shall call Dustin-les-Mites.

I called Pétronille to ask her how she had found it. Her inebriation was even more amnesiac than my own:

“Look, I don’t remember a thing. But it will be fun, we’re going skiing. Can you take care of the train tickets?”

She was right, after all. You have to force the hand of fate. If everything were left to my own initiative, nothing would ever happen in life.

On December 26 after two trains and a taxi we arrived in Dustin-les-Mites, at an altitude of 1200 meters. We dropped our things off at the chalet apartment. Pétronille was fidgeting with impatience. We had to put on our ski things at once and head for the front.

While we were waiting in line for tickets for the chairlifts, she said, “When was the last time you went skiing?”

“In Japan.”

“With that famous fiancé of yours, then?”

“No. When I was little.”

Silence.

“How old were you?” she asked.

“Four.”

“Are you telling me that you haven’t been skiing since you were four years old?”

“I am.”

“And now, how old are you?”

“Thirty-five.”

Pétronille sighed with dismay.

“Don’t count on me to give you lessons. I came here to have fun.”

“I don’t need your lessons.”

“You haven’t been skiing in over thirty years, Amélie!”

“I was a very good skier when I was four.”

“Of course. You got your honorary snowflake at kindergarten. I’m impressed.”

“It’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget.”

“Of course you do.”

“I believe in the genius of childhood.”

Pétronille put her face in her hands and said, “We are headed for disaster.”

“I promise you I can feel in my legs what I have to do.”

At 2:30 we were on the slopes. The sun was shining, the snow conditions were perfect. My enthusiasm was at a peak.

Pétronille set off like a shot. In less time than it takes me to write this, she made her way down the vast slope, flowing with flawless elegance.

Cheerful as can be, I set off after her. Six feet farther along I fell flat on my face. I immediately got back on my feet and pushed myself forward, and a second later I was back on the ground. Fifteen times in a row I repeated the same rigmarole. Pétronille had time to take the T-bar and was now standing there next to me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.