The Eskimo Solution by Garnier Pascal

Author:Garnier, Pascal [Garnier, Pascal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910477397
Publisher: Gallic Books
Published: 2016-09-11T22:00:00+00:00

12

Alice’s parents’ boat was anchored some way out from the coast. It was a huge effort to reach it and he was completely exhausted. His thigh muscles wouldn’t stop trembling. Watching other people glide past in their pedaloes, you would never guess how heavy those things were. The reflection of the midday sun on the crests of the waves was unbearable. Even though he wore dark glasses, all Louis could see was incandescent white. He had never liked the sun and the sun had never liked him. He hated this island and the people on it, imbecile islanders and grotesque tourists. For a week now, he had been burning his nose, his shoulders, his thighs, in close proximity to the holidaymakers who were dazed by day, hysterical by night. It had been a week of humiliations patiently borne because of the focal point – the white boat belonging to Alice’s parents.

Louis felt his heartbeat return to normal and his leg muscles finally relax. The only sounds were the lapping of the water that was as clear as in a travel advertisement, and the laughter of the people picnicking on the rocks, on the beach, or in other boats. Louis stood up and placed both hands on the shell of the enormous white egg that was swaying gently. Someone had just tossed melon skins off the bridge. He watched them float away like little gondolas. Alice’s parents had finished lunch. Now they would move to the front of the boat. That was their routine every day. Louis had been watching them since he’d arrived. At eight o’clock, they left the port of Pothia and went to anchor a few inlets away for the day. Of course, Louis also knew their house, as pretty as a postcard, blue and white, with flowers exactly where they should be and a stunning view across the bay, very isolated. It could have taken place there, but Louis thought the boat was better. Alice and he had had such a good time in that house, barely a year ago. But the boat, on the other hand, he had never liked. He had been out on it once or twice in the beginning, to charm Alice’s father, but as that had never worked, he had quickly found good reasons not to set foot on it again. Why had that man never liked him? Louis didn’t mind him, even though he thought him an absolute cretin. It’s perfectly possible to like morons; they also need affection, in fact more than most … But Louis had no money and Alice’s father could accept nothing from a poor man, not even friendship; it just wasn’t done. It would probably be more difficult to kill someone who didn’t like you.

Noiselessly, he tied his pedalo to the rope ladder and climbed the rungs one by one. His damp feet left little haloes on the wood, which the heat immediately erased. The two old people were taking their siesta under the blue awning. They looked like two smoked chickens.

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