For a moment I thought he was going to burst out laughing. Great, I thought, he’s taking the mick out of me.

“By the way, I hadn’t realized you were a musician too.”

My jaw dropped in surprise.

“How come you know that?”

“Etienne and Marcel came by this morning to ask if you could do a concert at the Christmas fair.”

“And?”

“And I said yes. For once they’ve come onto my radar for something good. So we can look forward to our first performance by Victor the guitar hero… What genre of music do you play?”

“The screwed-up spring-loaded metal genre, if you really want to know. How soon is the fair?”

“In a fortnight, just before the holidays.”

The bell started ringing.

“Got to go,” I said.

“First, I’ve got something to ask you… Are you sure that Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers all on his own?”

“Why shouldn’t he have?”

“Because I’ve heard some strange rumours about it. Plus it’s seriously long… And since he wrote dozens like that, I was wondering…”

“I’ve no idea. I’ll find out if you like?”

“Yes, because the uncertainty is spoiling my enjoyment of the book, you see.”

I left and headed towards the stairs. But then I had an idea, so I turned back and knocked on Lucky Luke’s office door again. He was already comfortably settled on the sofa, with his feet on his desk and his nose in The Three Musketeers.

“Tell me, sir, about the business with the snowmen, you do agree that we can’t just let it go? Because otherwise it becomes a free-for-all and that’s the road to ruin.”

“It’s strange to hear that coming from you, but sure, I agree.”

“If in revenge I remove the loo paper from the boys’ toilets … you won’t give me a hard time?”

“I’ll try to turn a blind eye, but at the first sign of faecal impaction I’ll be obliged to launch an inquiry.”

Impaction the state of being packed or wedged in. Faecal impaction: a solid, immobile bulk of human faeces that can develop in the rectum as a result of chronic constipation.

Serve them right, though, wouldn’t it!

I arrived a little late for class, but given my progress and recent attentiveness, the teacher couldn’t really make an issue of it. Marie was still preparing her visual aids for the presentation. She also had a board with loads of photos, quotes and text boxes.