I ran home. Dad was fumbling about with the Panhard’s engine. He asked if I wanted to help him, but I said I’d got work to do. I could see he was trying to hold back a smile. All the same, I suggested that he should check the spring-drive turbine fan, because it seemed to me that the Aerodyne motor was badly overheating. I had a snack and then I leant out of the window and asked him, “Hey, Dad, do you know what paintings there are at the Louvre?”

He looked up, holding an 18 mm spanner.

“The Mona Lisa. That’s what there is at the Louvre. It’s by Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian painter.”

I was lucky to have such a seriously cultured father.

In my bedroom, I got out my art things. I laid the tubes of paint out neatly on my table. A lot of them were squashed flat. They looked like a colony of multi-coloured slugs. I found a picture of the Mona Lisa in Dad’s encyclopaedia and I also learnt that the lady in the picture was known for her serene and enigmatic smile. I had a look in my dictionary:

Serene calm, peaceful; having a tranquillity that comes from an untroubled conscience.

Enigmatic difficult to understand or interpret; mysterious.

Nothing could have reminded me more of my dear Egyptian. So I set to work with a warm and friendly feeling for the Mona Lisa.

Late in the evening, Dad came up to say goodnight. I showed him my painting.

“Do you see what it is?”

“Of course.”

I smiled. I felt relieved and really quite pleased with myself. Almost certainly, at the museum, we’d be asked to copy the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting there. If we ran into difficulties, all I’d need to do would be to slip Marie my copy.

“Of course I see what it is. It’s a lovely plate of steaming spaghetti, with a little dish of Parmesan cheese right beside it.”

9

There are times when life can be really tough. It didn’t take long for me to figure that out. It’s responsibility that causes the most trouble and anxiety. There are no two ways about it, when other people’s problems become your own, well, that’s when your life changes completely, because you’ve got someone who needs rescuing and you have to make a go of it. It’s kind of the same with animals. For example, my poor mangled blackbird didn’t weigh much, but he was a heavy responsibility, and even though he was getting his strength back I still felt anxious about him. When you’re dealing with a human being it’s even worse!