BooksBarbecue
Back The Lollipop Shoes
Chapters (96)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Book
  3. The Lollipop Shoes
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  6. PART ONE
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. PART TWO
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. 6
  19. 7
  20. 8
  21. PART THREE
  22. 1
  23. 2
  24. 3
  25. 4
  26. 5
  27. 6
  28. PART FOUR
  29. 1
  30. 2
  31. 3
  32. 4
  33. 5
  34. 6
  35. 7
  36. 8
  37. 9
  38. PART FIVE
  39. 1
  40. 2
  41. 3
  42. 4
  43. 5
  44. 6
  45. 7
  46. 8
  47. 9
  48. 10
  49. 11
  50. 12
  51. PART SIX
  52. 1
  53. 2
  54. 3
  55. 4
  56. 5
  57. 6
  58. 7
  59. 8
  60. 9
  61. 10
  62. 11
  63. 12
  64. PART SEVEN
  65. 1
  66. 2
  67. 3
  68. 4
  69. 5
  70. 6
  71. 7
  72. 8
  73. 9
  74. PART EIGHT
  75. 1
  76. 2
  77. 3
  78. 4
  79. 5
  80. 6
  81. 7
  82. 8
  83. 9
  84. 10
  85. 11
  86. 12
  87. 13
  88. 14
  89. 15
  90. 16
  91. 17
  92. 18
  93. 19
  94. Epilogue
  95. About the Author
  96. Also by Joanne Harris

Yeah, right. Like there was anywhere he had to be; Roux who always pleases himself; who never lets anyone tell him what to do. ‘I’ll be back.’

Oh, you liar.

I was suddenly so angry with him that I almost spoke the words aloud. Why did you come back, Roux? Why did you bother to come back at all?

I told him so, but in my mind, in my shadow-voice, as hard as I could, the way I’d spoken to Zozie on that first day outside the chocolaterie.

Coward, I said. You’re running away.

And Zozie heard. She looked at me. But Roux just stuck his hands even deeper into the pockets of his jeans, and didn’t even wave as he opened the door and walked away without looking back. Thierry went right after him – just like a dog chasing off an intruder. Not that Thierry would ever fight Roux – but even the thought of it made me want to cry.

Maman was going to go after them both, but Zozie stopped her.

‘I’ll go,’ she said. ‘They’ll be all right. You wait here with Annie and Rosette.’

And off she went into the dark.

‘Go upstairs, Nanou,’ said Maman. ‘I’ll be with you right away.’

And so we went upstairs, and waited. Rosette fell asleep, and in a while I heard Zozie come up, then Maman a few minutes later, walking very quietly so as not to disturb us. And after a while I went to sleep, but the sound of the creaky floorboard in Maman’s room woke me up a couple of times, and I knew she was still awake in there, standing by the window in the dark, listening to the sound of the wind and hoping – just once – it would leave us alone.

3

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Sunday, 2nd December

THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS went on last night. Now the whole quartier is illuminated; not in colours, but in simple white, like a hedge of stars over the city. In the Place du Tertre, where the artists stand, the traditional Nativity scene has been erected, with the Christ child smiling in the straw and the mother and father looking into the crib, and the Magi standing by with gifts. It fascinates Rosette, who asks to see it again and again.

Baby, she signs. Go see baby. So far she has seen it twice with Nico; once with Alice; countless times with Zozie; with Jean-Louis and Paupaul, and of course, with Anouk, who seems almost as fascinated by it as she is, repeating the story to Rosette of how the baby (who has changed sex in Anouk’s version) was born in a stable in the snow, and how the animals came to see her, and the three Wise Men, and how even a star stopped overhead—

‘Because she was a special baby,’ Anouk says, to Rosette’s delight. ‘A special baby, just like you, and soon it’ll be your birthday, too . . .’