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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

Whatever it was, it was potent, I thought. Even itching powder wouldn’t have worked as dramatically. But I couldn’t quite see what was happening. There were too many people in the way, and the queue had dissolved into a kind of mass, everyone wanting to see what was going on.

I didn’t even try. I knew.

Suddenly I needed to see Zozie. She’d know what to do, I thought, and she wouldn’t give me the third degree. I didn’t want to wait for the bus so I took the Métro back instead, and ran all the way from Place de Clichy. I was completely out of breath when I got in; Maman was in the kitchen fixing Rosette’s snack and I swear Zozie knew before I even said a word.

‘What’s wrong, Nanou?’

I looked at her. She was wearing jeans and her lollipop shoes, looking redder and higher and shinier than ever with their sparkly stack heels. Seeing them made me feel better somehow, and I collapsed into one of the pink leopard chairs with an enormous sigh of relief.

‘Chocolate?’

‘No thanks.’

She poured me a Coke. ‘That bad?’ she said, watching me drink it all in one go, so fast that bubbles came out of my nose. ‘Here, have another, and tell me what’s wrong.’

I told her then, but quietly enough for Maman not to overhear. I had to stop twice, once when Nico came in with Alice, and once more when Laurent came in for a coffee and sat for nearly half an hour complaining about all the work to be done on Le P’tit Pinson, and how impossible it was to get a plumber at this time of year, and the immigrant problem, and all the usual things Laurent complains about.

By the time he’d gone it was time to close and Maman was cooking dinner. Zozie put out the lights in the shop so I could see the Advent house. The Pied Piper has gone now, replaced by a choir of chocolate angels singing in the sugar snow. It looks so beautiful, I thought. But the house is still a mystery. Doors shut, curtains drawn; only a single fairy-light shining out from an attic room.

‘Can I see inside?’ I said.

‘Maybe tomorrow,’ Zozie said. ‘Why don’t you come to my room? Then we can finish our little talk.’

Slowly I followed her upstairs. On each narrow step in front of me, the lollipop shoes went tak-tak-tak on their fabulous heels, like someone knocking at a door, asking me, begging me to let them in.

8

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Thursday, 6th December