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

‘Well, that’s what we are. People like us. People who can raise the wind.’

‘But isn’t that wrong?’

‘Not always,’ I said. ‘There are good winds and bad winds. You just have to choose what you want, that’s all. Do what thou wilt. It’s as simple as that. You can be bullied or you can fight back. You can ride the wind like an eagle, Nanou – or you can choose to let it blow you away.’

For a long time she said nothing, but sat very quietly, looking at my shoe. Finally she raised her head.

‘How do you know all this?’ she said.

I smiled. ‘Born in a bookshop, raised by a witch.’

‘And you’ll teach me how to ride the wind?’

‘Of course I will. If that’s what you want.’

Silence, as she watched that shoe. A bead of light flicked from the heel and scattered into prisms that laddered the wall.

‘Do you want to try them on?’

She looked up at that. ‘D’you think they’d fit?’

I hid a smile. ‘Try them and see.’

‘Oh, wow. Oh, wow! How cool is that?’

Teetering like a newborn giraffe on those heels; eyes alight; hands held out in a blind man’s fumble and grinning, oblivious of the sign of Lady Blood Moon scratched in pencil against the sole—

‘D’you like them?’

She nodded, smiling, suddenly shy. ‘I love them,’ she said. ‘They’re lollipop shoes.’

Lollipop shoes. That made me smile. And yet there’s a rightness to that phrase. ‘So they’re your favourites, are they?’ I said.

She nodded again, her eyes like stars.

‘Well, you can have them, if you like.’

‘Have them? To keep?’

‘Why not?’ I said.

For a moment she was beyond speech. She lifted her foot in a way that managed to be adolescent-gawky and heartbreakingly beautiful all at the same time, and gave me a smile that almost stopped my heart.

Suddenly her face fell. ‘Maman would never let me wear these . . .’

‘Maman doesn’t need to know.’

Anouk was still watching her foot; watching the way the light reflected from the spangled red heels on to the floor. I think even then she knew my price; but the lure of those shoes was too much to resist. Shoes that could take you anywhere; shoes that could make you fall in love; shoes that could make you someone else—

‘And nothing bad will happen?’ she said.

‘Nanou.’ I smiled. ‘They’re only shoes.’

9

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Thursday, 6th December