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

And this – who’s this outside the yellow circle? That’s Thierry, with his mobile phone. We don’t want the wind to hurt Thierry, but he can’t be here with us any more, because you can only have one father, Rosette, and he’s not the one. So he has to go. Sorry, Thierry.

Can you hear the wind outside? That’s the Wind of Change on its way. Zozie says you can ride the wind; that it’s like a wild horse that can be tamed and trained to do just what you want it to. You can be a kite, a bird; you can grant wishes; you can find your heart’s desire—

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Come on, Rosette. Let’s ride.

7

image Missing

Saturday, 15th December

IT’S AMAZING, ISN’T it, how deceitful a child can be? Like a domestic cat, purring on the sofa by day, but by night, a strutting queen, a natural killer, disdainful of her other life.

Anouk is no killer – at least, not yet – but she does have that feral side to her. I’m delighted to know that, of course – I’m not in the market for a household pet – but I’ll need to keep a close eye on her, if she’s going to take action behind my back.

First, she invoked Ehecatl without me. I do not resent this at all – in fact I’m rather proud of her. She’s imaginative; ingenious; making up rituals where existing ones do not satisfy – a natural Chaoist, in short.

Secondly, however – and rather more importantly – she went to see Roux yesterday, in secret and against my advice. Fortunately she wrote it all down in her diary, which I monitor on a regular basis. It’s easy to do: like her mother, she keeps her secrets in a shoe-box at the back of her wardrobe – predictable, but convenient – and I’ve been checking both since I arrived.

And a good thing too, as it turns out. She’s meeting him today, she says, in the cemetery at three o’clock. In a way, it couldn’t be better; my plans for Vianne are nearing completion, and it’s nearly time for the next stage. But stealing a life is so much easier on paper than in the flesh – a few discarded household bills, a passport lifted from a handbag at the airport, even the name on a fresh gravestone and the job’s practically done for me. But this time I want more than a name, more than credit details, much more than money.