Living For free – Part 1

Silvia_Fischer

by Silvia_Fischer

Story

I recently typed my diary for over an hour for the first release as a blog, and then everything was gone., simply deleted! It was the last day that the library of the law faculty, which I like best, was open before the summer holidays. But fortunately there are still other libraries …

I spent three days at Pappys, where Thierry and Luc had invited me individually. Pappy is an elderly gentleman in his 80s, who Luc has been looking after for a few months. Pappy is a term of endearment which the French use for old men, like Dad. Luc is sort of a Rastafarian, dark-skinned with long dreadlocks and a cool beard, and he’s also got a lot of sayings in store.

The problem is that he’s quite fond of the distilled drops known as Caribbean rum. When Luc first came into Pappys house, there wasn’t even any water. Luc took care of it and got the water running again. My friend Thierry had been staying there for three days. I thought it was nice to be with Thierry again after that long break in winter. I had often spent the night in his car, but then I hadn’t seen him for a long time. I did a lot of cleaning in his bachelor flat, and on Sunday morning we went to a flea market to sell some things Thierry had found, but we weren’t very successful. However, the expenses were covered.

During my cleaning activity, Thierry smoked the apartment with lavender: “That’s what my grandmother and my mother used to do with different herbs.”

“Oh yes, I do that with sage,” I told him. When we were alone, he told me about Pappy.

“He was in the Foreign Legion and has four children, he was shot nine times and had many replacement bones. That’s why he looks like that. I saw his whole body, he showed me all of his scars. He was in Algeria during the war”.

In the afternoon, I walked to the next village and found a few things that could be useful: a remote control for the TV, insoles, and a calendar with maps…

After three days, I left the gentlemen, and hitch-hiked to a monastery where they were looking for volunteers for the summer, but they only took school and university students. As it was already getting dark, I stayed in the nearest town, which I thought was a very pleasant place when I went there. I found something to eat at the bakery: quiches, a cheese stick and a crĂŞpe, and later a house where I could spend the night in a small corridor in front of the entrance. The owners had obviously been gone for a long time.

Two smart guys wanted to take me away with them, but I politely declined that offer. With squealing tyres, they came rolling towards me. Whenever I think of them, I get scared and anxious. “Make love”, I heard him shouting out of the car window. “A blonde has been a dream of mine.” Even though they tried to lure me to a swimming pool, I declined.

© Silvia_Fischer 2021-08-28

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