Living For Free – Part 5

I stuck a picture of Greek houses on the board in front of the fireplace, and Thierry replaced the lamp made of light bulbs around a wooden wheel with a modern halogen spotlight which he had found a few days ago. He also provided light in the hallway on the first floor, which amused me a lot, because the wallpaper was so unevenly blackened and covered with cobwebs that you would not want to see it at all.

During my stroll through the nearest village, I found not only ripe maggot-loaded pears lying all over the ground, but also a very nice garden plot. There was a gate but no fence around it and I used it to have a rest. Right next to it was a dovecote. So, this was the home of the snow-white pigeon, which was sitting photogenically on the roof of a car. I found a lot of stuff again: three rolls of different wallpaper, a wooden toilet seat, three modern lampshades and so on, but when I got back I got a real damper.

I wanted to go back to the swimming pool where I had been before, because when I walked past I saw that nobody was there, but when I went onto the property and looked at the entrance, there was someone there with luggage in his hand, walking straight in my direction! I was in a hurry, but the fright remained in my bones for a long time. I think I am now cured of my obsession with using other people’s swimming pools. Generally speaking, the swimming pools here in the countryside are not as easy as in the city to use after the ticket office closes. I went to the pool, but people were all annoyed.

“We’re closing soon! And they still let you in? Not even ten minutes left! The register’s already closed …” Thierry told me that the people here had a different mentality. In the city, someone said the exact opposite when I jumped into the water for just a minute: “I hope you didn’t pay for that too.”

In the evening, Thierry helped to repair Luc’s mountain bike and I took it out for a ride at sunset. The next morning, Thierry took me into town. He had a date with someone. During the ride he talked a lot about women. “Women are all the same. I’m generally not interested in women any more. They think, because you don’t have a place to live, you will sleep with everyone. That’s a big no-go.” I was only listening with one ear.

Today I had nothing to eat except pears, but found some yogurt, semolina puddings and other delicacies in the supermarket bin. Lunch was saved.

Sitting in the place I had chosen for lunch in the shade, by the well and the litter bins was an Arab whom I knew from the vagabond cafeteria. He greeted me with “Hello Michelle, how are you?”, while I didn’t have the faintest idea what his name was. He was with a friend with whom I shared my food. Later, his friend invited me to spend the night at his place if I couldn’t find a place to sleep. I could just drop by the square before nine o’clock. But I had become careful with certain men. That is why I didn’t accept an invitation for coffee from a man on the bench next to mine.