Chapter 35 Section thirty-four

Although it was difficult, he could only invite them upstairs. "I don't want to disturb you," she said as they entered the room. "You are not disturbing me. Chantal will be back soon." Chantal's ex-husband's sister began to chatter; she glanced at the children now and then.The children were very quiet, shy, almost dumbfounded. "I'm so glad Chantal got to meet them," she said, stroking the head of one of them. "She didn't even know them, they were born after she left. She loves children. Her husband's situation is terrible." I shouldn't have said that about my brother. But he never came to see us after another marriage." She started laughing: "Actually, I always liked Chantal more than her husband!"

She came back and stared at Jean-Marc, her eyes were full of admiration and flirtatious: "Well, she must know how to choose a second man, I came to tell you that you are very welcome to come to our place ...I would be delighted if you brought Chantal back with you. Our doors will always be open to you. Always will be." "Thank you." "You're a very generous fellow, and I like you. My brother is younger than Chantal, and I always thought she was like his mother. She called him my little mouse—think of her calling him that." A girly nickname! I used to always picture this scene." She burst out laughing as she spoke, wrapping him in her arms, rocking him, humming softly "My Little mouse, my little mouse."

She danced around a few laps, her arms bent as if to hold a baby.She kept humming. "My little mouse, little mouse!" She continued her dance steps for a while longer, waiting for Jean-Marc's return laugh.To please her, Jean-Marc had to force a smile and imagine Chantal with the man she called "my little mouse."The older sister was still chattering.He couldn't escape the annoying situation: the situation where Chantal called a man (who was younger than her), "my little mouse". There was a startling movement in the next room.Let.Only then did Mark realize that those children were no longer with them.It was a cunning tactic the aggressors always used: masked by their inconspicuous appearance, they managed to slip into Chantal's bedroom; start quietly like a secret army, then, discreetly close behind him. Come to the door with a conquering madness.

This worried Jean-Marc, but the sister reassured him: "It's nothing. They're just children. They're just playing." "Indeed," said Jean-Marc, "I saw them playing." He went to the noisy bedroom, but the sister moved faster than he did.She opened the door: they used the swivel chair as a merry-go-round, and one child lay prone on the swivel chair, spinning with its turning surface, while the other two watched him, yelling, yelling. "Look, they're playing, I told you," she said, closing the door.She blinked like an accomplice. "They're just children. What else can you expect from them? It's a shame Chantal isn't here. How I want her to see them."

The noise in the next room grew more and more lawless, and Jean-Marc suddenly lost any desire to silence the children.He seemed to see Chantal standing in the middle of the family, lovingly watching the little man she called "little mouse".Another image follows: Chantal guarding a letter to her from a strange admirer, lest the promise of that adventure be shattered.That Chantal was a stranger, that Chantal was not the woman he loved; that Chantal was a fake. "My brother," said the sister again, "was too weak for her; you know what I mean, weak..." She laughed again, "...in every sense of the word, You know, you know!" She was still laughing wantonly. "Actually, I can give you a piece of advice."

"if you are willing to." "A very personal suggestion!" She put her mouth to Jean-Marc's ear and said something, but when her lips touched Jean-Marc's ear, he heard only a muffled sound. She straightened up and laughed, "What's the idea?" Although he didn't hear anything, he still laughed along. "Aha, that idea really excites you!" said the sister. "I could tell you a lot more like that. You know, she and I don't have any secrets. If you and her What's wrong, tell me: I can definitely give you some good advice!" She was still laughing: "I know how to tame her!"

Jean-Marc thought: Chantal always spoke of her sister's family in a very unfriendly way.Why does that sister still act like she likes her so much?And Chantal hated them so much, what the hell was going on?How can one hate someone and at the same time be willing to adapt to him? In the next room, the kids were on a rampage, and the sister pointed in their direction, smiled and said, "I know, they didn't bother you! You're like me. You know, I'm not an organized woman. I like Things that move, I like things that change, I like things that sing—I mean, I love life!" With his back to the noise of the children, his thoughts continued: Is it really so impressive how deftly she adapts to what she hates?Could she have had two faces so successfully?He once had the idea that in Ad Man she was like an intruder, a spy, a masked enemy, a potential terrorist.She was more of a - if he used political terms - a collaborator.A collaborator in the service of an unsavory force, regardless of their nature.She works for them, but is otherwise separate from them.One day, when she stood before the judge who was interrogating her, she would defend herself by saying that she had two different faces.