Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café
Page 5
Then someone climbed up on to a public monument to address the crowd. ‘Look at what they were doing, these creatures, these gargoyles,’ he said. ‘They were saving our buildings from destruction! Rescuing our beautiful city from this monstrous government. For it is the government who is the true monster!’
Then everyone began marching through the city, chanting: ‘Out with the monster! Save our city! Out with the monster! Save our city!’
They marched along the Champs-Élysées, until they reached the Presidential Palace. There they called out the President’s name and demanded that he resign.
Meanwhile, in the Café of Lost Time, Madame Pamplemousse switched off the machine.
A long silence passed, which was eventually broken by Monsieur Moutarde.
‘Bravo, Madame,’ he said quietly to Madame Pamplemousse.
‘And to you, Monsieur,’ she replied with a smile.
‘And to Madeleine,’ he said, turning towards her. ‘A magnificent performance. For a moment I truly believed you were crying real tears.’
‘Thank you, Monsieur,’ said Madeleine, with a bow.
‘Why, naturally,’ said Madame Pamplemousse, walking over towards her. ‘For Madeleine is one of us – and people like us should stick together.’
She stared at Madeleine then, and from the look in her eyes, Madeleine somehow knew that her words held another meaning. One that was intended just for her, and which recalled those words spoken to her by the Sphinx, up on that barren hillside: ‘you fear your friends have abandoned you too.’
Madame Pamplemousse took her by the hand. ‘And now, my dear friend,’ she said, ‘if you would care to accompany me once more, there are some people who would very much like to meet you.’
She lit a candle and then led Madeleine round to the back of the café, where there was a small cellar door. It opened on to an iron stairwell leading down into the dark.
They descended the steps together, until they came out into a long, cavernous tunnel. The only light came from Madame Pamplemousse’s flame and Madeleine followed her through the darkness until they stopped before a door. Madame Pamplemousse knocked: a precise series of knocks, like a message in Morse code.
The door opened and they stepped through into a huge candlelit chamber, like an enormous underground dance hall.
People were sitting about at tables lit by flickering candles, and in the corner a trio of musicians was playing jazz. And there, at one of the tables, Madeleine saw two people she recognised: a tall bald man in black leather, who, despite the dimness of the lighting, was wearing dark glasses – it was Monsieur Langoustine, the famous restaurant critic – and sitting opposite him was Camembert. They were sharing a bottle of wine and, on seeing Madeleine and Madame Pamplemousse, Monsieur Langoustine raised his glass.
Then everyone raised their glasses and a huge cheer went around. People were applauding and there were shouts of ‘Bravo!’
Meanwhile, the musicians continued to play. And it may have been her imagination, or the flickering candlelight, but to Madeleine it seemed that the pianist had stone wings and two little horns on his head.
Epilogue
In France, a new government has since been elected. After mass demonstrations, an emergency election was called and the President subsequently removed from office. The new President promised to revive the old spirit of the country and to restore its capital city. All plans for Paris’s demolition were suspended. No longer were its museums and art galleries to become shopping centres. And the heavy taxes on small shops and restaurants were lifted.
To celebrate, the Cornichons took part in a huge street party, with all the restaurants in Paris opening their doors for free. Together, Madeleine and Monsieur Cornichon cooked up an enormous banquet.
Mademoiselle Fondue is no longer involved with politics. She was arrested after being found clinging to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Along with the President, she was brought before a tribunal investigating claims of corruption during their regime. But Mademoiselle Fondue so charmed the judges that she managed to get off on a technicality and, rumour has it, is now working as a model overseas.
However, it is still a mystery what caused the monsters or the green mist, or who the group known only as ‘the Gargoyles’ really were. But the event has now gone down in history as la Grande Illusion and, to commemorate it each year, a special carnival is held.
And on this day, four friends and old travelling companions always meet up to celebrate and to watch the carnival in the streets outside, from a café high above the city of Paris.
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Also by Rupert Kingfisher
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Madame Pamplemousse and Her Incredible Edibles
Madame Pamplemousse and the Enchanted Sweet Shop
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Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY
Text copyright © Rupert Kingfisher 2009
The moral right of the author has been asserted
This electronic edition published in September 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
All rights reserved.
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A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 1186 3
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