The other news item is that Nathalie is apparently a virgin. Christian wanted to try his luck with her (given how much she led him on by always talking about doing it) but she explained to him in the strictest confidence that she was saving herself for when she was ready, like for the love of her life.
Bullshit. She was just freaked out, that’s all.
Her mother has come to pick her up from Rose’s house. They’re supposed to be visiting Monsieur Bihotz. She has as little desire to go and see Bihotz as she did to turn up at Delphine’s bedside. Those sort of things just make her too sad.
‘You’re so selfish! Just like your father. Do you realise that Monsieur Bihotz is going to be on dialysis for the rest of his life?’
(Dialysis n. (from Greek dialusis, meaning dissolution). The separation of smaller molecules from larger molecules in a solution by selective diffusion through a semipermeable membrane. || Peritoneal dialysis, a therapeutic method of eliminating metabolic waste from the body in cases of renal failure.)
It sounds a bit like a female first name. It turns out he’s going to be attached to a machine. And he’ll probably have to move house to be closer to the hospital, on the coast.
Arnaud is taking his time to turn up. He must have gone back to Bordeaux and most likely his girlfriend is making a scene.
And apparently her mother is angry with Rose’s mother. Something about how offended she was that she had interfered by organising a gynaecologist for Solange (who cancelled the appointment anyway, given that she’s with Arnaud). When the time comes, she says, she’ll make the appointment herself for Solange. That woman and her red boots, she’s really got some peculiar ideas about things.
As for her, she still hasn’t got to try out tampons (it’s an advantage not being a virgin). Rose’s mother gave her a whole lecture about contraception—‘no boy will ever worry about it on your behalf ’—but Monsieur Bihotz did, after all, he’s so responsible, he must have thought about it somehow or other. She remembers how he’d set out her first sanitary napkins next to his shaving cream. And how poetic he’d been comparing the shape of a bloodstain on the sheet to a ‘moth’. She’s almost moved by the thought of it.
Anyway, for someone young like her, it would be such a hassle—oh well, all that stuff is so boring. (She’s got to stop using ‘so’ all the time.) She’s got so many other things to think about.
All the Way Page 19
