by Katie Penryn
“Don’t you dare kiss me,” Jimbo warned me keeping hold of Wilfred’s hand and leading him to the steps and giving him a hoist up onto the bus.
It pulled away. Jimbo’s face stared out of the rear window at me until the bus disappeared from view.
Audrey shrugged and picked up Simone. “I hope they will be all right.”
She needn’t have worried. When we met the bus that afternoon the two boys bounced down the steps and couldn’t stop talking about how marvelous school was and how great their lunch had been.
Jimbo and I said goodbye to Audrey and Wilfred and started back up our street.
“So, what was it really like?” I asked him. “Was it difficult not being able to speak French?”
He ducked his head and thought for a moment before replying.
“It wasn’t easy, but everyone helped me. My teacher, Madame Marin, is a kind lady. She explained to the class that it was a challenge for them to teach me to speak French. I really, really like her. She’s very pretty. She’s got bright blue eyes and long curly blond hair like a princess in a movie.”
“And did you like her son?”
“Marcel? He’s all right, but not as nice as his mother.”
“I hope I get to meet your teacher soon. I’m having my first diving lesson with her husband tomorrow at his diving school.”
“While I’m at my school?”
“Yes. We’re both starting new schools this week. You know, it’s all right to feel a little worried about new experiences as long as one doesn’t let the worry put one off trying them.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Jimbo said. “Are you, Penzi?”
I opened the front door. Zig and Zag bounded out to welcome their friend home from his first day at his new school, saving me from having to answer his question. Just as well. I would have had to admit to being a little scared. Of what, I wasn’t quite sure: making a fool of myself, perhaps? The other three were all experienced divers.
*
The bright sunshine streaming through my bedroom windows the next morning banished any lingering doubts left over from my conversation with Jimbo. It promised to be a beautiful autumn day. I bounced out of bed before Felix arrived with my morning tea.
“Hey, boss,” he said when he found me ready dressed and brushing out my hair. “What’s got into you?”
I laid my hair brush down on my dressing table and caught his eye in the mirror. “You see before you the next intrepid explorer of the oceans deep.”
“Good. For a while I wondered if you were having second thoughts.”
“Felix, it would be silly to live here at the coast and not learn to scuba dive. I’m longing to be good enough to explore all the wrecks that lie out there in the Atlantic. We might find a Spanish galleon laden with gold.”
“Unlikely. Wrong route. We could find an English merchant ship carrying a cargo of claret though.”
“I have to admit I am a teeny weensy bit scared of doing this, but I keep telling myself if Izzy can do it, I’m sure I can.”
“We’ll give you all the support and encouragement you need.”
A plaintive cry called up the stairs. “Penzi, I’m going to miss the school bus.”
I checked my watch. Jimbo exaggerated, but I didn’t want him becoming anxious. I dashed out of the room and down the stairs. Gwinny had already gathered his school things together, and he was waiting all dressed up in his anorak and with his new school bag on his back.
“It’s too early, Jimbo,” I said. “If we go now, we’ll have to stand and wait for several minutes in the cold at the bus stop.”
“On the other hand,” said Felix. “If we go now, we can all pop into Brioche’s bakery for our croissants and Jimbo can tell Brioche about his new school.”
“I wish I could,” said Jimbo, “but I don’t know enough French yet.”
Felix ruffled Jimbo’s hair. Jimbo knocked his hand away. “I’ve just brushed my hair. I was all ready to go to school and now look what you’ve done.” He ran to the hall mirror to check on his appearance.
Felix whispered to me. “Jimbo’s growing up. That’s the first time he’s ever taken any interest in what he looks like.”
“He’ll be following the latest hairstyles next. I remember when Sam became a fashion addict overnight.”
Zag sidled up to me and as I bent down to put my boots on he whispered, “Can we come with you? We haven’t seen Jimbo’s school bus, and we’d like to say hello to Piffle.”
I clipped his lead on and handed Zig’s to Felix. As we stepped out of our front door a cool breeze came blowing in from the sea. I took a couple of deep breaths. Such wonderful clean air. In spite of the murders over the last few weeks, Beaucoup-sur-Mer was growing on me. If Jimbo flourished as well at his new school as he did at home, he would reach adulthood healthy in mind and body.
He’d walked on ahead while I enjoyed the seaside freshness. He stopped when he realized I wasn’t following and ran back to grab hold of my hand.
“Come on, Penzi. Don’t dilly dally,” he said with all the seriousness of his nine years.
Zig and Zag had to sniff every second cobblestone alongside the seawall, so progress was slow but we made it to the end of the street with time to spare for a visit to Brioche before Jimbo had to catch the bus.
“Bonjour, Madame Munro,” Brioche said as we entered his shop. “I see you have my little friend with you.”
Jimbo bridled at my side. He could understand that much French.
“I’m not little, monsieur. I’m nine years old and going to the École Primaire St. Justin.”
Monsieur Brioche put our order of croissants into a paper bag and handed them to me.
“And for my little friend?” he asked in a teasing voice. “Something for break time, yes?”
He searched along the counter and picked up a huge Danish pastry with his tongs. “Comme ça?” he asked.
Jimbo stopped sulking at once and a big smile crossed his face. “Oh oui, s’il vous plaît.”
Brioche handed him the pastry tucked away in a small white confectionary box. I paid him and we left the shop as the school bus turned the corner at the far end of the Esplanade. We had to jog to the stop outside The Union Jack. Felix and I stopped short of the crowd of schoolchildren waiting for the bus. Although Zig and Zag had perfect manners, German shepherds frighten some people, and we didn’t want to upset the children. Some of the children began to edge towards us to talk to Zig and Zag but fortunately the bus drew to a stop before Felix and I had to deal with a crowd of excited kids. Audrey came out with Wilfred and with Piffle on his lead.
Our dogs strained to go over and talk to Piffle and there was much smelling of important parts and tail wagging.
When Jimbo came home that afternoon he told us that he’d suddenly become popular because he and Wilfred had such cool dogs.
As soon as the bus had left and Audrey had gone back into her shop, Zag sat down on the pavement.
“When are we going to have a treat, Penzi?” he asked.
Zig joined in saying, “Don’t you have to visit Monsieur Faux-Filet, the butcher?”
“I do, but we must hurry because Felix and I are due at the dive school at ten this morning.”
Felix held the dogs for me while I dashed in to buy some steak. It would save Gwinny having to walk down later and do the shopping. Faux-Filet, Georges as he like me to call him, was in good spirits.
“So glad to see all is well with you, Mpenzi, after that horrible business at the hospital. I trust you are spending time with your family now.”
“That’s my intention, Georges,” I replied, “but we never know what fate has in store for us.”
“I was at the Cognac Blues Festival the night you sang, you know. You were superb. So many talents.”
I bowed my head in modesty and checked out the steak in the refrigerated display case as I did so.
“Bavette for four please, Georges.”
He sliced the steaks, wrapped
them in butcher’s paper and passed them to me.
“And for your beautiful dogs a couple of beef thigh bones.”
Zig and Zag perked up outside the shop as they monitored Faux-Filet putting the bones in a large polythene bag and handing them to me. I paid him and hurried out to join Felix and the dogs. We hastened back home as Felix and I still had to have breakfast before leaving for the dive school. Ben Marin had said we could hire the gear we needed from him. He’d advised us not to buy anything until I knew whether I wanted to continue diving or not.
Chapter 6
We drove a short way up the coast to the dive school. Izzy and Garth were already parked in front of a small modern building set right on the seafront about a mile from the fishing port of Darennes.
“The office is all locked up,” Izzy said coming forward to meet me as I got out of my car.
“He’s probably late,” I said. “Let’s give him twenty minutes.”
The twenty minutes gave us time to walk around the building and the grounds. We came across a large swimming pool set within a fenced enclosure. The deep end was marked at twelve feet.
“Most dive schools start beginners off in a pool,” Garth said.
“I like that,” I answered. “It’ll give me confidence. It would be too scary to go straight out into the sea.”
We strolled backed to the office building. Off in the distance, the industrial buildings and the masts of the boats in the fishing harbor stood on the skyline. It had to be where the Marin brothers kept their oyster boat. It would make sense as their farm wasn’t much further up the coast going north.
With a squeal of brakes a Range Rover tore up to the offices and stopped, scattering gravel a few feet from the steps where we were standing.
We hadn’t met Ben Marin before and I would never have guessed the young man who climbed out of the vehicle was Joseph’s brother. Their looks and personality were so different. As Ben greeted, us he flashed us a broad smile that lit up his blue eyes and brought his rather round face to life. In contrast to Joseph’s dark coloring, Ben was blond. His hair bounced on his shoulder in what in a girl would be ringlets. As he shook my hand his well-defined muscles promised physical fitness and stamina.
“Je m’excuse,” he said. “Family trouble this morning.”
“Nothing serious, I hope,” I said.
“No, not at all. A discussion with my brother held me up, but all is fine now. I’m sorry my office assistant wasn’t here. She had to take her daughter to the dentist this morning. Shall we go in?”
He led us through a businesslike front office to the equipment room at the back where he doled out my kit with a lengthy explanation of each part.
“I understand your friends are all experienced divers,” he said looking round at Felix, Garth and Izzy.
They nodded.
“I guess they don’t want to take part in your lesson then?”
“Actually,” said Garth stepping forward. “It will give us an opportunity to get to know each other underwater and practice our signals. We’d like to make some serious dives with you once Mpenzi here is up to speed. Do you have enough equipment for us today?”
“Sure,” Ben said. “Let me finish with Madame Munro and I’ll issue you with what you need. You don’t have anything with you, I take it?”
“No,” said Garth. “We sold up when we left the States. I plan to buy everything new and Madame Tointon the same.”
“And you, monsieur?” Ben Marin asked Felix.
“The same for me. I left my equipment back in Africa, all except my underwater camera.”
Ben smiled. “There’s enough for the three of you. I’ll be teaching Madame Munro—”
“Penzi, please,” I interrupted.
“Penzi, the most important hand signals today. You’ll be able to try them out as a group. We’ll hold the first one or two lessons, depending on how Penzi does, in the pool.”
Minutes later we followed Ben out and down a short path to the pool where we put on our flippers and my first lesson began.
Ben proved to be a patient and thorough teacher. He took me through the basics, showing me how everything worked. Next he taught me the five most important hand signals: diver okay, air pressure check, low air, going up or down, and level off.
Meanwhile down in the deep end the other three were messing about and having fun.
Ben cast a look at their frolics, shrugged and said to me, “Time for you to take your first breath under water.”
All went well. I didn’t panic. There was nothing to it.
“Hey down there,” Ben called out to Felix, Garth and Izzy. “She’s taken her first breath.”
The three of them burst into a round of clapping. Everyone except Ben had his or her facemask on and didn’t notice we had a visitor until Ben made for the side of the pool and climbed out. We all took off our masks to find out who had disturbed him.
Joseph had arrived and was stomping up and down the side of the pool. As Ben stepped onto the paving stones, Joseph surged towards him and wagged his finger in Ben’s face.
“How dare you?” he shouted. “I told you not to do that.”
Ben backed away dripping wet. Joseph was between him and his towel.
“Can’t we carry on this discussion in the office?” he asked.
“No, we can’t. I want an answer now. What possessed you to make a deposit on new equipment? You must be mad. We simply don’t have the money. It’s a huge commitment, one we can’t afford. Furthermore, there’s a mountain of overdue bills.”
Ben held his hands up in protest at Joseph’s attack.
“We must invest in our business, Joseph. Our competitors are running rings around us. It’s expand or die.”
“We’re going to die anyway with the debt you’ve just tied round our necks. And I guess you persuaded Agnes to sign the check.”
Ben bunched up his long hair in his hands and wrung it out while he considered his reply.
“Joseph, she agrees with me, and you know we need only two out of three signatures for the bank account or for legal documents.”
Joseph advanced towards Ben with his fists up, his face flushing red with anger. Ben moved quickly sideways and jumped back into the pool.
Joseph shook his arms down in a gesture of abandon, turned on his heel and stalked off yelling back, “You’ll pay for this. Just you wait and see.”
Ben turned to our startled faces.
“I apologize for my brother’s behavior. He’s going through a bad patch at the moment and so is our business. I can’t make him understand the need to spend money to make it.”
Felix shook his head. “Nothing to do with us, Ben. Don’t worry about it.”
“Who’s Agnes?” I asked.
“Our sister. The three of us own the business together. Agnes’s been worried that we’re not making any money. She needs to earn a profit from the business or she wants it sold. We’re not a happy family at the moment.”
“Shall we call it a day?” asked Izzy. “I’m getting cold and we’ve all had enough.”
Ben climbed out of the pool again and stood ready to help us up the steps. Once we were all on dry land again, he suggested he take us out to lunch to make up for the disruption of my lesson.
“I’ll take you to the little restaurant at the end of the key at Darennes where we moor our boat, La Princesse. All the fishermen and sailors eat there. They serve great seafood because they buy straight from the boats as they come in.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Garth, and we all smiled in agreement.
*
We had to stand in line for a table at La Rose des Vents. It was obviously the place to lunch on a weekday. Ben pushed his way through to the bar where brawny fishermen in their rough sea-going clothes stood cheek by jowl with a scattering of sophisticated pleasure sailors. He came back with a tray of glasses of pineau and a carafe of water which he put down on a convenient shelf that ran around the walls of the bar area.
&nbs
p; He poured out the drinks and handed them round.
“It’s a pretty name, La Rose des Vents,” I said. “The Rose of the Winds. Quite fitting for a restaurant facing out to the ocean.”
Ben laughed and clinked his glass to mine.
“It’s cleverer than that in French. Rose des vents is the name for a compass rose, the drawing one sees on maps.”
Garth broke into our conversation. “We use the same expression in English, a compass rose.”
Ben added, “In French, a compass, the object, is called a boussole.”
Felix raised his glass. “Here’s to La Rose des Vents. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet—to quote our bard.”
“Bard?” asked Ben. “What’s that?”
“A poet.”
“Oh dear,” said Ben. “Only twenty-one miles of water separates our two countries. That and our languages. How are you coping with French? You all seem to speak French well.”
“Felix is from the Middle Congo where French is left over from colonial times. Garth, learned French for his job?” I looked at Garth, and he nodded.
“And I had to learn French for a part I played,” added Izzy.
“And your brother? Joseph mentioned he’d met your younger brother,” Ben asked me.
“I have two brothers. Sam can already speak basic French. Jimbo is struggling especially as he started primary school this week, but he’s in your wife’s class.”
“Oh, Désirée’s? She is an excellent teacher. He will pick French up quickly. You are lucky your relationship with your brothers is good, Penzi. I wish I was so lucky.”
“That argument this morning wasn’t unusual then?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no. It’s the oyster business that causes the trouble between us. We’ve been losing money for a while. I started up my dive school partly to earn some money and partly to get away from Joseph.”
He stopped and drank down his apéritif.
“But I shouldn’t be discussing my family business with clients.”
To change the subject, Felix asked him about the other customers in the bar who didn’t look like local fishermen.
