George's Grand Tour. Caroline Vermalle

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СКАЧАТЬ guess she gets that from her dad!’ interrupted Franck, who still had memories of one particular stormy encounter with George.

      ‘Oh for heavens’ sake!’ Thérèse exclaimed loudly. ‘Stop getting so het up about Françoise. She said she wasn’t going to call for two months, so this is your chance! Go and do your Tour the way you planned and everything will be fine.’

      ‘Yes, but … I suppose I just find this … this radio silence a bit weird. She didn’t say anything to you?’

      ‘No, no. Well, I mean … No more than she did to you, I don’t suppose,’ answered Thérèse, avoiding his gaze.

      Annie tried to distract Justine, who was reaching for the knives on the table. To keep her happy she gave the baby her mobile phone, which Justine immediately tried to put in her mouth.

      ‘And if she did turn up out of the blue, she’d call me straight away and I’d take care of it, and of her. So stop obsessing about the daughter, and the granddaughter for that matter, and off you go!’ said Thérèse.

      ‘Still,’ said Charles, ‘we’ve got to do something about Adèle, otherwise George will never agree to it. Right everyone, lunchtime.’

      Suddenly, the phone that Justine had in her little plump hands started to make unexpected sounds. Annie managed to wrangle it back from her and looked at the screen.

      ‘What’s she done to it? Oh no, what does that mean, “Call divert activated”? She’s gone and changed all the settings, it’s stopped working. Franck! Justine’s mucked around with the phone and now it’s saying “call divert” or something …’

      Wearily, Franck took the phone and, wiping the dribble from the screen with his sleeve, pressed a few buttons and put the phone into his jeans pocket.

      Charles looked at Franck, and then down at his plate, and then at Franck again. Finally, he asked:

      ‘So what does that “call divert” thing do?’

      ‘Well, if I choose to divert calls to your home phone, when people call me on my mobile, the calls will go straight to your landline.’

      ‘But they don’t know that’s happening?’

      ‘They don’t know.’

      ‘And you can do that with landlines as well?’

      ‘Yes, you should be able to.’

      ‘Well, I’ll be damned.’

      He got up from the table noisily. Thérèse sighed.

      ‘Charles, my veal is going to go cold.’

      ‘Thérèse, what did you do with the phone directory?’

      Charles was hopping with excitement. Half an hour and a conversation with Franck later, he went over to George’s place.

      Justine smiled, showing her two teeth.

      George was woken from his slumber by the sound of Charles’s footsteps in the garage, but they sounded different from normal. Had he really been asleep for that long? The clock next to the fridge was showing 1.30 p.m.

      Charles burst into the room and shouted confidently:

      ‘George, there’s no need to worry. There’s a solution to the Adèle problem.’

      ‘But isn’t it—?’ George began.

      ‘What’s your mobile number?’

      George had to lever himself painfully out of his garden seat and walk out into the corridor to the telephone table. ‘There it is,’ he said to Charles, pointing at the notecard tacked to the wall next to the postcards of London, on which Françoise had written in her beautiful handwriting: ‘Your mobile number: 06 20 15 89 15.’

      Charles pulled a piece of paper covered in code out of his pocket, picked up the landline phone, and after very carefully keying in several different combinations of numbers, hashes and stars, he replaced the handset with an almost solemn expression on his face.

      ‘Right,’ said Charles, who seemed to be waiting for something.

      ‘Right,’ said George, who was wondering if Charles was going to give him an explanation or whether he was going to have to get it out of him himself. ‘Right, well, so that’s …’

      ‘Where’s your mobile?’

      ‘I think it’s in the chest of drawers in the living room, under the card set.’

      ‘OK, here’s what you have to do,’ said Charles, who now seemed to know what he was doing. ‘You’re going to go and get it. I’m going to go back home and then I’m going to call you and we’ll see which of the two phones ring.’

      ‘But what number are you going to ring me on?’

      ‘The landline number.’

      ‘So it’s the home phone that’s going to ring, then.’

      ‘No, actually,’ answered Charles. ‘If it’s worked, the mobile should ring.’

      George looked at him with a slightly pitying expression.

      ‘I see,’ he replied gently, deciding that it was better to say nothing than to worry everyone now. Still, it was a shame that Charles was losing his marbles. And at such a young age.

      Charles left, feeling gratified that his friend’s knowledge of telecommunications made his own seem fairly extensive. He was back in less than five minutes, only to find George sitting in his chair again.

      ‘And? Which one rang?’

      ‘Oh, neither of them.’

      Charles looked perplexed. ‘You weren’t asleep, were you?’

      ‘Not a bit of it! I was wide awake and there was no ringing. But which number did you ring?’

      ‘05 49 57 68 34.’

      ‘Well, there you go,’ said George. ‘That’s the landline. What was all that stuff you were doing on it? Now it’s not working. Thanks a lot!’

      ‘But I don’t understand,’ said Charles, sounding annoyed. ‘It’s the mobile that should have rung. Now I’ll have to get back on the phone to France Telecom …’

      ‘But Charles,’ said George kindly, ‘of course the mobile didn’t ring, you called the landline. And anyway, the mobile wouldn’t ring even if you did call it: it’s switched off.’

      ‘It’s switched off! Well that explains it! Where is it?’

      George handed him a brand-new phone inside a spotless plastic cover. It had clearly never been used.

      ‘I’m going to take it with me. I’ll be back in a bit,’ said Charles, who was already halfway to the garage.

      George СКАЧАТЬ