LITMIR.BIZ

      THAT’S WHEN I UNDERSTOOD

      ‘This is great! How do you rewind?’

      ‘Let me do it, you’re gonna break my video camera!’

      ‘Let me do it . . . You’re gonna break my video camera . . .’

      ‘I’m not in the mood to mess around.’

      ‘Not in the mood to mess around . . .Whatever! Take your video camera.’

      Alex is like his dad, he always gets annoyed for no good reason. I don’t hold it against him. It can’t be easy to live with a single parent. When he was little, Alex used to say his mum was coming back. Now he never talks about it. It’s a subject you avoid around friends who don’t have a mum. It’s not always easy, because among themselves kids talk about their parents a lot. The hardest time is Mother’s Day. Then I avoid Alex. I wouldn’t know what to say to him. He’s easy to avoid then because he doesn’t go outside. And no one knows whether he’s heard from his mother because no one asks him.

      ‘Why didn’t you zoom? You can’t see how the point got big – like that!’

      I looked at the gap between his thumb and forefinger. Five centimetres! Only Alex would try and make you believe such a thing. At times like this, there’s no point picking a quarrel with him. No matter how hard you try to show him he’s wrong, he’ll find an explanation for why he’s right. It makes things really hard at school, especially with the teachers. The other reason for not picking a fight with Alex is that he is a full head taller than me, even if I’m only one year younger. He knows he can smash my face in, no sweat – I agree with him there. It’s so obvious who’s strong and who’s weak, you can’t do anything but stay friends. Alex gets in a fight at least once a week, on principle.

      ‘Keeps you fit and it’s good for your reputation!’

      I have to confess I like Alex’s reputation. Since everyone at school knows I’m his best friend, no one bugs me. With him arguments are always reduced to basics.

      ‘First you hit, then you think!’

      But while everyone at school has seen him hit, we have yet to see him think. In the school corridors everyone says he’s crazy. And that he’s proud of it. I know him, though, and he’s not crazy, he’s not proud – that’s just his armour. Kids are cruel to each other. He just has to be even crueller. Death to anyone who teases him because he doesn’t have a mum. Sometimes he gets good grades. Well, he would – when he can, he copies from me.

      It was his idea that I should hide behind a car and film him while he was taking the kitten back to his neighbour. It was our third attempt. He was never satisfied with the result.

      ‘Why didn’t you zoom in on her tits?’

      Two days earlier he had told me the angle was wrong. Four days earlier the neighbour came out fully clothed. The hard part was figuring out when she’d be in her bathrobe. She doesn’t lead a normal life. She never gets up at the same time, and you never see what time she comes home. Summer’s cool because she stays in her bathrobe for ages and she often goes to sunbathe on her balcony out at the back. Even my dad knows about it. I’ve seen him looking at her.

      Alex gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder.

      ‘I can’t wait until tomorrow.’

      He raised his chin. Just thinking about it made him happy. We looked down the street. The old guy who lives next door to us went out with his little dog. He lives with another guy who looks just like him, with very short white hair and a very long moustache.

      ‘My dad doesn’t like those guys.’

      ‘Does he know them?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Then why doesn’t he like them?’

      ‘Just doesn’t.’

      ‘They’re brothers.’

      ‘How do you know?’

      ‘That’s what my dad told me.’

      ‘Has he ever arrested them?’

      ‘My dad hasn’t arrested anyone in a long time . . .’

      Alex didn’t look at me. That’s the advantage of a kid with no mum. He doesn’t want anyone asking him questions so he doesn’t ask any either. The old guy disappeared around the corner. It was beginning to get dark.

      ‘Hey, show me again!’

      I rewound. We saw Julie open the door. It was incredible how you could see her breast when she bent down. Alex was especially interested in her nipples.

      ‘Why didn’t you zoom?’

      If I didn’t zoom it was because I liked seeing the whole breast better.

      ‘What are you two still doing out?’

      Even Alex jumped when he saw my dad standing in front of us. I never knew I could switch my new video camera off so fast.

      ‘What sort of nice things have you been filming?’

      We didn’t move. Alex turned to look at me, and I nodded. We must just keep quiet. After a while my dad understood he wasn’t going to see anything. He turned towards our apartment.

      ‘Is Mum home yet?’

      ‘No, Dad, I haven’t seen her.’

      He looked around, worried. He rubbed his chin. You could tell he was wondering where she was. Then he started walking towards our door. He looked sad.

      ‘Don’t be long, the Christmas tree is waiting . . .’

      ‘Coming, Dad.’

      I got up and turned to Alex.

      ‘See you tomorrow.’

      He looked at my video camera. I could read his lips.

      ‘Don’t forget to bring it tomorrow . . .’

      I winked at him and followed my dad. But I didn’t leave Alex just because my dad was looking sad. Truth is, I love burning the Christmas tree. When I was little I would watch him do it. I had to wait till I was eight before he let me put the branches into the fire. They catch fire quickly, so it’s true that it can be dangerous. It’s really beautiful when the flame suddenly surrounds the dry needles. But the best thing of all is the sound. I never get tired of hearing that sharp crackling. Once the tree has burned and the decorations have been put away in the basement my mum serves the galette des Rois, the Kings’ Cake. She’s the one who started the tradition in our family. She found out about it during a trip to France when she was younger and went there to study. Nowadays she makes the best galettes on earth. I love her almond filling. She puts in extra because she knows I love it. Then there’s the bean. The one who gets it is the king or the queen. When you’re king you get to choose your queen and if you’re queen you choose your king. So every year my mum has been the queen.

      ‘Where’s Mum?’

      ‘Out with friends.’

      ‘Aren’t you going too?’

      ‘No, they’re her friends.’

      ‘What’s she doing?’

      ‘She had some things to take care

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