The Long Summer of Monsieur Loiseau

"I don't know if you're paying attention." Harry leaned closer to Alex, pretending to be looking at the lawn outside the window, "The captain has been talking about naval battles for an hour, and if he mentions the word 'destroyer' again, I will I'm going to throw wine in his face."

The wedding will take place tomorrow morning in the chapel, and the guests are arriving today, cars rolling over the gravel road and stopping right in between the manicured bushes in the front yard.A small cocktail party was arranged in the sun room, the clutter was removed and replaced by two long tables covered with white linen, neatly arranged assorted thumb-sized desserts, nuts wrapped in syrup, side dishes Ham with olives and diced pickled herring.A thin layer of water droplets condensed on the outside of the wide-necked glass jug containing fruit wine, and the waiter who was invited temporarily shuttled through the crowd with champagne and small biscuits, and exchanged the empty glasses in the hands of the guests with cold and fresh wine.Georges and Baron Loiseau are two retrograde suns surrounded by a circle of planets of different colors.George was surrounded by air force officers in dark blue uniforms, and the baron was talking eagerly to middle-aged men with potbellies.Harry and Alex hid by the floor-to-ceiling windows far away from the revolution orbit, stared at the ex-naval officer who talked for a while, and looked away in order not to look suspicious.

"Lieutenant Colonel, not Captain." Alex put the empty glass on the long table and took a new one. "He has nothing else to talk about. It's 'shooting the U-boat' and 'saving the overboard'." Pilots' these two stories. But the version I heard is that the first time the Lieutenant Colonel went to sea, the ship was hit by a torpedo, he escaped quickly, climbed into a life raft, and floated at sea for a night Picked up by a hospital ship the next day, never to go to sea again, sat in some musty office at Dover headquarters for two years, but keen to go around bragging about sinking a Nazi destroyer, if you don't pay attention, you will be caught He persuaded. Did you see the Admiral? Square-jawed, a head taller than everyone else, holding a teacup, the one who hasn't had a drop of wine."

"I saw it."

"That's Digby's father. He and the lieutenant colonel despise each other and never talk. We have always wondered why Digby doesn't look like his father. Barry said that this family is like an eagle and a lynx giving birth to a baby rhino."

Harry laughed over the wine in his glass, coughed and covered it up.

"Since we mentioned Barry." Alex searched the planets near the Baron Loiseau, "the one standing on Dad's right - gray tie, wearing glasses, that's the Honorable Ambassador, I hope he hasn't noticed yet His son lent us the car."

"Is his beard real? It looks like a stage prop."

"Maybe it's his pass into the Israeli embassy."

Both of them laughed under their breath.Alex took a small pastry of pickled herring from the long table, took a bite, frowned, showed a toothache, complained that the fish tasted of salted chalk, and wondered why Martha insisted on making it stuff.He drank the rest of the champagne in the glass in one gulp, and touched Harry's elbow, drawing his attention to a stocky man who was scooping cider from a glass jug. "Mr. Brummer is here too."

"I never heard you mention this man."

"Papa's solicitor, handling his estate, trust funds, and will. Would like to handle divorce if possible, but Papa and Mama never got there." Put it on the tray, took a few small biscuits embedded with granulated sugar and almond flakes, and distributed some to Harry, "Mr. Brummer always remembers my name wrongly. It's not unreasonable to call me Adrian, The youngest son has nothing to do with it, and no one bothers to remember Loiseau who came last. I'm glad it's Georges who needs to deal with Mr Brummer in the future."

"But the most interesting one is Loiseau at the bottom."

"Thank you for your clumsy flattery, Mr. Prudence."

A burst of laughter came, briefly attracting everyone's attention.The RAF officers shared some inside joke, and even George had a rare smile.The door to the conservatory opened, and Lyra walked in quietly.The baron's daughter had similar green eyes and jawline to Alex's, blond hair cropped close, and a walk that reminded Harry of an antelope in the grass.She came first and kissed her brother on the cheek, whispered a few words to him, then walked up to George, whispered to him, and George nodded, and the smile disappeared from his face.

A woman in a bright yellow dress walked into the sunroom, and all conversations were briefly interrupted. It took half a minute for people to look away, pick up the previous topic, and pretend nothing happened.The woman went straight to Baron Loiseau, the earrings with small metal pendants swayed with her steps, and the two nodded stiffly at each other, keeping a distance from each other without saying a word.Then the woman in the dress walked away, smiled at Lyra, touched her cheek, then hugged George and handed him a wooden box tied with a ribbon.Lyra said something to her, and the woman looked around at the sunroom crowd as if looking for someone.

But Alex was gone, disappearing into the greenhouse without a sound.Harry stood there hesitating for a while, put down his glass, followed, and closed the door softly.

The greenhouse is hot and humid, and the smell of mud and the sweet and greasy aroma of orchids are mixed together, covering people's faces like wet handkerchiefs.Alex was nowhere to be seen, and Harry, walking between the drooping tendrils and glossy green leaves, lost his way.In the center of the greenhouse is a large wooden table, scattered with palm-sized potted ferns and tulip bulbs, a pair of muddy gloves and a garden tool set, a watering can not long ago, stained with shiny drops of water.

The west-slanting sunset pierced through the large piece of glass, revealing a translucent, blood-red gold.Harry was sweating, the collar was pinching his neck, and he had loosened the tie a little, but not quite.He called Alex, but there was no answer, the sticky air clogging his throat, swallowing his voice like a sponge.There seemed to be a movement in the corner where the cocoa saplings were planted. Harry walked towards it, accidentally kicked over two clay flower pots, and bent down hastily to put them back in place.

"I saw it."

Harry looked up, and Alex smiled at him, stepped out from behind the shelf of tropical orchids, and gestured: "Here, Harry, this glass case is hot as an oven."

Alex opened the small door leading to the garden, and the cool air rushed in. It was a dry and sunny afternoon.Harry followed him across the lawn, past the fountain.The fountain looked like it had been renovated, the cracks in the marble had been mended, and the gray-black stains on the stone from the sun and the sun had been washed, not with much success, but at least Harry could tell the fins from the scales now.Water gushed from between the tiny fangs of the fish's mouth, and fell into the clear pool, where several fish lived, hiding in the shadow of the statue, opening and closing their mouths.When Alex put his hand in the water, the small fish scattered.Harry sat on the edge of the pool, looking at the rose stand full of pink flowers not far away. A faded sign hung in the most conspicuous place, saying "Blakely Rose", and below it was a line of smaller words: "1949 Cornwall Horticultural Championships".

"That's your mother, isn't it?" Harry broke the silence.

Alex shrugged and sat on the grass with his back against the marble sink, absently wiping the water off his hands with his frock coat.

"At least say hello."

Alex looked up at Harry. "You talk like Lyra."

"And you talk like a little boy throwing a tantrum."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Isn't it?"

"You can't push the question back, Harry, it's cheating." The breeze blew fine droplets of water over, Alex rested his head on the sink, eyes half closed, "The last time I saw my mother was in , I can't even remember when it happened, six years ago, seven years ago, and it wasn't here, it was at school. Around the Easter break, she came and spent an afternoon with me and brought me a box of chocolates .Don't you think it's weird that people always bring sweets when they try to trick their kids, as if it's going to trick them. I don't like chocolate at all, and I'm not a kid anymore. Since she doesn't want to see me, I There's no need to see her either."

Harry didn't answer, unable to find the right words.Alex seemed to be suddenly interested in the weeds by the pool, he picked one up and studied its leaves and roots carefully.There was silence in the garden, no birds could be heard, and even the wind stopped briefly, leaving only the sound of the fountain.Harry slid onto the grass and sat down with Alex.

"I remember you telling me she was in a nursing home, with tuberculosis or something."

"I was just repeating what George said. Maybe I always knew it wasn't true, I never asked, didn't want to confirm. Mom and Dad separated early, I was too young to remember this farce, George and Laila must remember it clearly, but she never said it, and neither did Martha." Alex threw the weeds in his hand vigorously, but the light plant could not fly very far, and it fell slowly on his trouser legs, "Nobody told me anything."

Harry was about to say something when he changed his mind.A figure in the familiar blue-and-white striped apron looks out from the porch—Martha is looking for the missing little M. Loiseau and his accomplices.The two exchanged glances, ignored their shirts and coats, and lay down on the grass to avoid the housekeeper's sight.

The hedge was not far away, and the crack was still there, but it was too small for them now.Harry and Alex crawled to the side of the bushes on hands and feet and squeezed through with difficulty. The thorny branch made a gash on the back of Harry's hand. Alex's coat button was caught by the branch, and Harry I hurriedly helped him untie it, and a new small wound was cut on my finger by the sharp thorn.The two of them raced quickly around the sandy field beside the stables and into the dense woods, hiding breathlessly in the shadows of branches, vines, and ferns.

In less than 3 minutes, Martha walked around the hedge, took a look at the empty sandy field, walked into the stable, came out again after a while, scanned the surrounding woods, patted the dust on the skirt, and went around again. The hedge, gone.

Harry and Alex looked at each other and laughed, still not daring to make too much noise for fear that Martha would not go far.The two were huddled under a fig tree, gnarled climbing plants covering their heads like a misshapen umbrella.

"I don't even know what I'm afraid of." Harry peered through the vines to make sure Martha was gone, "I'm twenty-two and she scares me like a seven-year-old. "

"Martha has this power over everyone." Alex glanced down at the coat, where a four-inch rip had been scratched next to the second button. "Damn it."

Harry took a look at the cut on the back of his hand. It wasn't serious, but he had dripped blood onto his shirt, a bit of dark red standing out against the starched white.

"Sorry." Alex whispered.

"What's there to apologize for? It's nothing."

There was a small leaf in Alex's hair that must have been brushed off the hedge, and Harry reached out to brush it off unconsciously.The other party gently held his wrist, turned his head, and kissed his palm.Harry gasped, as if scalded, but didn't pull his hand back.For a frozen few seconds, or half a century, they looked at each other, neither of them speaking, waiting.Fragments of sunlight filtered by the foliage fell on them, and Alex's dark green eyes reflected the veins of the canopy.A skylark sang from the grass and broke the silence.Alex let go of Harry's wrist and gripped his collar instead, leaning forward and kissing him on the lips.Harry raised his hand, as if wanting to touch Alex's cheek, but changed his mind halfway, and landed on his shoulder, pushing Alex away gently.The other party looked at him in surprise, with a hurt look like being betrayed.

"Alex." Harry said, but he didn't know how to continue. He apologized vaguely, stood up, left the bushes, walked across the grass lit by the blood-red sun, and walked towards the mansion.

tbc.