[6:3] Good.
[6:4] I hope he’s packed God in the luggage, because he’ll not be happy with the ground.
[6:5] Remarkable, with two on a bicycle it easily picks up speed. Angèle will do her head in.
[6:6] Angèle is my Aunt. She raised me well.

[7:1] Everyone says that she’s worried about me since the day I was born.
And I figure she’s not finished yet.
[7:2] When I went catching crayfish at night she always kicked up a fuss.
[7:3] Poor Angéle
[7:4] I know you came to regret the time the river police visited.
[7:5] But today it’s the militia and the police who’re after me.
[7:6] Ah, there you are Pépère.

[8:1] Yes, you’re lovely Pépère.
[8:2] Yes, yes, you’re lovely, but let me sleep now. I’ve been walking for two days and two nights. We can play tomorrow.
[8:3] Angèle: Julien! How did you get in?
Julien: Through the window.
[8:4] Angèle: Through the window? What an idea!
Julien: I didn’t want to wake you.
[8:5] That’s considerate, but it’s not safe. You could have killed yourself.
Julien: It’s you that’s not safe sleeping with the window open. Anyone could get in.
[8:6] Angèle: I’ve got Pépère as always.
Julien: You don’t say.
[8:7] Julien: If I hadn’t stepped on his tail he’d still be sleeping.
Angèle: You poor thing. It’s true he’s no longer young.
[8:8] Angèle: He’s getting a little grey,like me. I thought you were leaving for Germany yesterday. I’m sure you’ve not had breakfast.

[9:1] Julien: About Germany… I’m not going.
Angèle: How? They’re exempt? Do want coffee? It’s proper coffee you know.
[9:2] No, it’s me that’s exempt.
[9:3] Angèle: Good. And you’re allowed to do that?
Julien: It’s a good problem, that.
[9:4] Angèle: Yes, it’s a fine one. What do you want me to do?
Julien: Hide me at yours. If they catch me they won’t let me jump off the train a second time. They’ll send me direct to the salt mines in Silesia.
[9:5] Angèle: At least no-one saw you.
Julien: Don’t worry about that. Apart from Pépère, but you won’t say anything, will you Pépère?
[9:6] You’ve been so clever. You started by leaving your case outside.

[10:1] Sunday June 27th 1943. Angèle’s getting ready for mass at eleven.
Angèle: I won’t ask you to come along.
Julien: For once I’ve got a good excuse.
[10:2] Angèle: All the same, you could have killed yourself jumping from the train. Have you seen my hat?
Julien: That was probably the moment I lost my papers.
[10:3] So there’s more. You lost your papers.
[10:4] Now you know how serious it is.
[10:5] Ah, there it is.
[10:6] You can’t stay here. It’s too risky.
[10:7] Amgèle: You know the police will start any search here.
Julien: Here, perhaps, but how about with Gérard?
Angèle: Gérad? My cousin Gérad?
Julien: Yes, the farm’s isolated.
[10:8] So you think the police wouldn’t think to forage around at Gérard’s? They’re incompetent, but all the same.. Let me by. I’m already late.

[11:1] Policeman: Your dog won’t be bad, will he? You’re Anègele Fourcadelle?
Angèle: Yes, that’s me. Has something happened?
[11:2] Policeman: I’ve come with bad news. Your nephew…
Angèle: My God, what’s he done now?
[11:3] Ah, the pigs. They’re already here.
[11:4] Policeman: It’s a little delicate. You know he was conscripted to work in Germany.
Angèle: You’re the one who told me, Sir.
[11:5] They’ll certainly want to search the house.
[11:6] I’m sorry Madame Fourcadille, it’s a part of the job that we’d gladly give up. Anyway, here are his papers.
[11:8] What a story. What a story.
[11:9] Julien?

[12:1] Julien, you can come out now. Where is he, that animal?
[12:2] Aha. Is that what you wanted? They’ve already gone.
[12:3] Angèle: They delivered your papers.
Julien: You know, I was sure I’d lost them jumping from the train.
[12:4] My poor Julien, I’ve more bad news for you. You’re no longer of this world.
[12:5] The train that was taking you to Germany was bombed. They recovered your wallet from one of the victims.
[12:6] All the same, poor boy, he never had the chance to use your stolen papers.
[12:7] And you, they said you had a hollow nose. You realise? If you’d stayed on the train… Oh my god! My God!
[12:8] Listen Angèle, don’t think about that any more. And hurry up now, you’ll spoil the mass.

[13:1] Angèle: At mass this morning I thought about things, and I had a word with the priest.
Julien: About hiding me in the cloisters. That’s a good idea.
Angèle: You’re daft.
[13:2] I’ve thought of something better. Why not Thomassin?
[13:3] Angèle: Thomassin? The teacher? You’re completely mad. His house is sealed.
Julien: Exactly. It’s the ideal place. No-one would think to look there.
[13:4] Julien: Shall we check?
Angèle: Now?
[13:5] Julien: Why did they arrest Mr Thomassin? Is he Jewish?
Angèle: No, communist, but I think he’s Jewish as well.
[13:6] Julien: Quick, I’m not ready to be seen.
Angèle: And tell me how you plan to get in.
[13:7] Angèle: Be careful Julien.
Julien: I haven’t done this for a while. Stay there and pass the lamp.

[14:1] Angèle: I’ll never get clean.
Julien: You’re as stubborn as ever.
[14:3] Jesus, Mary and Joseph. There’s already a toothbrush here.
[14:4] Angèle: And look at this bazaar.
Julien: It’s no risk. The blinds are closed. The air’s not fresh in here.
[14:5] Julien: Not bad all the same. I think I’ll be at home here. There’s even an armchair for Pépère.
Angèle: You’re not taking Pépère. Get that idea out of your head.
[14:6] Julien: Angèle, come and look. There’s even an attic. Frankly, I’ll never find anything better.
Angèle: You worry me Julien.

[15:1] So, I spent my first night in my new quarters, at the home of my old teacher, but not in his bedroom. The bed wasn’t ready, and I didn’t dare.
[15:2] I took a blanket from the cupboard like a thief, and I slept on a mattress. Then, adopting this place, half bedroom, half attic, I installed myself, discretely on tiptoe.
[15:3] The old iron bedstead had character. While half asleep I thought I was hearing creaking from the other end of the village.
[15:4] Ah, there you are. You stood guard all night? With soldiers like you I can’t understand how we lost the war.
[15:5] Now give me your helmet, Maginot!

[16:1] My hideout was strategically placed. Through the shutters I could watch a side of the village square with the café, the linden trees, Bouyssoux’s garage and the little fountain.
[16:2] The other window looked down into the valley, the road to Cambouian just as it branched off to Toirac, and in the distance Gréalou Plateau with the bluish shadow of the Auvergne mountains.
[16:3] In the middle of the room there was a unique source of light, a little skylight through which the sun shone. For reading it didn’t reach Pépère’s armchair.
[16:4] This gap was filled without delay, but not without a struggle.
[16:5] I understand my dear Maginot why no-one came to yours to do any housework.
[16:6] Let’s have a look.’Tonkin’s Travels’, ‘A Comparison of Milking Anatomy’ What? Karl Marx, ‘Das Kapital’, ‘Son of the People’, Maurice Thorez. No vhance I’ll ever look at them again Monsieur Thomassin.

[17:1] Thomassin! What a bloke! He’s kept all his pupils’ exercise books, sorted into yearly classes.
[17:2] Part of the village’s childhood sleeps in his sideboard.
[17:3] Even better! The class of 1933-1934.
[17:4] I can allocate a name and memory to each face without any problems.
[17:5] Hervé Marty isn’t around anymore, poor bastard.
[17:6] He waited patiently for twenty years to see the sea. He succeeded. At Dunkirque. Serge Cadrieux! The beret, the snotty attitude…
[17:7] Now a small cog of the militia. And in the first row, Cécile. My Cécile.
[17:8] There was a time when all the guys in the village beat each other away to repair her bicycle. There was one year, the feast of St John…
The first kiss from Cécile, under the linden trees. On the radio Pierre Laval wished for victory against Germany, and I, more modestly, to conquer Cécile’s heart.

[18:1] The days standing behind the shutters or flopping on the bed, reliving the pearls of wisdom from my little schoolfriends…
“In the middle ages peasants were named serfs because the gentry had the right to hunt them down.” He was already good, that Serge.
[18:2] Today the pearls are blossoming at the Linden Café. I took the opportunity to observe the author from the window. He’d not changed.
[18:3] Serge: The rabbit hunt finished just at new orders – the same for partridges – Now we don’t have the right to hunt Jews any more.
Fernand: Come on now, the Jews are paying again.
Militiaman: Oh no, it’s Serge’s turn.
Julien: Everything’s the same for Serge. And for me the life of a convalescent who’s not allowed to leave the bedroom.
[18:4] Until when? That’s the question. Until the end of the war, no doubt. And then that depends on victory. Don’t think about the future. Take refuge in the past. Return to the school books. I found an arithmetical problem that most of the class failed. Let’s see who got close.
[18:5] A train leaves Lyon at 13.52, crosses Paris at 16.38. Knowing that the train’s speed is less than 25 kilometres per hour… Pay attention, please.
[18:6] Okay, it’s not that difficult. Help me out Maginot.
[18:7] Then it irritated me.
[18:8] I’m getting on my nerves.

[19:1] Today there’s finally a good reason to be behind my shutters. There’s a funeral. And it’s mine. Look at the hearse. It seems funny, all the same, that whoever’s replaced me in the coffin – poor sod – continuing the idea…
[19:2] He stole my wallet, and now he’s stolen my place in the cemetery.
[19:3] Poor Angèle, what a performance! She’s no need of comforting, but I’m sure she’ll find the right tone.
[19:4] Be strong Angèle. He’s looking down on us from where he is.
[19:5] Fernand. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen him without his apron, and with a hat! The world will never be the same.
[19:6] But behind Mr Deplace there, it’s Cécile. Oh no, it’s the Bouyssoux girl.

[20:1] My goodness, Basile.
[20:2] He’s come despite his bad leg. He liked me! It’s not bad that I’m talking in the past tense as if it was him that’s dead.
[20:3] Mr Bouyssoux’s got a new car again. The black market must provide plenty of grease for his garage.
[20:4] And to the side, that’s certainly Serge. I suppose through him the new Europe’s come to pay me my last respects.
[20:5] It seems that he’s particularly zealous about his new mission of purification. With his well ironed militia uniform he could well arrive at the cemetery before me.
[20:6] Nevertheless, he’s polite like that. He’s well capable of kissing Angèle. Winner! What an idiot.

[21:1} I’m certain that Cécile will be late again.
[21:2] And voila, the entire procession goes into the church. Except Basile, anyway.
[21:3] Ah, no. He worries me. It’s not the kind of event where one can consider God good.
[21:4] What’s with Cécile? She’ll be going directly to the cemetery, no doubt about that.
[21:5] She won’t have wanted to take part in the mass. Frankly, I understand. To listen to everything the priest says…

[22:1] That’s it. I’m leaving the church. That was a quick send-off.
[22:2] I know that they didn’t mean any disrespect in the last act.
[22:3] That would be tragic, huh, Maginot.
[22:4] And still no Cécile.
[22:5] She’s upset none the less, it’s good, the pain. I don’t believe it they’re already through the cemetery gates in single file.
[22:6] See them returning.
[22:7] Ah Bouyssoux has stopped beside Basile. Hr’s well received. Ho, ho! It seems they’re arguing.

[23:1] Bouyssoux: Get in. Don’t be a fathead.
Basile: Edouard, you’re annoying me. I repeat: I prefer to walk.,
[23:2] Sege: Don’t beg Edouard. Mr Basile’s afraid to soil his arse in a collaborator’s car.
Bailse: Too right, my dear.
[23:3] I’ve already said the militia have dirty hands, but I’m not sure if they have clean arses.
[23:4] Yes, they’re arguing.
[23:6] Poor Basil. He’ll be the last to Cambeyrac, and I’m sure it’s not me he’s thinking of at the moment, but his son who died in Zarzgossa.