We walk into what looks like a
buffet. The line is long; the first thing we see is dessert. My parents get some and ask me why I don't. I tell them I'll get it after everything else. We go through the line and I get
mashed potatoes and chicken. I see
ham. I want to get it but my mom tells me I don't need it. Ok. I want to get the dessert now. My mom starts yelling at me, gets very upset and leaves. I follow her. This is totally not fair. The women at the train station look at us. Maybe if I tell them what's wrong they’ll understand my side of the story. I tell them and my mom, in a tearful voice, says that we would be invited into nicer restaurants if it weren’t for me. We are, after all, in
France. And I seem to be a mashed potato person. I get mad and walk down the long wooden corridor to find my grandma. She's standing near the window, looking outside. I spend some time with her and ask her where my dad is. She doesn't seem worried. I walk back down the corridor. The women and my mom aren't there anymore. I go down the long spiraling stairs. They are made of fine wood and they are polished nicely. I see my dad. He's not worried. We go back up the stairs to my grandma and end up on the first floor.
I think we're
home, but it's more like a small rented condo. It's drizzling outside. Where's mom? She can't be outside; she wouldn't go out in the rain. She's a very reasonable person. My dad tells me to check outside anyway. I step into the backyard through the glass doors, look left, then right. I don't see her. I go around the building not expecting to find her. There she is, on the front porch talking to a friend of hers. She smiles at me. She's not mad anymore, I guess. Such a relief. I go back in to tell dad and grandma I found mom. Then I go back out because I'm worried about her being out in the rain. The
rain is getting worse. She's farther from the house, walking out onto a path leading into a grassy expanse. She's with her friend and uncle
Simon. I ask her to come back home, the lightning worries me. She's holding a
shovel. I guess that they're going to go dig raspberry bushes. My uncle holds a camera in front of one eye, he looks like a
Borg. He lifts a shovel and points it at the sky, demonstrating that he isn't afraid of the
lightning. Please, I ask my mom, come back. It's dangerous. No, she tells me. If she doesn't do this now we'll die from the cold, she says. Very reluctantly I stop
begging, I ask her to point the shovel down and hold the top metal part of the handle with one hand so lightning doesn't strike it. She agrees. Then I have an idea. I ask if I can go with her. She agrees! I ask to go into the house to put on something warm. She agrees again. I come in and it's raining so badly and the wind is so massive. The house is beginning to get flooded. I take off my wet clothes and a river of rainwater runs through the room. My clothes fall into the water. I am
naked. I go to the dresser and get out a shirt. I put it on and when I zip it, my stomach begins to hurt.
I woke up gasping for
air.