A Summer in Paris Read Online Free PDF Page B

very much sunlight. It consisted of four compact rooms: a living room, a kitchen, and two tiny bedrooms, one for her and one for the Cartiers.
    “Uh, where is the bathroom?” Jennifer asked nervously, looking around for a doorway she had somehow missed. “Ou est la toilette?”
    “Right down the hall,” Madame Cartier informed her in French, smiling. “Not far at all.”
    I simply have to get out of here, Jennifer decided then and there. I’m going to have to go home, that’s all. There’s absolutely no reason in the world to get upset about this. The very first chance I get, I’ll call my parents, collect. I’ll go out to a pay phone, where the Cartiers can’t hear me— even though it appears that they don’t speak a word of English. Once I explain the situation to Mom and Dad, I’m sure they’ll let me come home.
    For the moment, however, Jennifer was left to make the best of things.
    “You must be tired,” Henri Cartier said in a kind voice after proudly showing her around the apartment. “Would you like to rest?”
    “Yes, thank you. That’s an excellent idea.”
    Jennifer was only too happy to retreat to her small bedroom. It overlooked a courtyard. In it, someone had planted a small garden. It was flourishing, with colorful flowers blooming and hearty vegetables pushing their way out of the ground. Obviously it was the project of someone quite dedicated to making things grow.
    But Jennifer wasn’t thinking about gardens as she lay down on the creaky cot, certain that she would never be able to sleep. Not now, when the thing she had been so dreading was finally coming to pass—and it was turning out even worse than she had ever expected. She was miserable, hardly able to believe she had gotten herself into this unbearable situation. But she was exhausted from her trip, and before long she sank into a deep sleep.
    When she opened her eyes once again, it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. And when she did, that same sick feeling returned. She sat up abruptly, noticing that the sun had shifted radically while she had been asleep. Jennifer knew then that she had been asleep for a long time.
    She looked around the room, noting that for some reason things looked different. Someone had tried to make it look more homey.
    A quick look around told her that, while she had been asleep, someone had come in and unpacked her suitcases. All her clothes were hanging in the closet or folded neatly inside the drawers of the empty dresser next to her bed. There was a pitcher of water and a glass on the dresser. Next to them was a jar filled with a bouquet of fragrant fresh flowers, probably from the small garden out back.
    Blinking hard, partly in confusion, partly from having just woken up, Jennifer wandered out of the bedroom and into the living room. She found Madame Cartier sitting in a sagging stuffed chair, reading.
    “Ah, you are awake,” she said in French, rising to her feet. “Did you have a good rest?”
    “Yes, very good.” Jennifer felt silly speaking in French, but she realized that she had no choice. “What time is it?”
    “It is just past three.”
    “Three! I practically slept the whole day away!”
    Madame Cartier chuckled. “It is very tiring, flying halfway across the world. Come into the kitchen. I have made you something to eat. You must be very hungry by now.”
    Jennifer was hungry, but she was a bit fearful about what strange foods might be set before her. She remembered the time her parents had taken her to a fancy French restaurant in New York. It was supposed to be in celebration of her birthday, but in truth she would have preferred going to a place where she could get a nice, plain steak.
    As it turned out, she ate little more besides rolls. The dishes she and her parents ordered were so unappealing to her that she couldn’t bring herself even to try them.
    So she was not exactly looking forward to the lunch that Rose Cartier had prepared for her. And when the