Читать книгу Hector and the Secrets of Love - Francois Lelord - Страница 19

HECTOR wasn’t very keen on the idea of going to explore a temple recently cleared of landmines in a region that wasn’t safe, but since the professor had visited the temple before he disappeared, he told himself that in the end it was part of his mission to go there looking for clues.

He was thinking about all this in the shade of the trees around the pool while sipping an occasional cocktail from the menu in order not to think about Clara for too long. He wasn’t sure now whether to choose the Singapore Sling or the B52. The cocktails and the sight of the pretty waitress who brought them took his mind off things. And he said to himself that if Clara left him he wouldn’t really care very much if he got blown up by a landmine. Or else he would go and live in a little house on stilts at the edge of the jungle with the pretty waitress and they would have beautiful children who would sing by the fireside in the evenings. Finally, he settled for the B52.

‘I hear you’d like to go to the temple at Benteasaryaramay tomorrow?’

Hector lowered his sunglasses. A rather stocky man running slightly to fat was looking at him, smiling.

He was also wearing a shirt with button-down pockets and long military-looking shorts. In fact, his whole appearance was a bit military, but he said his name was Jean-Marcel and he was a tourist, and what luck because he also wanted to visit the temple recently cleared of landmines.

Hector invited him to sit down and have a drink, and they agreed to hire a car with a driver for their little excursion. Afterwards, they had dinner beside the pool and Jean-Marcel told Hector he was married, and had gone to a neighbouring country on a business trip. He had decided to stop off here on his way back and take another look at the famous temples, all of which he had seen before, except for the one recently cleared of mines, which was apparently very interesting.

As often happens when you are abroad, you talk more easily with your fellow countrymen, and as Hector and Jean-Marcel liked each other, they told each other a bit about their lives. Of course, Hector said he was sightseeing and didn’t mention his mission. And all he said about Clara was that she couldn’t come with him because of her work, which was true, but not the whole truth. Jean-Marcel was married with two children – a boy and a girl who were already quite grown-up – but Hector sensed he wasn’t telling the whole truth either, and he wondered whether Jean-Marcel’s wife was really awaiting his return or whether she was fed up with waiting for him, because in fact he spent his whole life travelling on business.

Because you have to get up very early if you want to go sightseeing in hot countries, they soon said good-night to each other.

*

The next day, Hector and Jean-Marcel had difficulty finding a driver as no one would go near the temple. In the end, they found a man who kept laughing all the time, and Hector wondered whether he was quite right in the head. But maybe it was the custom of the country, in which case the driver was normal. But when he saw that all the other drivers were laughing as they watched them drive off he began to get worried.