Chapter 22: Pink Memories
On Monday, the fifth of October, straight after school, Fleur ran into her own house just long enough to drop off her school bag. Then, she dashed straight over to see the furry friends at the House of the Winds.
"Mistral, Sirocco! Are you ready?"
Mistral, who was waiting for her, perched on the living room windowsill, cleared his throat a little. Putting on his usual aloof, posh act, he spoke to Aeolus, the mouse, who was completely absorbed in reading a huge encyclopedia.
"Just look at our little Topknot, Aeolus! I made one silly declaration of love in my life—forced by circumstances, mind you—and now she simply won't leave me alone."
Aeolus pushed Anemo's protective shield-glasses out of the way, stood up on his two back legs on top of the encyclopedia, and greeted the little girl properly.
"Hey, Topknot! What's the rush? What are we supposed to be ready for?"
"What do you mean, for what?" the little girl said, feeling quite offended.
"Ah, our young lady must be talking about Anemo's birthday," Mistral pretended to be completely uninterested. "We know all about it!" He raised his voice so that little Sirocco, who was chasing a stray fly in the dining room and could be easily seen through the wide-open door, could hear him too. "Isn't that right, Sirocco? Anemo's birthday isn't exactly a national holiday. I don't know why everyone is making such a fuss."
"Miss Remi, Remi-Bise, has her birthday today as well!" Sirocco shouted from the other room. "Isn't that right, Fleur? I—I mean, we—could hardly wait for you to come home from school, Topknot."
"Maybe you couldn't!" Mistral made sure to add, keeping up his uncaring attitude.
Fleur smiled mischievously because she already knew the cats inside out. She cleared her throat, sounding like a serious lawyer before a big speech.
"Come and get your biscuits then, and I'll go and do my homework. My mum will be so pleased that I'm not wasting time with those cats..."
"Wait, wait a minute, Topknot!" the black cat changed his tone instantly. "Of course, I don't mind chatting with Anemo... and with Remi. Actually, I am a little bit curious about those mystical-whatever experiences with that three-thousand-year-old cat, Mehyt. Come on, do the honours!"
"Are you sure, Mistral? I have lots of homework for tomorrow, you know. We could easily postpone the call until Friday, or even Saturday."
"Fleur, please don't take to heart what this Parisian-born-in-Dublin says! He's all posh talk and no trousers!" Aeolus turned around, scanning the whole room, and fixed his eyes on the glass coffee table. "Let's prop Remi's phone against a vase or this encyclopedia. Right here, right on this little table!"
Fleur carefully placed the phone on the table, adjusted the camera angle, and started the FaceTime call to Cairo.
On the other side of the world, in the Zamalek apartment, Anemo answered the call straight away. He made himself comfortable on the sofa in front of the small phone screen, with Remi-Bise curled up right next to him.
"Happy Birthday to you both!" the whole House of the Winds shouted in chorus.
"Oh no," Anemo exclaimed with mock horror. "This reminds me of how competitive our birthdays used to be back in primary school. Our mums, who were best friends, always organised a massive pink party, and I used to be absolutely furious!"
"Really?" Fleur was already imagining a smaller, sillier version of Anemo dressed in pink clothes, blowing out pink candles on a giant pink cake next to a little girl with a topknot just like hers—Remi as a child.
"Mr Anemo, that is very interesting. Do you have any photos from back then? Maybe they are around here somewhere... or I could ask Mrs Aura for them."
Listening to their conversation, Remi forgot all about her exhaustion and the worry of being trapped in a cat's body. She climbed onto Anemo's lap to get a better look at Fleur's face.
"You should know, Fleur, that he looked very nice in pink. Every time after our joint birthday, he wouldn't speak to me for at least a week. I think that's where his weird habit of putting pink salt in his coffee comes from... but he'll never admit it if you ask him."
They were all laughing and having a brilliant time on both sides of the call when the front door of the House of the Winds swung wide open. In walked Professor Simoon, carrying a briefcase absolutely bursting with... stacks of paperwork about Egypt.
"Happy Birthday, my dear kids!" Professor Simoon beamed, setting his bags down. "How has life been since I left you?"
Comentarii
Trimiteți un comentariu