Part 3: The French part of the short story for the project “TogEUther”

As we arrived in Ailicis, I started doubting if it was the best place for us. There were plenty of various creatures of different colours. It was early in the morning and we wanted to find some water, so we walked and walked until I saw a little lake. I ran to it to drink some water and to get some food.

Suddenly, there came a bear from behind a small bush, he approached slowly and offered us some fish to eat. I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t a trap but we were so hungry that we accepted. After introducing himself, the bear offered my family to invite us home. Though we hesitated a little because we did not want to disturb, we finally accepted. On the way, each of us was astonished by what we saw. Flowers were blossoming. Trees were gleaming with the sunrays. Animals and insects were teeming with activity. Yet none of them really paid attention to us.

Once we eventually reached the house of our host, the bear showed us around and then asked us to have a sit in the living room. In the middle of room, there was a dusty brown sofa and in front of it a round table with three green armchairs. The bear took position in one of the armchairs in front of us. After a slightly awkward moment of silence when none of us knew how to start the discussion, he told us that he wanted to speak about something in particular. He had had this ‘something’ in mind for a long time but wasn’t sure how to mention it to us in the first place. Well, apparently, this ‘something’ had to do with an institution called ‘loohcs’. We were rather surprised because it was the first time for us that we ever heard about such a thing. I was really curious so, seeing that the bear was not ready to continue his story and after waiting for a while, I decided to ask him what ‘loohcs’ was. The bear who had been kind of dozing off a little bit, woke up and continued. He explained that ‘loohcs’ was a place where children went when they wanted to learn. I was dumbstruck. So many questions were popping up in my head. What did he mean by learn? Learn what? Why only children? For sure, adults needed to learn things too from time to time. This concept of ‘loohcs’ was to say the least pretty odd.

 My parents did not seem to be bothered at all. They sat sill and did not move a muscle. I was the only one to be in such a state of amazement. And it was just the beginning. Noticing my change of behaviour, the bear continued with what would be an even stranger concept for me. This concept he referred to was friendship. Not quite understanding by what he meant by friendship, he told me that at loohcs I would be able to have friends. According to the bear, friends were people I get on with, people I wanted to spend time with but also people I also had arguments with. On these words, he stood up from his armchair and walked to the fireplace to put some wood and light a fire. The air was cold and the warmth of the fire soothed my body and spirit. Yet after listening quietly to all this, I was in a great state of turmoil.

I could hardly believe that there could be any shred of truth in what the bear had just said. So I turned and asked my parents and the bear if there was any chance for us to visit such a place. I was now eager to see if this « loohcs » did exist. And if it did, would it live up to my expectations? My parents were somehow fearful and agreed reluctantly. I think that they were still under the impression that I was too young for such a bold move. Nonetheless, my mother gently kissed my forehead and made me understand that if our host, the bear, did not mind to take us to loohcs, they would accept. The bear nodded and led us out of his home. We climbed up on Rhinfly.  After flying for almost half an hour, we reached an enormous building surrounded by heavy metal gates. The bear got off Rhinfly and urged us to follow him. He showed us into the loohcs …