By Cécile,Lyon,France
The sun was blazing,surprising for Brittany,but it was not hot because of the fresh ceaseless breeze while they were pedalling on the small road along the pink coastline.On their bicycle,they felt like superman and superwoman,it was like riding a motorbike and pretending to be on a bicycle!
Teresa was teaching in a technical college and she had the superpower of empathy,it wasn't hard,at school,she was giving very good marks whenever a pupil was in dire straits!
Seabrook was from the Cotswolds,he had chucked it all in ten years before,after a series of ordeals.He had left his job and sold his house and came to France.He had picked Valence because he wanted to eat at Anne Sophie Pic,the three-starred chef.
Teresa and Seabrook met in Lyon and now they were inseparable,like lovebirds.
The view was heavenly, the air was perfect and they were lighthearted on their bicycle exhilarated by the beauty around them.But at the end of the road,there was no more signs and they didn't know where to head to ...right or left?
As any other day,Jack Sorrow appeared out of his house,by the road,to collect his mail.
"Good morning,Sir!" " Do you know how to get to Port Blanc?"
They had a little talk about the beautiful landscapes in the area,about Brttany,about life in Brittany and people from Brittany.
Jack Sorrow was from Paris suburb,he was 68 and he was a big and tall man.
"Why don't you come in and have a drink?"
..."But don't leave your bicycle outside,you'd better take them in,there are no thieves in Brittany but one never knows...
They go through a passage in the garagewhere two huge motorbikestake pride of place,and then through a maze of doors and rooms into the house."Don't look at the state of the house,it's too big a house for a single person!" They finally arrive in a verandah.They ramble on about life in Brittany.Seabrook is dreaming of coming and living in Brittany,so every time they can,they visit little pieces.Jack Sorrohas w is a very lonely man .He came and settled in Plougrescant five years ago after his sixteen year old daughter killed herself in a motorbike crash and his wife who couldn't stand it any longer committed suicide."One can't live with ghosts,so I packed it all and came here.But it's hard,all alone,one feels the terrible weight of loneliness through the long dreary grey winters.My dream is to go and live in Ireland,in Connemara,...Oh Connemara....Oh Ireland,Ireland is what Brittany used to be before all these houses sprang up everywhere!"
Then Jack starts talking about his passion for archery.He practises in his garden,it saves him from going to clubs! "And I have a rifle too!"
Teresa enjoys crime thrillers and all of a sudden,Teresa has a glimpse of the danger,the two of them,in an unknown place at a stranger's house,at the mercy of a lunatic.But it is too late. "We have thrown ourselves in the lion's mouth.He's going to kidnap us and God knows what will happen to us, what he will do to us!
"We'd better make a move!"
"Don't you want to see the garden?"
They go out and find themselves in a magnificent vegetable garden, next to their bicycles.
Jack disappears and come back with one bottle of cider,a jar of sardines and other products from my garden"
Teresa is all confused and bewilderedby the man's predicament.She must do something and help him.It's time she quits her job again and go on a special mission!
She leaves for Connamera.
Zoe is 57 years old.She takes care of stray animals.She has been living in Connamera all her life and she is alone ,ever since her fiancé was lost at sea , disappeared during a fishing trip and never came back.They had known each other since they were children. She lives at her parents' house, at the far end of the road,at the end of the world...