Frankie in Paris by Shauna McGuiness Read Free Book Online Page B

Thank you so
much!”
    “You’re welcome, dear.”  
    Lulu seemed so much shorter without her
heels.   I could look right down into her
nest of poufy white-blonde hair.
    From where we were standing, the pointy top of
Notre Dame was in view.   We were so
close!   I knew we were somewhere near the
Latin Quarter, too, but I was too tired to
look for it.   I think Lulu was getting
tired, also.   She stopped in front of a
bakery.
    “Why don’t we get a baguette for dinner?”
    My stomach growled.   I had hoped for a baguette with my dinner.   With my chateaubriand , for instance.
    “Can’t we go to one of those cafés and get a
sandwich or some soup, or something?”   The
scents that blended in with the rest of the activity around us practically made
me drool.
    “No.”
    “Why not?   I am starving and—"
    “I don’t want to spend any money on dinner
tonight.   We should save our money so we
can eat somewhere really nice tomorrow.   Bread will be fine.”
    Should I have pulled out the money that Rich
gave to me?   Starving to death in a
foreign country constituted an emergency, right?   I decided that spending my stash within my
first two hours of our arrival would not be such a great idea.   I would eat like a prisoner tonight so that
we could eat something wonderful in the near future.
    Paying for our long baguette with francs,   I was insanely excited to be using foreign
money.  
    The whole place smelled delicious.   Fat, rolled, fresh croissants behind a glass
counter and little decadent desserts lined the white papered shelf.   I reached into the glass-fronted refrigerator
near the cash register to see if they had any diet soda.
    “We’re not buying any drinks here,” a voice
piped behind me.
    “We’re not?”
    “No, we can have water at the hotel.”
    My first night in Paris, France,
and I was having bread and water for dinner.   Bon appétit .
    Carrying our meal under my arm as we walked, I
noted that it was half as tall as Lulu.   Maybe she didn’t require much food because she was so tiny.   I was considerably taller at 5’7’’ and seemed
to need to eat more often than she.  
    I took a jagged deep breath, and we walked back
to the hotel.
    The Land of Wine and Romance—and I am stuck with my
grandmother.
    I was ready for bed.
    ***
    An overdubbed episode of Baywatch was on the TV. The male voice they were using in place of
David Hasselhoff’s just didn’t sound right, making my skin crawl.
    Lulu ripped off a hunk of bread and handed the
paper wrapped loaf across the gap between our beds.   I tore off a piece and took a bite.   Crumbs fell on my chest, like massive
dandruff, so I took larger bites, trying not to make a mess where I would be
sleeping.   
    Reaching   into her purse, she produced a plastic bottle of water.    After taking a sip, she handed it to
me.   It had pink lipstick around the
mouth of it.   I wiped it off with my
fingers and drank my half, still able to taste the lipstickiness.  
    When I finished eating, I got out my toiletries
bag and my pajamas and headed to the bathroom.  
    “You’re not getting ready for bed, are you?”
    “I’m tired, Lulu.”   My inner French girl said, “ Je suis fatiguée .”   I sounded beat, even to myself.
    “It’s still light outside.”   Indeed it was.   An orange feather of light reached down
between the two buildings into our room.   I didn’t care.  
    Tepid water fell over my shoulders in the tiny
bathroom, doing nothing to cool me off.   I crawled into my bed, deciding to call Rich tomorrow.   I already missed him.
    “Good night,” Lulu said.
    “ Bonne
nuit ,” I yawned and closed my eyes.

4
Loose on the Town

 
    When I opened my eyes again, I noticed a little
coffee with cream water stain in a Rorschach pattern above my bed.   It looked like it was in the shape of a teddy
bear.   No, not a bear:   a cat.   Two pointy ears floated above a wide oval bump
of paint.
    The TV was on, and