4. ONE DAY I WAS IN A ROW OF APPLETREES

- "One day I was in a row of appletrees on my own, a little entreprising bird came and was telling me lots of things. It never stopped cheeping and trying to perch on my bag. I was startled. Had never seen such a bird trying to get in touch with someone! Him arrived walking and stretched out his hand. The little bird started talking to him too. It was fabulous, Liyan. It as a 'fantail', he explained, a small bird of New Zealand not scared at all.

Many days later I was again on my own in a row of peartrees this time. I am not the fastest picker, you see, the others finish their rows before I do and they go and pick elsewhere. A young fantail, the same one I believe, was following me from the tree to the bin and up and down the peartree. Him arrived. He stopped his tractor, sat there on it and we got talking. The little bird flew off after a while."

She stopped talking, stared at the wall a long moment reliving this past quarter hour of bliss.

- "Is he handsome?" asked the flute.

Pushing her chair and putting Liyan against the wall, Elle glanced at the flute and went on:

- "He is indeed. I would so much love to love him."

- "But you love him already!" the flute said.

- "I would love to merge my body with his body..."

- "Us, when we love," the flute went on, "we merge our voices together. I was madly in love with an oboe once. It was divine when we merged our voices."

Liyan remained silent.

- "You know," said Elle to the flute, "his tractor has a forklift in front and at the back. The bins of apples have a hollow space underneath so that you can lift them. When he came to get my bin, he drove backward and slid his forklift under my bin. I was watching him do that. I had the feeling he was penetrating me... when he turned around, he had blushed... blast! he had the same thought... I lowered my eyes, I didn't know what to do with myself..."

- "My oboe's name was Remi. The vibrations of his notes used to drive me crazy and when we vibrated together, it was..."

The flute could not find the word. Something in nature creates a great harmony between two beings. She could not explain it.