28. IN THE MORNING ELLE PUT A MAGNETIC PHONE CARD

In the morning Elle put a magnetic phone card in the sliding slot of the phone hanging on the bathroom wall and called several plantations growing kiwi fruit, citrus or macademia nuts, all sorts of nurseries and even organic farms. She ended up pulling out citrus saplings, cleaning their thorns off with a sharp knife before planting them again in wider rows in some fresh ground.

On the third day she was in the kitchen dipping her scratched hands in a pot of boiling salted water when Kenji, the keen Japanese young man, asked her if this was the way French people usually healed themselves.

- “Yes, most certainly,” Elle answered without wavering.

They concluded that Japan and France had definitely things in common. Some time previously the young Japanese had seen Elle cover the checked pages of an exercise book with Chinese symbols. She was up to page 12 of her Teach Yourself Chinese book and was making serious efforts at writing long lines of the same symbol.

Kenji read above her shoulders and whistled with admiration.