It was yet another lovely day in the village of Nouvion, but the weather was the last thing on the mind of René Artois. There were only 10 minutes until his café opened for the day and he was busy preparing the tables so they were ready for his customers. Or rather, he was busy telling his wife and waitresses how to organise the place.
"Now, Edith, make sure all the tablecloths are on straight and that there are flowers on each table."
"René," Edith started, "I have helped to run this café since the day it opened. I do know how the tables should be set."
"Ah, but Edith, we do tend to become absent-minded as we grow older." Under his breath he added, "And at your age, your mind is completely absent." He was just about to ask Edith where Yvette had gone when the door to the back room opened and she popped her head out and said,
"René, Edith, you are wanted in the back room."
"Oh, I wonder who that'll be," René said sarcastically. He followed Edith into the back room where, not surprisingly, Michelle was waiting for them. "Hello, Michelle, this is a surprise. Do you know that you're the last person I expected to see?"
Edith and Yvette both looked from René to Michelle with baited breath, awaiting her reply to this remark. She let out a long sigh and said, "Do you know what happened to the last person who was sarcastic to me?"
"No."
"Neither did he. Now shut up," she said, mainly to René who was making some very strange sounds indeed, "And listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. I have devised a new plan to get the British airmen back to England. I will bring them here tonight, and will explain the rest of the plan then. I shall now disappear like a phantom to inform the airmen of this plan." With this, she turned on her heel, pulled opened the curtains and exited through the window.
"That girl," complained René. "If there was an award given to the bossiest person in town, she'd get it without a doubt."
The curtains opened again and Michelle, who hadn't yet left, countered, "And if they gave an award to the most irritating person in town, the judges wouldn't even look at the other nominees. They'd take one look at yours and give the award straight to you!" Clearly now in a bad mood, Michelle flung the curtains shut, slammed the window and hurried away.
