5. An Escape

The Brockmans stepped off the boat and wandered into the town. Karen and Ben had been complaining about feeling hungry, so the family found it best to find a small cafe where they could get some crepes and perhaps a coffee or two. However, this being the Brockmans, it was not going to go as well as they thought. About five minutes into the leisurely walk around town, Pete accidentally knocked over this woman and began to apologise in stilted and inaccurate French. He'd somehow managed to convince the woman that he was sorry for the actions of his parakeet. The woman looked at him as if he were crazy, but gave it no more thought. She'd concluded that they were just some insane British people who were trying too hard to mix in to their surroundings.

The family eventually found a cafe and Ben ordered a large, chocolate sauce crepe as did Karen, both once again seemingly forgetting that they'd been sick less than 24 hours previously. Jake was taking on the role of 'mature and responsible' thirteen year old and had so ordered a lemon & sugar crepe and large coffee. He would later convince his parents that it helped him to deal with his siblings' hyperactive behaviour. Needless to say, the highly sugared chocolate sauce was beginning to take its toll on the two youngest Brockmans. Ben was tearing around the cafe attempting to sing 'Frere Jacques' (incorrectly, to the obvious annoyance of the local children) and Karen had begun to throw sugar cubes at her father, apparently in protest at a slightly and unintentionally sexist remark he'd made after the rude, confused looks he'd gotten from the woman he'd knocked down.

"KAREN! I've told you so many times to NOT throw things at your father!" Sue said, agitated.

"You said not to throw fruit. Sugar is not fruit" Karen replied, sarcastically.

"Don't be cheeky to your mother, Karen;" snapped Pete, "it's not right to throw anything at anyone... hang on, Sue, where's Ben gone?"

Ben had disappeared; 'another loss of a male offspring in the same day' thought Pete, annoyed and scared.

"Well, dear," Sue chimed in, apparently reading her husband's thoughts, "Jake didn't necessarily disappear; he just negated to tell you what he was doing..."

Pete ignored that attempt at comfort and though it better that they tried to ask around to see if anyone in the cafe had seen Ben leave in the direction of anywhere. Due to the language barrier, they couldn't make the others understand; the majority pointed at Jake as if to say "He's right with you...!"

"Well thank you all for your most helpful input" Pete muttered to himself. He was again aware that he was being pelted by Karen's skilled and direct throwing of sugar cubes.

"KAREN!" Sue yelled, "WHAT DID WE JUST SAY EARLIER?"

"Daddy was being racist about the French people over there," Karen said simply, attempting to defend her actions, "he said that they couldn't understand him because they're French and also he was annoyed"

"He didn't exactly go into that much detail and anyway, he's only annoyed because Ben's gone missing in a foreign country." Sue replied, and then to her husband – "Darling, check the toilet, that's where Jake was earlier, remember."

"They're very nice people too" Karen emphasised. Sue gave her a look, clearly saying "shut up now."

"No luck!" Pete panicked as he returned. "Let's pay up and get out of here then look for him. He can't have gone far..." he finished, knowing full well that he could be about to be proved completely wrong.

Once outside, Sue looked at the map they'd been given as they left the boat, "Right, then, these two streets in front of us meet up again in about a mile. We'll split and each pair will take a fork. Jake come with me and Karen go with daddy."

"What if he's racist again?" Karen chirped "I don't want to be embarrassed"

"What daddy said was not racist, dear. Just go with him. It'll be OK" replied Sue, getting agitated

"But..."

"Karen..."

"Alright then" Karen sighed.

They looked inside each and every shop and down the alleyways, but when they'd met up about half an hour later, they learned that none of them had yet had any luck. Pete and Sue were beginning to panic more and more and by now Jake and Karen were becoming growingly concerned. It was a couple of minutes later that Jake had a thought.

"Why don't we check out the castle?" he said, gesturing at the building a couple of miles away, "Ben's got into medieval history recently and if he thinks the castle is from that era then he may have gone on. You said we'd be going there anyway..."

It was the best idea any of them had had, so off they went. When they arrived, Sue took out a picture of Ben and attempted to ask if anyone had seen him. A couple in their mid 60s thought they'd seen someone a bit like Ben – at least that's what Sue thought they'd meant using their limited English skills – but they couldn't remember where it had been that they'd seen him. Just as the parents were beginning to shout for Ben he appeared from behind one of the castle's internal walls, holding a large stick in one hand and a sizeable rock in the other, declaring himself as General Brockman of the 1650s.

"BEN!" yelled Pete, relieved "where have you been?"

"Well, you and mum were shouting at Karen and I looked outside and saw the castle," he lied. The castle was not in sight from the cafe. Pete explained this to Ben and the boy sighed, "oh alright then. I was bored so I went exploring. Is that a crime?"

"Well, technically no, but..." Pete started.

"It's not illegal, no," Sue finished, "but you did give us all a terrible fright. Why didn't you say anything? We've looked all over for you"

"Well, I thought you'd take a long time with Karen, so I just went ahead and came to the castle. It's very old and cool. Anyway, I thought you said we were coming here, so I assumed you'd realise that I was here, just that I'd be there before you..." he replied calmly, not exhibiting any of the panic that the rest had been experiencing. "Anyway, can we find a place for dinner soon, I'm hungry."

"We'll eat on the boat. It'll be too late to find anywhere now where we'd finish before 8." Sue replied "Let's just look around here a bit and then head back to the boat". They did just that and got a late coffee and croissant and were back on the boat by six as they were aware that they probably couldn't go back to La Rochelle and that cafe with all that had happened.