Besançon: Pépère's Former Residence

David and Edith had been absent a few weeks from Pépère's house which they were occupying temporarily. Ernest and Nicole wanted to go there to see if everything was well and to aerate the house.

"Pépère" is one of the names the French call their grandfather whereas "Mémère" is for the grandmother.

Pépère had worked as a conductor on train when he was young. After his early retirement, he was not completely detached from the railway, as his house was just next to it.

I used to follow Ernest and Nicole there. In the both kitchen and dining room, there were often family members of Toitot or Chèvre having lunch with Pépère who was living alone.

I missed the tarts that Pépère used to bake especially on Wednesdays: cheese tart for starter, and apple tart for dessert. Thinking of them could still make my mouth water! Even though he was an excellent baker, he still bought other small cheese tarts from a bakery shop nearby so that there was always someone to pass by the house for the delivery.

Pépère was no longer there, but we all felt very much his presence in the house which he had built all by himself.

"I was kept prisoner by the Nazi's army during the Second World War. The Germans divided the captives into groups and made me the leader of my group. We had to work hard for them but were only given some soup cooked with very few potatoes in a big pot. That's all the food we had for six months. Despite our starvation and exhaustion, we had to remain strong. When one of my group members fell, the army would just shoot at him. I managed to survive but my stomach had been spoilt since then. That's why I can't eat much food now..."

I understood why Pépère had always stayed slim. He would hardly digest a piece of roasted meat.

"When I first came back from the war, the little Mémère was waiting for me with the children at the railway station. She was so beautiful, like Mary. We had nothing for the living. So I had to start working hard for the family while building this house little by little. Life was miserable then..."

Nicole, her younger sister Danielle and elder brother Claude had spent their childhood in the house. They knew about Pépère's story by heart. Others just learnt it through Pépère's repeating narration. Sometimes when I was chatting alone with him, he would stare at me with his deep and gentle look.

"I can't talk with the youngsters nowadays. They're too happy and lucky. But you're far from your family. You know what is the suffering."

I would simply put my hand on his and smile at him.

Pépère used to grow his own vegetables and fruits. Now his garden was filled with weeds and flowers.

And fruits trees were also in blossom.

David and Edith tried to persuade Ernest and Nicole to leave their house in Neuves-Granges and stay in Pépère's house which Nicole had inherited. The intention was good as the children would like their parents to be in Besançon again, so as to save the trouble of travelling often half an hour to the city and to economize on the heating cost in their big house, especially in winter. But the decision would be too hard to make, since the elders were so used to their peaceful life in the countryside.

Ernest even fancied to convert the store room into an apartment in order to spend winters with Nicole.

"If your plan came true," I told Ernest, "I would set a tent and camp outside your apartment when I visit you again in future!"