By a thread we hang ….

This morning my husband, only 6’4″, sat innocently in a cafe in Royan (France) having a coffee with some friends after an AFA committee meeting.  Six or seven retired folks (admittedly some of them were French, but they still count) having a quiet moment before returning to their various homes and DIY jobs … or before setting off on the golf course, as the case may be.

They sat directly by the big window overlooking the sea. Between them a street, just an ordinary French street.  Nothing of note.  They exchanged a few anecdotes, agreed with each other, perhaps spoke a moment or two about computers and engines and other boy-stuff, and then rose to leave.  They stepped a matter of two or three paces from where they had been sitting, in order to better shrug themselves in to their overcoats – when WHAM!  A great sound of … something huge. An explosion.   Very loud.  Stunned, they looked around.  What have I done ?  What did I do ?  It wasn’t me!  Surely I already paid for the coffee …?

And there, before them , like some daft joke that had gone horribly wrong, sat a car.  As they do.  Cars do sometimes go in to cafe-bars in France, they were all sure of it.

Quick as a flash, greased-lightening, Superman-in-action, my husband drew his gun. Well, his camera.  Same difference in this day and age. A few quick shots (pun utterly intentional) and he had caught the scene, to include the offending car which was making its getaway round the corner of, ironically, a place called the Saloon.  One young drunken driver (hey, it is barely eleven in the morning!), lost control, rammed a car off the pavement and in to the cafe … well, they do, don’t they ?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist.  She is widely travelled and writes regularly for magazines and blog sites.  Her sketches are on her web site http://turquoisemoon.co.uk .  Her books are available from Amazon and on Kindle, or can be ordered from several leading book stores.

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Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist.  Her books are available as e-books on this site:-

https://payhip.com/b/tEva            “A Call from France”

https://payhip.com/b/OTiQ          “French Sand”

https://payhip.com/b/BLkF         ”The Man with Green Fingers”

https://payhip.com/b/1Ghq        “Saying Nothing”

They are also available on Amazon & Kindle, or can be ordered as paperbacks from most leading book stores and libraries.