183. Evening walk

My husband is away and when Baby suggests we go and walk the dog even though it's past 9 o'clock I agree. Gale force wind and artic temperatures are not really inviting but I've had a bad day and I am feeling down so I agree. 

We head down our street where all is quiet (no burning bins to report) and we turn right. As we are about to walk past the pharmacy and the boulangerie (where my husband gets the greasy croissants when the going gets tough with the teenagers) Baby suddenly stops chatting to me and at the same time something makes me turn my head. I don't know what and I don't know why but I do and what I see comes as a bit of a shock. Without any engine noise, a car has come to a stop, level with us. Noiselessly, as in a perfectly rehearsed choreography, two men simultaneously get out of the car, driver and passenger side, and walk to the pavement where they come face to face with a man who was - up to this point - nonchalantly walking up the street. All of a sudden he is faced with two (well-built) men and therefore comes to a stop.

Not a word, not a noise. Or maybe there was noise and words exchanged but I did not hear any because I could not stop staring at the man closest to me. That man had his right hand poised on a gun. 

I try to turn my attention back to Baby and the dog but still can't get my eyes off the gun. Then I look at the man. He is wearing normal trousers and an ordinary top. No uniform. 

I need to stop staring. We need to get out of here. Our dog is already tugging at his leash wondering why we are lingering. So we quicken our pace but Baby keeps looking over her shoulder and keeps talking. 

'They're searching him. ... Now they've created a mini traffic jam ... he's got his hands up ...'

Until we reach the footbridge and she cannot see anymore so we get the analysis of the situation.

'It must have been an under cover police car. And under cover policemen ... Just a grey car so people don't know it's the police. ... But this was so weird, this car made no noise. I guess it's so you get the surprise effect  I did not hear the men speak ... It was like a movie scene. But it's not a movie. ...'

We're over the footbridge now and walking on the grassy bank.

'You know, that man ... they were searching him ... he was smoking a cigarette ... But an old one, not a new one. Did they pick him at random? Weird how they just stopped ... just like a film!' 

Baby has a very good sense of observation. I often told her when she was a small kid that she would make an excellent spy or police woman. But rather than discuss careers right now (I've had enough with my son's forms to fill in) I think there might be an excellent opportunity to show off my great parenting skills and to discuss drugs. And so, right there and then, I embark on explaining how to tell a joint from a regular cigarette, on the negative effects of smoking some and I rack my brains to draw up a bilingual list of synonyms for cannabis: dope, weed, pot, grass, marijuana, beuh, ... (readers please feel free to add in the comments below). I am very pleased with myself and make a mental note to grab that book on parenting later to check the chapter on drugs and maybe add some notes in the margin. 

Baby is interested and, to my shock and horror, not completely ignorant when it comes to all this which in turn could trigger a guilty feeling of not having talked to her about this earlier. But Baby being number 4 in the family, I only get a faint twinge of guilt. I am innerly debating whether to move on to hard drugs but Baby has run off with the dog, all the way down along the ruins of the medieval abbey. Enough great parenting for one day. 

We are walking across the gravel square, the one with the statue in the middle (I am happy Baby does not ask who that guy is) when I see ahead of me another noiseless grey car - all bashed up on the side - drive down the street. I think it is an other grey car but then tell myself I am being stupid. There are lots of grey cars, I can't tell a Renault from a Peugeot anyway, and the police using an under cover car is sensible but using a bashed up car is pushing it a bit far. I still try to recall if the other car was bashed up on its side too and want to share this with Baby. 

'Mum, look! Again! Same car! They're going to stop that guy!'

There is indeed a man walking down the street, smoking.

'Oh no! They're stopping! ...'

The bashed-up-on-the-side grey car has come to a stop, therefore blocking the one-way street again and two men have got out, carrying guns, and made their way together towards the passer-by. No engine noise, no screams, no words. This is like take 2 of the same scene.

We pull back and hide behind the bushes for a few minutes to take a good look then we walk past them. Once round the corner, at the level where the recently refurnished hotel is, Baby leans against a wall to check back on the scene. 

'They are searching him! ... He's got his hands up. It's like a film! They're doing it again! Look. It's them! Same car. Same guys! They've got guns too.'

I decide that this is a bit much and that it is time to go home. We reach our house without having to go through take 3 of the same scene. Maybe tomorrow?