14Perhaps because of the heat, the village was quiet that morning. Molly wandered around aimlessly, hoping to run into anyone she knew, but the streets were practically empty. She went down rue Saterne and saw Madame Luthier’s run-down house, its roof collapsing slightly on one side and a pile of trash beside the door. Then over to rue Baudelaire, where old Madame Gervais lived, but when Molly knocked, there was no answer. The lamp store next door was closed, as it always seemed to be, and Molly spent some moments looking in the window, which was freshly organized and displayed several lamps with silk shades that Molly coveted.
The disagreement with Ben…she let that alone. No point picking at it like a scab; she’d just see if they could smooth things over when they saw each other again. I
