At this stage, Josh was willing to hear just about anything. He wanted out. No more rainy days spent looking at an engine without a clue. No more hurrying south with no time to explore the countryside, the small villages, the picturesque valleys. Damn! What had he really gotten away from by coming here? He was still driving all the time, the car was crappy enough to break down suddenly, he was out of money and he had to drag along a colleague whose last preoccupations consisted entirely of finding something to drink.

‘Drink all you like, buddy,’ thought Josh, ‘but if this lady really has something to offer, I might be better off following her for a while.’

He had time to cool down reasonably while they were going back to the pub. Julien had promised to give a fair price for the repairs, not that they could possibly afford them unless Andy had a secret stash. Would he help out or drink it all?

Ms. Giraud had insisted on discussing the offer back at the pub where she had left her friends. She went straight to an empty table and tapped the table lightly, inviting him to sit down.

When he did, she started talking. “I might be intruding, but I’m guessing your situation is quickly worsening. You ain’t simply on a vacation, are you?” She stared at him.

Josh had a cold sweat, then he pushed away the idea that she might be related to the guys they left. That would make no sense: she was just a nosey old woman with a hobby of talking to strangers. Still, he wasn’t about to tell her everything. He didn’t have to.

“You’re right,” he said. “We’re not just visiting. Andy and me, we knew each other from our job over there, in England. We sort of grew tired of our lives and made a fresh start. This is the fresh start.” Talk about fresh. That was depressing. “All we currently have is the van, some of our savings… We were planning on going towards Spain and finding some low-pay job to enjoy the start of the season. Not even talking about that, I have no idea how we’re going to get the van running again.”

Ms. Giraud stayed silent for a while. “That’s a nasty situation you’re in,” she finally said, “but it might actually work out for both of us.” Josh raised a brow, puzzled.

“As you can see, I’m getting quite old,” she said proudly, “going on eighty! I’m still able to manage quite well by myself, but some activities are getting harder to deal with. Driving, carrying shopping bags, even cleaning high places is though on me now. I have neither the strength nor the accuracy of my youth, I’m afraid.” She looked at Josh to see if he saw where she was getting at.

“I’d like to offer you a job, Joshua, as a hired help, just while you’re stuck here. My last helper went back to her studies at the beginning of the month, so here’s the deal: you help me make my everyday easier, I help you repair the van. How does that sound?”

Josh had to think about it. Mostly, he was perplexed. “I’m sorry but I don’t really get it,” he said. “You don’t know me, and I’ve never done this kind of job before in my life. Where is this coming from? As much as I appreciate it, why would you help me this much?”

The old lady shrugged. “As I said, I wouldn’t be helping you for free. And while I certainly don’t know you very much, I know enough to trust you with this proposal. You see what I mean.”

Josh’s befuddled expression said otherwise. Ms. Giraud sighed.

“It’s a gut feeling!” she said, making hand gestures. “Don’t you trust your gut? Don’t you ever let go and feel things? What’s with this generation?” She was dumbfounded.

“I know,” she said slower so he could understand, “I know that you’re decent and that you’re not gonna cross me. Isn’t this all I need to know? If you want a fresh start in life, it might be time to loosen up a little.”

Josh was caught by surprise. He wasn’t expecting that kind of spunk from a woman her age. She had just completely broken the nice granny he had built for her. In the end, that’s probably what decided him to say yes: knowing she wasn’t hiding her game.

While they were settling, she talked around and found a farmer her age who was willing to rent a small house he had renovated for his old days, but never used due to his health. Mr. Lefèvre and Ms. Giraud settled the thing with a small cash deposit, and that was all the proof they needed. Josh felt like they were in the middle of an underground network of countryside elders. Is that what they meant when they talked about never really getting away from illegality?

In the weeks that came after, Josh found out he liked his new job very much. When he thought about it, there was a spring in his step in the morning. He was wrong about having never done this job before. He had always been used as a handyman, now he was simply used to help an old lady instead of giving crime a hand. Not such a bad deal.

He also found out how much worse Andy could get. The bloke hadn’t really reacted to the temporary solution so much as settled into it. He wasn’t letting the drinking up either. Nowadays, the only thing he seemed to be doing was some shopping. He was always able to walk a few miles when his alcohol supply was running low.

Now Josh was looking at the broken van. In an attempt to learn from Julien, he was opening, unplugging, screwing things up and down without ever knowing if he was making things better or worse.

‘Julien said we could throw almost all of these parts away’, thought Josh. Sure enough, there was rust and grime everywhere, and more than a few holes if you looked well enough. Still, he could not let himself give up that way. Which brought him back to Andy.

What had Ms. Giraud said this afternoon? ‘Sometimes, you have to save yourself.’ Well, we’d see about that. Josh hadn’t given up yet. It was time to shake up the old man.