It all started one winter day in Périgueux when I went to pick up my boot from the shoe repairman and my pot that I had left at my friend's house. As usual I was carrying around things that weighed about half as much as I do, so I decided to leave my newly collected items downstairs in the entry way until the next time I ventured down the four flights, of what at times seem to be never-ending, stairs.
The light rarely comes on when I enter the apartment building (a.k.a. old chateau), so I soon forgot about my random items hiding in the dark. The next morning, I popped out of bed, "Oh yeah, I forgot my boot and the pot downstairs, I should go get them."
I then casually walked downstairs to find what appeared to be an empty entrance. "Where on earth could they possibly be? No one would want to steal ONE boot and a pot." I looked in the "secret" cabinet that Madame hides things in while she is in between loads. Madame uses this cabinet because a few years ago, the butcher left a roasted chicken the the entry way for her, but, when she went to get it, it was gone! Someone stole her chicken. If someone is that desperate to steal an elderly woman's chicken, they better be damn well hungry (excuse my French).
But, what could they do with the boot? I went back up to my apartment to search, just in case I brought them up when I was really tired the night before and forgot. Wrong. The pot and the boot were no where in sight!
My friend, Tyler, and I told Madame we would make her a Christmas dinner since we would both be away for the Holidays. So, the afternoon of the missing boot, we made a big meal. She was so cute in her Christmas sweater and bright red lipstick. Madame was undoubtedly proud to have us try the paté and foie gras; it was adorable. As many of you know though, I am not a big meat eater, so, it came down to me putting on a tiny bit of foie gras on a huge slice of bread; oops, that mission was unsuccessful! She said, "Holly, you are only supposed to have a very small piece of bread with a lot of foie gras"- I guess I wasn't as sneaky as I had thought.
I then asked Madame if she had seen my M.I.A. items. She was so confused at first, and I think she thought we were having another language barrier and/or culture clash- I must have sounded a bit "coo-coo." When she initially understood what was going on, she was laughing hysterically, but that quickly turned to rage! There is a thief in the building.
Throughout rest of the afternoon she mentioned the boot about 10 times and was so perplexed. "A boot in a pot, is that right? Someone must have stolen them! This is so strange." You're telling me! Eventually she suggested I ask the creepy neighbor next door to see if he had possibly stumbled across them.
Knock, knock, knock... "Excuse me, I know this is strange, but did you possibly find a pot with a boot in it?" That was a negative.
I then went to search for my boot again in my apartment. When I was about to walk back into Madame's, the neighbor appeared. "I have found your pot." Wait, what on earth?! He told me he didn't find them, and why does he only have my pot?
"My girlfriend took it last night." I was nearly speechless... "Ok, so she has the boot then?"
"No, she can't remember if she found it too, or if it was just the pot." This was getting stranger by the second.
"Let's go ask her about it, and I can look in the apartment." No luck, once again.
In the end, my boot did reappear later that evening. I was walking out of Madame's front door, when I saw my boot rested against her wall. I guess my neighbor's girlfriend realized that there isn't much you can do with one boot.
While the case is now solved, and my boot is back safely in my closet, the reason behind the stealing of the boot and pot will forever remain a mystery at the Chateau of Madame Henniquin.
** The meal was delicious. We had green beans with onions and mushrooms, potato and carrot purée, lamb, baguettes (of course!), raspberry tart, walnut cake, and amazing wine.
After the meal we sang Christmas carols as Madame played along on the piano. It was really special.**
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