ISSN : 2266-6060

Holy Trip


She has been literate for only 8 years, she enjoys reading at the point of sometimes refrain from entering a bookseller ‘not to interfere with her schoolwork’, she devours books the same way she eats Nutella or potato chips, she loves to read just as she loves to post on Facebook.
That day, before returning to Paris, her father took them to visit the abbey. They were returning from Mont-Saint-Michel, it was quite natural: a trip has to be consistent. This time they had escaped landing beaches and the Caen Memorial, religious heritage was the theme… old stones, illuminations and cheeses. From the Scriptorium of Avranches to the abbey-church of Ardenne’s Abbey, there was only one stroke. They had walked. But there was a hitch. Entering the church, she immediately saw that there was something amiss. Their father took them for ninnies! The altar had vanished, so had crucifixes, the air no longer smelt incense, it was hot. Instead of benches and statuary, there were books, hundreds of books, probably thousands . When they went down to the crypt, they did not find the remains of a saint but boxes filled with archives.
Once resurfaced, she realized that they had not entered into a new world, that her taste for books was not the same she had for Chili con Carne, that by reading she takes part of history: that of writing, that of libraries. She still have to read Roger Chartier.