On the bridge

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THE RISING OF THE LOIRE IN TOURS

The riverside residents hardly had the time to leave their homes. They went to the bridge to see for the last time that which the water had taken from their homes. In an indescribable chaos, mixed with uprooted trees, furniture floating helplessly all this stuck under the arches of the bridge. They were heaping up towards their owners and their outstretched arms. Alas the pressure of the water being too strong all these objects finished by going under the bridge. Carried away by the current, they then found their more natural place: chairs around a table, a sink next to a bath, a bottle of rum hidden in a cupboard.
Then the river went back down and quiet came back. Nevertheless no one left the bridge. Everybody wanted to stay and sleep there. Someone was a bed so as he could be slept on. An other placed himself next to him and was the bedside table. A third climbed up and pretended to be the books…
The next day, they all went to see their insurance agent. In their declaration, they spoke about the objects they had lost. They made a list of all they had always dreamed of having, and that they had never had.

N.B. Some pieces of furniture will be on exhibit at The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours since the 20th of September until the 23rd of November 2003.

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