But where have the clock hands gone?

“The coming and going of the trains has fallen silent. It’s been a long time since a traveller looked up at my hands, so …. What is the point of keeping them?

Why and for whom should I continue to tell the time?

No, no… time has stopped here and my hands are only the memory of a time lost forever. I might as well forget them too.

Today, visitors have replaced travellers and instead of running after time, they come to lose the notion of it by wandering from one sculpture to another.

No, no… it is better to leave them in this bubble outside of time and not to disturb them. The incessant ticking of life’s clocks will catch up with them soon enough.

Extract from a conversation between Loedi and one of the clocks in the Musée d’Orsay.

But where is Loedi ?

A shepherd’s hut made of dry stones with a wool blanket as a door… a small wood stove where Choco and Loedi warm up and prepare their meal, a duvet on the ground… and that’s all.

This morning, the sun’s rays have remained hidden behind a sea of clouds. The wind blows and the hills are soon wrapped in a white cottony blanket.

Then the first snowflakes fall. Timidly at first, they soon give way to a real snowstorm.

Loedi goes outside and welcomes the wind, the snow, the storm. She receives all this energy, this wild force that carries with it all the past wounds and imbues her with a new strength.

Invigorated, her soul soothed and comforted, Loedi feels again in every part of her being how beautiful life is…

Dialogue of the deaf between Loedi and Victor Hugo

On a sunny Sunday in January, Loedi sits in the garden of the Rodin Museum facing the imposing statue of Victor Hugo.
Suddenly, the statue starts talking…
“What are you doing, Loedi?
– I’m trying to draw you Mr Hugo.
– It’s not a very good likeness.
– But I told them I don’t know how to draw sculptures…
– Couldn’t you choose another model? Why me if you’re going to draw me badly?
– That is to say… the steps in front of you allow me to sit and settle down comfortably…
– What a cheeky girl! I thought it was to honour me, out of admiration for my person and my work!
– Sorry…. Yes, of course! Don’t get angry Mr Hugo, my drawing is not so bad after all, look!
– Um… what is this coloured background you have put behind us?
– Those are the decorations for the Dior fashion show that took place in the museum garden: large embroideries made by Indian artists featuring Shiva and …
– Shiva? I don’t know… but I like the colours. Why didn’t you put colours on me?
– Because you’re all marble, Mr. Hugo… white marble.
– I want colours.
– On the drawing? But…
– Of course not…. I want colours there for real! Paint me! I’m tired of being in white! Take your colours and get to work right away!
– But… I can’t… it’s forbidden!
– Forbidden? Forbid me, the great and famous Victor Hugo? What an affront! I demand colours right away!
– But ….
– Colours! Stop answering and get to work!
– …
– Loedi? Where are you going? Come back right now! Loedi? Loedi!!! I want colours! Come back! Loedi!!!”

The sign board

-What are you painting Loedi?
-Our own sign board !
-Wow… so cool ! Do you think they’ll let us hang it in the museum with all the other signs in Paris?
-I don’t think so, but anyway… it doesn’t belong in a museum, at least not for the moment.
-Where then?
-At the entrance of our own workshop of course!
-Our workshop? But we don’t have one Loedi !
-Well… this sign board is the first step in the construction of our own workshop and soon it will be hung there!
-Wow… so cool ! I can’t wait…
-Me too Choco… me too…

The mummified cats of the Louvre

Choco and Loedi wanted to visit the Louvre together, but like all museums, it is forbidden to dogs. So they decided to go there at night, without anyone knowing:

“How big the Louvre is… we’ve been walking around for hours and I think we’re lost Loedi.

-Yes, Choco, unless… look at this sign: we’re entering the department of Egyptian antiquities! Egyptology is fascinating! Did you know that… something moved, right?

-Yes, and apparently it’s getting closer…. Let’s get out of here Loedi…

-Oh! Those are cat mummies! Look at them, Choco! That’s amazing!

-Oh no not the cats! Let’s go back Loedi!

-Wait Choco, I think they’re trying to tell us something…

-No no Loedi… let’s go! I’m getting chills… Look at their shadows…. They are not attached to the mummies…

-That would be… the ghosts of the mummified cats?!

For a breathless moment, fright invaded Loedi and Choco who ran away at full speed. Their screams were only matched by their fear and they resounded all the way to the courtyard of the Louvre!

A street lamp in the night

The moon barely lit up the cold winter night and the wind gusts were icy.

Loedi trudged through the sleeping city, and only the sound of his footsteps on the cobblestones disturbed the silence of the night.

In the darkness, his childish fear of the monsters that might be hiding there resurfaced.

Loedi shivered and quickened her pace.

“City of light…. where are you?”

Paris answered her indirectly with one of its majestic street lamps, which she placed in her path.

Loedi immediately climbed up and slipped into the glass interior.

There, sheltered from the wind, she was able to light a candle whose glowing flame instantly dispelled all darkness.

The lamp post, thus illuminated, reminded Loedi that it would be her protector until dawn, but above all that it was forever the proud guarantor of the City of Light.