Arthur is far from the shore.
If he kept going he would end up in England.
He imagines it happening.
He wades onto the cold English sand.
English people are walking there with their shoes on.
Crunch crunch.
He turns and swims back towards France.
Midway, he passes a flat crimson fronted parrot.
He resolves to remember this thing.
On the shore, Belle is waiting.
Arthur! I asked you to stay on the road!
I left clues, says Arthur.
We found the clues, says Belle. I guess this is your bike wheel, and your phone?
And my apples, says Arthur.
They look sour, says Belle.
Out there, says Arthur, I passed a flat crimson fronted parrot.
He thinks Belle will be surprised.
She isn't.
They gather the wheel and the phone and the apples, and walk up to the road.
You found him! says Jeanne Jugan.
Guess what? says Terence.
What? says Arthur.
I split open the frogs, says Terence.
So much for my mission, says Arthur.
They're not dead, says Saint Méen. They've been patched together with plasters.
Okay, says Arthur. Give them to me and I'll get going.
No you won't, says Belle. We'll all ride back to Saint Malo together. It will be lovely.
We didn't think this through, says Arthur. Why didn't I stay in Saint Malo?
You'd have got bored, says Belle.
It's true, Arthur would have. Instead...
Guess what? says Arthur to Terence.
What? says Terence.
I saw a flat crimson fronted parrot, says Arthur. When I was swimming.
Holy-moly! says Terence. Was it with a carrot?
No, says Arthur.
Terence wails.
This means that Roo-kai was right. The carrot's box has decomposed.
Never mind Terence, says Belle. It was only a carrot. It's becoming one with the universe.
Terence imagines the carrot expanding.
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