Je'mappelle Eponine

Mother and Father

A lot of people at school don't like me because I have a funny name. But I think it's special; so does Father.

I like it when he tells me about why I have this name. He tells me all about a big battle that he was the leader of, and it's because of this battle that him and Mother had to move to England before they could have me. He mentions someone who has my brother's name but he never mentions anyone with mine.

Mother and Father are from France but they can speak English nearly as well as I can. I can't speak French properly yet but I'd like to learn to speak it as well as Mother and Father do one day. When Father speaks French it sounds so beautiful. I don't know what he's saying when he mumbles to himself at night, but I think he talks about me because he says my name a lot.

Father gets sad if I ask him too many questions about the battle he led. Mother told me that I should stop asking him about it until I am much older and I can understand why Father doesn't like to talk about it. She told me that Father lost a lot of friends in the battle and they had to leave France because Father was wanted for leading the battle.

I know that Mother and Father were rich when they lived in France. We are not rich in England. But I know that we aren't poor either. Father has a good job and Mother stays at home to look after me and my little brother. Sometimes we don't have enough food because Father gives it to the poor who live on the streets. He tells me that we must give because we are promised food tomorrow but they aren't.

Father told me that he went to school in France but Mother didn't because her Papa wanted her to help the poor. You can tell that Father went to school because he is so much smarter than Mother and he teaches me a lot of things.

Father owns a bakery here in London and he has promised to teach me how to bake when I am old enough. I want to learn how to bake so I can run the bakery when I grow up and Father is no longer able to work. The bakery has the same name as me even though it opened a long time before I was born.

All of the products in the bakery have French names, so I don't know what any of it is yet because I've only had one French lesson with Father.

Mother says that it will take Father a long time to teach me French because the language holds a lot of memories for him. I agree with Mother that French makes Father sad because Father has only managed to teach me one thing so far and every time I say it he tries not to cry.

I've stopped saying it to him now. Instead I practice with the girl who sits on my bedroom floor. She doesn't say anything and she has never even looked at me, only the floor. I don't think anyone else can see her apart from me. Nobody ever mentions her or has even noticed that she's there apart from me.

I used to talk to her a lot when I was little but she never answered me so I stopped. I didn't think she could hear me until Father told me I needed to work on my French accent and the way I pronounce things.

I looked at the girl on the floor. She was in the same place she had always been. I looked into the place where her eyes would sit if she was to look at me and I uttered the one phrase I knew in her direction.

"Je M'appelle Eponine"

She looked up.