Memoirs of Les Amis de l'ABC

Chapter Two: Casual Conversations of the Café

Grantaire sat at a tiny, round, wooden table all alone in a slight chair. The only person in the Café was Muschietta who was clearing the bar from the misadventures of the evening before. Grantaire's head was slumped over on the table, and the chance of him waking by himself was growing quite slim.

At that moment, a little boy with a mop of blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes came into the room with mayhem on his brain. Muschietta caught sight of him and smiled as Gavroche put a finger to his lips. Muschietta repeated the gesture and dropped the towel she was using to clean the wine-ridden counter to watch how the scene would play out before her.

Gavroche snuck past Grantaire's table towards Muschietta at the counter and gestured for the water bucket that she was using as a slop bucket to clear the counter. Muschietta quickly obliged the boy once more, catching onto his idea. The little boy walked towards the table with the bucket in hand and in a flash tossed the water onto the grown man.

The man with the black curly-hair jumped from his seat yelling a strewn of heated profanities at the top of his lungs before slipping on his own foot and falling onto the ground. Gavroche doubled onto the floor with laughter as had Muschietta at the bar. Grantaire finally regained his sense of the atmosphere and rose to his feet, fixing the chair to an upright position beside him. He sat down in it again and glared at Gavroche.

"Haven't you anyone else to bother?" the man muttered miserably.

Muschietta sighed. "Leave him alone, you grouch."

"He dumped a bucket of water on me," protested Grantaire. "Where's that sister of yours anyways? Why isn't she here to care for you?"

"I ran away," Gavroche replied quickly with a sense of smugness. Muschietta sighed as she drew a chair to the table. Gavroche happily skipped to do the same.

"You ran away?" Grantaire replied. "Again?"

"Yes, again," Gavroche answered.

"And you decided that the last place your sister would ever look would be the Café Musain which you frequent quite...frequently?" the man continued slowly.

Gavroche shrugged. "I never said I was smart," the ten year-old boy countered bluntly. Muschietta chuckled.

"Your sister will find you soon, I imagine," Grantaire declared. "And good riddance to you then."

"You know you enjoy me, dear R," smiled Gavroche. "I bring fun to your life."

"Courfeyrac brings fun to my life," countered Grantaire, "and mocking Marius Pontmercy of dear Enjolras brings fun to my life. You do not bring fun to my life."

"I do, too," countered Gavroche.

"You bring fun to my life, Gav," Muschietta smiled.

Grantaire's eyes turned to her sharply. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be cleaning?"

Muschietta sighed, dusting off the bottom of her uniform. "You're right, Monsieur, though everything else about you is so wrong." Gavroche chuckled though he didn't know why. Grantaire merely rolled his eyes. Muschietta rose from the table and walked towards the counter.

As Muschietta walked back to the counter to fetch a broom, a girl in a tattered brown dress that was more appropriately described as rags appeared in the doorway. She was too skinny to be in good health, and her light brown hair was let loose against her back looking compromised of all tangles and matts. "Have you seen- Gavroche!" she shouted, rushing towards the boy. "Gavroche, why did you run away again?"

Gavroche shrugged in the girl's tight embrace. "I was bored."

"You were bored?" she questioned in disbelief, stealing the seat that Muschietta had sat in.