One phrase is enough to spark their imaginations …

“When that story about the pigeon upset his world overnight, Jonathan Noël was already in his fifties.” Partick Süskind, Le Pigeon

When that story about the pigeon upset his world overnight, Charles Picot was already in his fifties.

That day, he would remember it his whole life …. It was a Tuesday like any other: breakfast, meeting, phone call … Miss Blueberry, his secretary, told him that at 12:30 he would have a meeting with Her Majesty Elisabeth II.  Mr Picot wasn’t surprised since he was in charge of a chain of factories making luxury tomato sauce and met many famous people.

At 11am, he was on the way to Buckingham in his tomato red Rolls Royce. At exactly 12:30, he was in front of the palace gates.  The Queen was waiting for him in the garden.

He approached, did a ridiculous bow and was straightening up when suddenly…PLOP! A pigeon did its business on his perfectly smooth head!  He started to yell not thinking about the Queen: “Blasted bird, do you think I’d do my business on your head, would I?!?”. Then he lowered his head towards He Majesty and became pale … “Sir,” said the Queen, ”You have just insulted my royal pigeon! That is unacceptable! And I was thinking about appointing you the luxury tomato sauce supplier for my pigeon!”

And that is how a poor birdy had so much impact on the life of Mr Picot.

When that story about the pigeon upset her world overnight, Victoria I became middle aged on the day of her twentieth birthday.

Let me tell you her story … Victoria had a typical childhood with her twin – Victoria II- although she had some advantages because her family were rich. At the age of sixteen, she left home and began life as a student at an Oxford school for the gifted. She was a brilliant student.

On the day of her twentieth birthday, she brought Victoria II a delicious cake and was going to keep her company. Victoria II was very poor as she was a dreadful student and had always been cheeky to her parents. Above all, she was extremely jealous of her sister. The only thing she owned was the carrier pigeons which had belonged to her mum. When she saw her sister in the driveway, she called all her pigeons and ordered them to attack. Victoria tried to chase them all away but there were thirty left – this meant that she would age thirty years and become an ‘old bird’.   

That’s how Victoria turned out to be in her fifties on the day of her twentieth birthday!

When that story about the pigeon upset her world overnight, Martine Martin was going to be twenty.

She was waiting impatiently for her birthday because she knew that on that day, her nearest and dearest would give her a superb, fabulous, extraordinary present! However, on the day of her birthday, quite the opposite of her prediction happened and they gave her only a small, tiny miniscule chicken which they insisted she taste. Despite her disappointment, Martine tried it. It was … pigeon! She loved it! She had never tasted anything as good, delicious, exquisite! She decided on that very day to open her own restaurant. She didn’t know what to do with her life and now she had a goal! So she opened a restaurant in the suburbs of Paris.

When that story about the pigeon upset her world overnight, Neja Rinfoncé was already eleven years old.

Neja was looking at the stupid figurine that her cousin gave her for her birthday. On its shoulder was a pigeon wearing sunglasses.  It was as if her cousin was making fun of her! For fun, she decided to take off the glasses and suddenly she found herself eating breadcrumbs which an old lady had thrown on the ground. Three minutes later, she realized that she was in a pigeon’s body!

It had already been a month since Neja had become a pigeon when a dog attacked her, biting and hurting her before running off. Then, Neja carefully returned to her own body. She found herself in bed and, luckily, she was all right and immediately fell asleep again.

In the morning, however, she looked in the bathroom mirror and realized … she still had a pigeon’s beak. Neja is now an adult and works as a circus clown making young and old laugh.

When that story about the pigeon upset her world overnight, Amanda Pigoeonnier had already passed the century mark.

She was a journalist and was able to speak correctly, even with her remaining teeth. She was famous for a phobia she had: she detested, she hated, pigeons.  These hateful birds which made a terrible noise all day long and trailed through the sewers. “Even worse – they’re not even beautiful,” she said to herself.  Ah! She cursed them often.

To understand, let’s go back seventy years ….

Once quiet afternoon, Amanda was reading a magazine. When she had finished, she went out to do some shopping when suddenly, a pigeon pooped on her still hairy head. She swore three times and went home, dripping with excrement.  The next day, she had just done her shopping when a big fat pigeon sat in her fruit and vegetable basket and decimated it!  Our journalist went into a black rage, swore ten times then went home. “Bad luck, that bird …” she said to herself. The next morning when the young woman woke up then got up, everything seemed strangely smaller …”But I wasn’t drinking anything last night …” she wondered.

She got into the bathroom and … AHHHHHHH!!!!! It was horrific …. She had changed into a pigeon! Yes, Yes – a fat, enormous pigeon that looked like the ones from the last couple of days …..

You are now asking how Amanda was able to change back into a human ….But …

When that story about the pigeon upset his world overnight, Eloi Defloni, my brother still wasn’t twenty years old.

Eloi was just like any other guy until the day he had that dream. This dream was special – it wasn’t like any other and it seemed to be real …

Eloi was walking in Ile-aux-Moines beneath his grandparents’ fig trees.  He was going to collect figs to eat but first he had to pass three tests: the bees, the rotten falling figs and, the most difficult, the PIGEON.  Eloi knew the pigeon was hard to beat, but he had an idea …

For the first test, the bees, Eloi had planned ahead: a bee swatter. For the second test, the rotten falling figs, Eloi quite simply used an umbrella. Coming at last to the final third and final test – the PIGEON.  Eloi put his plan into action …but it didn’t work … and the pigeon, enraged, killed him.

Eloi woke up then woke up the entire house: it was horrible! My mother’s biggest fear was that, after this dream, Eloi wouldn’t be able to sail anymore (because you see lots of pigeons when you sail). Because he would always be afraid of … PIGEONS …