“We support you”, “courage to the whole team”, “we are with you”: many customers are there on Monday at the reopening of the Tarn-et-Garonne bakery belonging to a couple who disappeared on the Madeira Island almost a month ago.
Under the gray sky of the town of Beaumont-de-Lomagne, customers who pass through the sliding doors of the bakery, in the center of the village, often have a closed expression. Having come for the reopening of the business, many of them are still in shock at the disappearance of the couple.
On vacation on the Portuguese island, the two tourists aged 58 and 56, Véronique and Laurent Blond, no longer gave any sign of life, after leaving on March 16 for a hike in Sao Vicente, in the north of island.
After the discovery of two bodies, which everything seems to indicate that they belong to the two French people, the Madeira police favor the accident trail.
“The soul of the village”
Their 27-year-old daughter, Johanna, who had alerted the authorities when she did not see them return, decided with her sister, almost a month after their disappearance, to reopen the bakery they had run for years. “It was important for the employees and so that customers could find the comfort of having a local business,” she explains.
But “passing the doors and not seeing my parents is very difficult,” says the young woman.
The emotion is also palpable among the customers. With wet eyes, some are unable to express their sorrow: “It’s too hard,” whispers a customer, her voice breaking, as she leaves the store.
Behind the counter, Véronique, an employee of the establishment for years, shares the same pain: “It’s difficult,” she confides, her lip trembling. Despite her grief, this employee is satisfied with the reopening: “It’s to pay tribute to them.”
A feeling shared by Nicolas Frédéric, 45 years old, a commercial baker for four years who considers the shop “as the soul of the village”. “We are very happy, for the employees but also for the villagers,” he says.
Upset customers
On the village side, Geneviève Bajwa, a Beaumont resident for 20 years, says she is “very moved”. With misty eyes, this 70-year-old retiree remembers her relationship with the owner of the establishment: “She was a person who always had a kind word,” according to her.
She is not the only one to be marked by the disappearance of the merchant couple. Loïc Ducasse, 26 years old, a farmer from the surrounding area, who supplied wheat to the establishment, did not believe in their disappearance. “We talked every time I passed by. They were very nice,” he says. For him, coming back this Monday morning, “for the first time” since their disappearance, “is complicated”.
With a freshly purchased baguette under his arm, Michel Brotons, 86, lives a few meters from the bakery. If he is delighted to be able to return to his usual business, he is no less upset: “I would have preferred to see them alive and go get my bread elsewhere,” he says.