Here is a little story from my childhood that happened in Niederbronn-les-Bains.

Once upon a time, there was a 5-year-old girl named Anny. She regularly went with her mom and 6-year-old sister to the river to do the laundry. At the time, there was still no washing machine.

My mother had decided to do the laundry that morning. In bright sunshine, we set off for the river, laden with a basket full of dirty clothes. To get there, you had to go over a small bridge. Finally, we arrived, my mother began to wash the clothes and rinse them.

My sister sat on the bench which was next to a tree and watched my mother do it. As usual, I couldn’t be still. I had fun running along the river. Suddenly, I saw something moving in the water. I approached the edge and splashed.  I fell into the water which was not hot.

The current of water was already starting to wash me away and I was already a few meters down the river. I didn’t know what was happening to me and I didn’t even care. My mother dropped her laundry, she had to run fast to catch me and managed to get me out of the water.

I was completely soaked and shivering. In addition, my mother had dressed us well, we were dressed in my beautiful little white point shorts and a nice little white blouse because we planned to go for a walk later.

So quickly, we had to come back to change me. My mother was not happy at all and the walk also fell into the water because my mother had punished us. My sister was in a rage against me because it was not the first time that I had made mistakes… and we had to stay in the room.