The Village of Saint-Honoré
The Village of Saint-Honoré
The Village of Saint-Honoré is in southern Québec just north of Vermont at the foot of Mont-Orford. It is part of the Eastern Townships.
4.1. Locations & Events
Mont-Orford
An imposing mountain near the Village of Saint-Honoré. In the early 1900s, it was used as the temporary home of the Trickster Animals. Jacques LaRue would harvest lumber on its slopes. It was on the mountain where Jacques LaRue had his strange encounter with Géant Poilu. In 1941, a ski slope was built on Mont-Orford. In March of 2053, the trickster animals returned to the world of The People and Mont-Orford, where they discovered the ski slope and decided to join in on the fun and ski down the mountain.
Our Lady of the Perpetual Snows Church
The village church where the Meunier family attends on Sunday mornings. Elphage Meunier’s grandfather Ignace Meunier helped lay the stonework of the church when it was built.
Saint-Honoré Autumn Ball: An annual ball sponsored by the older adults and parents of the teenagers of Saint-Honoré with the hope they can find suitable spouses at the ball. It is held at the church hall of Our Lady of the Perpetual Snows Church.
The ball is supervised by volunteer chaperones who mingle with the young couples dancing on the floor to make sure that everyone is acting like “proper and well-behaved young ladies and young gentlemen” and that they are “dancing with their angels standing between them.” Of course, the chaperones really meant “no couples sneaking off and kissing.”
However, with teenagers being teenagers, a few do try to sneak out of the church hall, usually without much success.
4.2. Village People & Animals
Father Roland Renaud: The pastor of Our Lady of the Perpetual Snows Church. He is the best axe thrower in the village.
Louis D’Arcy: The mayor of Saint-Honoré.
Émile Archambault
The owner of La Boulangerie d’Émile. Émile Archambault loves everything about deserts, from making them to eating them. He enjoys being the judge of the annual pie baking contest since it gives him the opportunity to sample the best pies in Saint-Honoré.
Fromagerie de Saint-André: A cheese shop run by a kind widow named Rosalie Fountain.
Monsieur Jean and Madame Patricia Beneat: Proprietors of Saint-Honoré’s épicerie (grocery)
Éloïse Gagnon: The owner of La chapellerie d’Éloïse
Gilbert Gagné
A friend of Loyola Meunier. He asked Loyola’s sister Isala Meunier to dance with him at the Saint-Honoré Autumn Ball. Gilbert and Loyola are frequently seen together, often covered with dirt from adventures in the surrounding farms of Saint-Honoré.
Béatrice Cormier, Apollonie Gautreau, Pierre Babin: Judges of the pie baking contest between Victorine Meunier, Séraphine LaRue, and widow Rosalie Fountain.
Cafe de Papillon: A small cafe serving breakfast and lunch owned by Madame Séraphine LaRue.
Cammi
A beautiful female police horse. She has just joined the North-West Mounted Police and is traveling with them to the Canadian frontier.
4.2.1. The LaRue Family
La famille LaRue: The LaRue family lives in Saint-Honoré.
Jacques LaRue dit Bûcheronne
A mountain of a man, he carries an oversized ax and wears a plaid shirt, suspenders, and a classic lumberjack hat. He makes a living as an independent lumberjack and spends most of his time in the forest. Jacques will sometimes try to get the better of Elphage Meunier but likes him. Often says to Elphage: “vous êtes un bon homme, Elphage, mais je suis toujours l’homme le plus fort, n’est-ce pas?” You are a good man, Elphage, but I am still the strongest man, am I not?
Jacques is legendary for his tall tales. Jacques believes that a wild hairy giant called Géant Poilu lives in the forests around Mont-Orford. His stories of this mysterious giant are legendary and entertaining.
Madame Séraphine LaRue (nee Hache)
Jacques’s nickname for his wife is “ma petite hache” (my little axe). She is a good cook and when she gets mad at Jacques she threatens to withhold her cooking by telling him “Madame marmite ne sera pas contente ce soir” (Madame cooking pot will not be happy tonight).
Her name, Séraphine Hache, means “fiery axe” and it fits since she is a small, axe-like woman with red hair. She has a hen named Madame Lafarge. She is the proprietor of Le Cafe de Papillon, a small but moderately successful cafe in Saint-Honoré serving breakfast and lunch. Madame Séraphine LaRue is famous for her very large pancakes.
Séraphine competes with Victorine Meunier in the annual apple pie bake-off as part of the Autumn Festival. Growing up together in Saint-Honoré, they were classic “frenemies.”
Gaëlle and Maëlle LaRue
Twin girls who have just turned eighteen. The sisters are perfectly identical and use it to their advantage. They will sometimes switch boyfriends without the young men knowing the difference. When asked: “Are you Gaëlle or are you Maëlle?” Either girl will answer simply “yes.” Jacques is always on the lookout for marriageable men for his daughters. The girls have a pet skunk named Daphné. In the spring of 1903, Gaëlle and Maëlle LaRue, and their parents, moved to Whitehorse in the Yukon. A few years and a few adventures later, the girls marry and have families of their own. They are last seen in Old Grandmother’s Tree leading their families away on dog sleds from the pursuing La Chasse-galerie.
Mémère Hache: The mother of Séraphine LaRue and the grandmother of Gaëlle and Maëlle LaRue. She believes that her granddaughters are too wild and mischievous and should be sent to Madame Charlotte Prévost’s School for Young Ladies in Montréal so they can learn etiquette and refinement and marry wealthy but boring husbands.
4.2.2. The LaRue Family’s Animals
LaRue’s animals: They call themselves Le gang de la grange (The Barn Gang).
Daphné the skunk: Considers herself part of Le gang de la grange.
Caster and Pollux: A pair of oxen owned by the LaRue.
Gisele: Female donkey.
Olympe and Reine: The LaRue cows.
Madame Lafarge: Family hen.
Hugo: Male berger-picard dog.
Napoleon: The LaRue bull and the father of Pauline’s calf Mirabelle.