THE ROSE PERFUME

Chapter 16

We drive out of Paris on Rue Eloignee at eleven o'clock Sunday morning passing fifty or more people outside Saint Biblotheque talking about what happened. Instead of heading to Rue du Marche for groceries or to Le Magasin de Tissus to finish up last minute projects before Monday, I am on my way to see my parents in Yport. Something I had gone over doing in my mind thousands of times before but never thought I had courage enough to do. A rush of excitement goes through me and I can feel myself changing. All of the things I usually worry about do not seem as important anymore. Altering Mrs. Fontinelli's dress for a function she is attending this coming Friday, the new curtains Father Philippe needs for his library, or mending the shoes for Anna's next performance. Cleaning the floors in the kitchen and living room, making sure the horses get fed or the cats out by the barn, or preparing the laundry.

I can already hear the ocean air in the wind calling out to me and the smell of the reeds swaying along the beach, I can see the foundations of old houses in the sand swept away long before I was born, and smell the salty fires on the hearth on the streets just before the sun goes down.

The whole world lifts from my shoulders and I welcome life, love, and happiness as it should be back into my arms.

I lean back into the soft leather seats and listen to Edmond talk about the new buildings being constructed on the edge of town, the railroad, and the omnibus. All the new technologies going on in Paris. Revolving doors, elevators, and foreigners with different religions around every turn. How busy and loud Paris is compared to smaller towns along the coast. I told him in Yport when I was young the mail came round once a month, about an arch extending out from the cliff wall near the ocean where I played, and about my friends who lived nearby.

I give him a starfish I always keep in my pocket for good luck. He says, "I don't have one like this." And puts it inside the lantern swinging above us for safe keeping. "I will put it away in my house when I'm back in Le Havre. I have a cabinet full of interesting things that wash up from the sea. The best time to look for them on the shore is in the morning."

He says he enjoys our conversation and we talk until the paved streets outside of Paris turn into country dirt roads and the buildings turn into farmhouses. I watch birds and small animals dart across the fields and clouds of insects swarm above the grasses and weeds. Eventually, the bright day grows dim and the rocking buggy lulls me to sleep.

DREAM NOTEBOOK, PROPERTY OF LOTTE LA MAR

JOURNAL ENTRY # 4 -- MY GIFT OF METALLURGY

I dream I am looking into a mirror in a room behind a stage where Anna is singing in a Cafe. Edmond walks towards me. He looks different, but his eyes are the same. As deep and honest as the sea. He turns me around in a chair so I am looking at him. "Anna's voice is almost ready. The necklace makes it stronger. When the time comes she will be ready."

I press my head into his hand. "You should have let them send the muse instead of me. I can't do what she can."

His fingers tighten along my jaw. "And miss this adventure with you? It's what I live for. What a strom we are in. The muse can't do what you can do. Your gifts in metalurgy will save this world."