L'Etoile Rose

Chapter 26

At the beginning of the fourth and last week of our windsurfing course, Lucie and Serge had said goodbye. They wanted to spend some time alone on vacation before heading to Brittany where her parents lived, to whom she now wanted to introduce Serge. Things seemed to become serious between them, and Serge was as metamorphosed, always so kind and helpful, but also so much safer and more joyful!

Before leaving, at the end of the day, they invited us to have a last drink together, at the closest cafe to the Mariniers beach. We were all there, occupying all the tables on the terrace, in the still tenacious heat of the late afternoon. Barefoot in sandals, in shorts or swimsuits, the hair hardened by salt and sand, we all went out of the windsurfing class hungry and happy to nibble the shrimp fritters and chips that Louis the bartender always served us as an aperitif.

"Tell us, what made you decide to come join Serge?" Asked Anne, always curious to get to the bottom of things. "Was it his sea sunset postcard or his letter, where he frankly told you his love?"

"Well," laughed Lucie, "I see you are well aware of everything! Let's say that I did find his insistence pleasing! But also finding myself away from him, while we had seen each other every day for a year, I had really missed him."

"So he was right then when he said you were his destiny!" 

"You discussed that too?" said Lucie surprised.

"Yes," explained Serge, "we talked about that during a bike ride, it had done me some good talking about it. We talked about the difference between a love that lasts, and a relationship that's only in the passing."

"Do you believe in love that lasts?" asked Laurent in a disillusioned tone.

"Yes, my man, why not? Don't spoil their pleasure ... The important thing is that it's a happy love," philosophised Dominique. "I say, if it lasts, it's good! But the most important thing is that there is love, that's the beauty of life!"

"Dominique, always very epicurean..." laughed Julien.

"But of course! The lamentations, the dramas, it's pretty in a song, but in life, there is no time to lose crying, it's necessary to savour the happiness as long as it's there! To your happiness, then, my friends!"

My heart had fallen in free fall when I heard Dominique develop his theories.

"To love!" said Chantal, first to raise her glass."To love!" repeated the others in turn, Lucy looking Serge in the eyes, Anne with a bright smile towards Julien.

I had lifted my glass like the others, to love, though with the feeling that Dominique's explanations ruined the beautiful, poetic effect of the text he had sung for me.

"I have an idea," said Anne now, "let's play a game! Each person writes on a piece of paper a definition of love, or a synonym. We mix the papers and then we read them, and maybe we can guess who's behind the definition, alright?"

Immediately, a paper towel was torn into pieces and one of us went to find pens. 

And then everyone started thinking: "Love is ... I wrote: love is you, because Anne was for me, in this matter, the model to look up to, and no one else around me offered me a version more tangible and more beautiful than her of love.

All the little papers were now gathered in the basket. It was Anne who started reading them out: "Love is a game ... That, I know who it is, I think! Sophie! Or Dominique! Love is magic ... Hmm ... I don't know ... can you guys guess? Ah, Delphine! OKAY.... Love is a necessary evil ... oh la la ... As long as it's not Julien who wrote that! No? Phew! It's you, Marc ... Well, it's clever! Love is you! ... Ah, that's Julien, that's for sure! Love is a commitment ... haha that was me! Yes, a commitment, perfectly... Yes, Dominique, yes, I know you don't understand ... We make a choice, and we dedicate ourselves ... Good! Love is a poppy! Really! What imagination, my friends! Who wrote this ... Nobody? Okay, let's move on ... "

The game had made us laugh and chat, then we had cycled back to the inn, and Serge and Lucie had taken their bags and had bid us farewell, leaving with the evening bus.

I had retained the definition of Serge, that love is "heads or tails".

And then, the poppy definition of course.

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What is YOUR definition of LOVE?

Hope you've enjoyed reading! :)