war of roses

chapter 1

setting : downtown paris , france 1954
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geneviève weaved her way thru the crowded downtown area . the smell of fresh bread and pastries filled the air . that would have to be one of geneviève's favorite things about living in paris . the streets were filled with vendors selling all types of goodies . her favorite being the flower stand . she lazily made her way towards the little cart , and to her surprise , there was quite a wide selection of florals . a young girl bot more than 10 was running the stand .

"bonjour jeune!  vendez-vous des fleurs?  ils sont plutôt beaux si je le dis moi-même!"
( hello young one ! are you selling flowers ? they look rather beautiful if i do say so myself )

"bon après-midi mademoiselle!  souhaitez-vous en acheter?  je les ai choisis moi-même!"
( good afternoon miss ! would you like to buy some ? i picked them myself ! )

"bien sûr, je vais acheter certaines de vos fleurs kiddo!  j'aurai une douzaine de vos plus belles roses chérie!"
( of course i'll buy some of your flowers kiddo ! i'll have a dozen of your finest roses darling ! )

"merci mademoiselle!  bonne fin de journée!"
( thank you miss ! enjoy the rest of your day ! )

geneviève thanked the child and resumed her afternoon stroll thru town . she stopped at her favorite bakery to get a small snack , then made her way to the only bookstore in paris . while there , geneviève reveled in the feeling of freedom . how she wished to become one of the characters she had only ever read about . so instead of wallowing in her own self pity , she gathered quite the assortment of literature . that way , she could get lost within the pages and ignore the twinge of loneliness and jealousy she felt towards the real happy couples .
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by the time geneviève was done perusing the shelves , it had begun to get dark . the sun was setting over the eiffel tower and geneviève knew better than to stay out past dusk . so she quickly payed for her bundle of books and hurried on her way . she began running thru the courtyard in a very unladylike manner , as her father would say . as she was about to turn the corner of her block , she ran into someone rather harshly .
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she began profusely apologizing to the stranger while simultaneously trying to pick up the books that had fallen during the collision .

"let me help you ! my name's jack ! i'm so sorry ! i wasn't watching were i was going !", the stranger , supposedly named jack , insisted with a strong london accent .

"you must not be from around here . i can tell from your accent . i really do wish i could stay and chat . however , it's almost dark and i have both a curfew and a rather cross father . i truly must be going" , geneviève said to the man with a remorseful tone .

jack was confused to say the least and was about to continue on his way when he saw a rose lying on the ground .

"miss ! i believe you dropped something !" , geneviève glanced back towards the man but didn't answer , being in a rush and all .

"at least tell me your name !" , the man yelled hopefully .

"geneviève !" , the woman called back , holding in a chuckle .

'geneviève ... what a beautiful name , for a beautiful woman of course' the man thought to himself . he felt his face heat up and he laughed at the way she must think he's a fool . he walked home , intoxicated-like . strangers said he was drunk on love . nevertheless , it's safe to say , both went to bed and dreamt of the beautiful stranger they'd met on their journeys home that summer night .