Who Am I?

Chapter 9: Of course he's sorry.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, ladies. I'd like to borrow our guest." Lucien apologized while he escorted me out of the kitchen and towards a room that was new for me. The ceiling was painted to look like clouds with sun rays shining through them. there was a piano at the far corner and a huge library filled with books that were mainly about poetry. It was clear by the "poetry collection" written outside or the poets' names. I could see the titles of some fairytales too. By the piano were ginormous windows leading outside. The room was filled with colors or at least it used to. The vases now were empty, the books had gathered dust and the piano looked lonely at its corner. Lucien guided me through the windows, towards a big yard. If you could call a yard some acres of land. They were empty too. No color, no light in anything. It resembled a forsaken place. You could actually imagine the flowers and the animals giving life to the place being there. You could see the rabbits running or the pink and yellow of the flowers blending together making a breathtaking view for the visitors. The way it was arranged, it was secluded from the other areas of the house land. There were tall trees and bushes as to make it a somewhat small, private paradise. If only someone could bring it back to life.

"It takes your breath away, doesn't it? Makes your heart stop beating for a second." Lucien said behind me. He startled me because I was so invested taking in the view in-front of me that I had forgotten I wasn't alone.

"Yes, it's magnificent. Why doesn't someone take care of it? It's a waste to let it like that. With no care, no love..."

"Such a shame, I know. But that's what she wanted. Josephine wanted to take care of her garden by herself. She thought of it as her little heaven. The place where she could be herself and have fun. She spent a lot time here. Either alone, either not." Lucien explained. "You see, Josephine wanted to celebrate life, the beautiful. To laugh and love, to live. She wanted to share her happiness. So only her loved ones could have a taste of her private world here."

  "Did you come here often with her?" I didn't know where this question came from.

  "Not as much as I'd like to." he answered somberly. "You were too little to have memories of here. She loved to have picnics with you, to watch you playing, running around, feeding the ducks in the lake or even sitting and starring at the birds flying and the roses, while she played you melodies on the piano. It gave her comfort to see with her own eyes that your whole future was ahead of you and life was waiting for you to discover it."

  From all the things he said 3 things stood up. "Picnics? Melodies? Roses?" I asked feeling quite confused.

  "Mais oui. Josephine adored picnics. She used to play you some tune that whenever you heard it you would just stand up and dance. Dominique at first would act as if he were grown up for dancing at silly melodies, but then you would drag him to dance with you and you two would twirl and have fun. You were so unbelievably happy, no worries or concerns. No troubles and people to worry about. Just two little children twirling on the grass, laughing."

  "Wait. Dominique and me..? Dancing? On what planet? Which era?" I asked pretty disoriented. "He doesn't even like me, let alone dance with me."

  "He didn't like you, you're right. He was as much in love with you as a six year old could. Pure, untroubled love." and that's how Lucien formed another gigantic question mark. Dominique and I, friends?