Providence
Claude Aubut had been half-heartedly assigning patrol for the next week and secretly debating just leaving his work until tomorrow and going home when word came in that the town hall was on fire.
This had little to do with Claude since he was not, in fact, in the habit of putting out fires. However, he was the captain of the gendarmerie and this was town hall so perhaps it would be best if he put in an appearance. Besides, fires were rare in Montreuil and his day had been dull. This would certainly be the talk of the town for weeks to come.
He finished the section he was working on and then set his papers aside for the next day when he would be no more interested in them but at least better rested.
It was a little out of his way to have to walk by the town hall on his way home and the night was cold but it was a fire so it might be warmer by the town hall.
When he arrived, he saw the entire building ablaze. The fire engine was already there and there were several men who were frantically pumping it so that was under control.
It was a little warmer standing out in front of the burning building like that but not as warm as if he were much closer to a much smaller fire. He wondered how much damage would be done. Would they need an entirely new building? That was going to put the mayor completely out of sorts and that would just make Claude's life much more difficult.
"Captain Aubut!"
Claude turned and saw a panicked-looking man hurriedly approaching him.
He hid a wince and hoped he wasn't going to be expected to try and do something about this fire. Others had it well in hand.
"Your children!" the man exclaimed.
"My children?" Claude repeated, puzzled. What could Eugène and Judith have to do with anything?
The man attempted to speak but could not and simply pointed a trembling hand at the town hall.
Even then it took a moment for him to understand.
When he did he simultaneously attempted to run forward and flee at the same time and found himself quite unable to move. "My children? You're telling me that my children are still in there?"
"W-we got everyone else out," the man stammered. "But when we left we discovered that they weren't outside with us."
"What were they even doing in there in the first place?" he demanded.
If the man answered him, though, he didn't hear it.
He turned to those combating the flames. "How soon before the fire is out?"
"We don't know," one of the man told him. "We haven't had a fire in more than a year and it was much smaller then!"
Claude opened his mouth to say something, readying himself to run in if need be (his children? How could his children possibly be…? No. This was not happening) when he was nearly knocked over by someone rushing into the flames.
Claude stared uncomprehendingly for a moment, his mind still in disarray.
"Who was that?" he managed to ask at last.
"I don't know, never seen him before," someone replied.
"Something's got to be done," Claude decided. "I'm going in." He started to march purposefully towards the flames but someone held him back. "Let me go!"
"Are you crazy?" It was the same man from earlier, the one who told him that his children were burning to death. "You can't go in there!"
"That stranger did," Claude pointed out, struggling against him.
"Well that's a stranger," the man reasoned. "You are our captain of the gendarmerie. We cannot afford to risk you."
"Those are my children in there, damn you!" Claude exploded.
"And who knows?" the man asked rhetorically. "Maybe the stranger will bring them out."
"If I can't go in there then why don't you go?" Claude challenged. "You can't just keep me outside while my children burn!"
The man said nothing, just continued to hold him back.
Claude didn't know how much time passed like that, with him watching with a horrified fascination as the flames consumed more of the building and tried not to imagine those same flames consuming his terrified children. Were they crying? Had they passed out from the fear or the smoke? They must be so frightened and what kind of father was he, not even permitted to try and save them? Maybe the man was right, maybe he would only get himself killed too but wasn't that his risk to take? Wasn't that his obligation? How dare this man stop him.
To think that he had ever found the fire entertaining.
He felt sick and tried not to listen to the speculation around him. They were kind enough not to speak of his poor children dying (what would their mother say? How could he be strong for her? He didn't know how he was even still standing) but they were not so reserved when it came to this stranger.
He was a fool, they all agreed, to rush headlong into a burning building. Did he even know that there were children in there? Why would he go in there for a stranger? He had probably died badly.
His head was spinning.
There was a sudden movement and it took Claude a moment to process the fact that the stranger was emerging triumphant from the building, a child in each arm.
Claude had not gotten a good look at him before but it must be the same man that had run into him in his haste to save Claude's children. Under the circumstances, he could really not complain.
He vaguely noticed that the man had the appearance of a laborer and a bulging knapsack upon his back. If he really was a stranger then it was his job to check the man's papers but that could wait.
The man brought his children straight to him. They were trembling and threw their arms around him immediately.
Claude vaguely thanked him but he only had eyes for Eugène and Judith.
The next day, Claude found it curiously difficult to leave his children to go to work though he knew that he must. He did not get paid on days that he did not work and there was nothing that was preventing him from working besides a foolish worry for two children who appeared to be just fine.
He had been unable to sleep for hours, just standing over his children's beds and watching them. His wife had not really understood but then she had not been there. He was glad of that. He might not have even told her what had happened at all if he had not already known that there was no way to conceal it.
On his way to work, he spotted the man from last night. He had a thorn club in his hand now that he must have cast aside before running into the fire or else just recently acquired. Not much about the fire remained with him but he rather thought that this man's face as he returned his children to him would stay with him always.
The man respectfully doffed his cap. "Monsieur Captain."
"I do not believe that I got a chance to thank you last night for saving my children," Claude told him.
"You did," the man assured her, putting his cap back on.
"Well let me thank you again," Claude told him. "I almost lost them last night. I would have run into the flames myself but I was prevented. You saved them."
The man looked uncomfortable. "You have a wife, surely, and perhaps other children. And you are the captain of the gendarmerie. You had reason to be kept safe."
"I know," Claude said, feeling the frustration welling up inside of him. "I know their reasoning and they may even be right. But I had to watch helplessly while my children were trapped in a burning building and it was only through the selfless and courageous actions of a stranger that I do not have to bury my little children."
"I did what was right," the man said simply, awkwardly.
"That you did."
It was silent for a moment.
"You seem to have learned who I am but I'm afraid I cannot say the same about you," Claude told him. "I would have the name of the man who saved my family."
The man hesitated. "Madeleine."
It was a simple enough question so why the hesitation?
"I suppose you will want to see my papers now," Madeleine said, a look of dread coming over his features.
It was his job to examine the papers of every stranger come to town, he knew that. He should just say yes and look at Madeleine's papers and everybody could go about their day.
Except. Except that the reason that papers had to be checked was to ensure that men of bad character, convicts or fugitives, did not come into their nice little village and terrorize it. It was to keep the people safe.
Madeleine had come into town and had immediately risked his own life to save Claude's children. No one would do that unless it was for selfless reasons because the benefits of having the captain of the gendarmerie indebted to you was not worth the possibility of dying.
It would be the height of ingratitude to demand to see Madeleine's papers like he was some sort of a criminal.
There was something else, too. That hesitation, that dread. Madeleine did not want to show his papers. Why?
Was there something in his past, something recorded on his papers that he wanted to keep hidden? He did not know.
It was his duty to find out. It was his duty to not distrust this man who had saved his precious children.
He shook his head. "I do not need to see them."
Madeleine's eyes widened and he looked like Claude had just bestowed a great gift on him. That made him feel better about his decision. There was no way that a man who was this obvious could pose a threat to anyone. "Really? You will let me stay without seeing my papers?"
"There was a lot of excitement last night, with the fire, and I was so distressed by the danger my children were in," Claude said casually. "If I forgot to ask then who could blame me?"
Madeleine stared at him in wonder.
Claude Aubot had always been a family man and when it came to conflicted duties, he knew what he would choose every time.
"Welcome to Montreuil."