Story timeline: 1788 - 1789 summer time

Characters: Oscar and the General

Fandom: Rose of Versailles

Original author: Hosanna

Where to find the original version: excessfanfiction, vignette

…

Make a wish

… 4th of august, 1788…

On that beautiful summer evening, the de Jarjayes family had joined the de la Rolancy family, to celebrate the 9th birthday of little Loulou, single daughter of Hortense, one of Oscar's older sisters… The dinner, illuminated by a cheerful row of colored lampions had passed in a cozy atmosphere, filled with laughter. André and Granny were also invited, not as servants, but as family friends and guests, because Hortense couldn't help but consider them as parts of her treasured family. At the end of the dinner, the General had discreetly left the table, and suddenly seemed to have disappeared, while Loulou was already jumping of impatience, wanting to blow her candles as fast as possible, because of course, then she could make a wish! … A wish everyone already knew for a long time however, since she renewed it every year: "To marry André!"

Oscar literally thought she would die every time she pronounced it out loud, so hard she had to suppress the giggles that seemed to well up endlessly inside her! But the most hilarious would be the facial expression that poor André would show year after year… For once, Granny would not know what to say (which was very rare), while Hortense would once again heave a heavy sigh and her husband would pat André on the back, whispering him a cheerful: "Welcome to the family!"… And when it came to the General, nobody knew what he was thinking at that moment…

Oscar: "This time you're lucky, André, now it's nighttime, nobody will see you blush! Hahaha…"

André (looking up, already exasperate in advance): "…Pffft…"

Granny: "Oscar! Instead of joking around, help us seek your father! …It's already late, and it's time for Loulou to go to bed!"

Oscar did as Granny said, but not without laughing out loud before doing so, seeing her friend looking so desperate… In fact, he almost resembled a condemned man to be hanged soon … And the thought of innocent little Loulou as executioner made her laugh even harder! While she was searching, trying to stop the last snicker, she saw her sister on the terrace, staring off in the gardens… She decided to approach her.

O: "Hortense, have you perhaps seen Father somewhere? Granny sent me to search him, so he can go cut the cake… After your daughter has made her wish of course!"

Hortense: "Yes, I've seen him walk out of the garden shed a while ago…But before you go…Tell me Oscar…I'm worried about something…. How's Father doing? I mean, he seems tired and a bit thinner than usual to me… and much older as well, all of a sudden, since the last time I saw him. I also noticed he hasn't eaten very much this evening…Is he alright?"

O: "Oh, eh… well, he's feeling much better…probably. I must admit nobody has bothered to tell me much about his condition…"

Hortense: "But you see each other almost every day… Didn't you notice he hasn't drunk a single glass of wine this evening… not one, during whole our dinner!... Now that I think about it, in this two days you have come here, I've never once seen him smoke his pipe either! Does he still have problems with his heart?"

Oscar listened to her older sister, and sought her father by a quick glance… While actually, she was trying to escape her sister gaze, having no answer to satisfy her… She felt extremely ashamed at that moment. She, who lived under the same roof as him every day, hadn't paid attention to his changings at all! So she admitted with a lot of difficulty that she absolutely ignored everything about her father's health. He had seemed to have had recovered from his heart attack, that he had had 8 months ago! The questions and sentences Hortense spoke to her changed into reproaches…

"E-Excuse me!" Oscar stammered after a while, "I'll go search him!"

Not being able to stand her accusing gaze on her anymore, Oscar ran off in the gardens, only dimly lit at that late hour of the day… Thousands of questions suddenly exploded in her head… Did he still suffer because of his heart? Was Doctor Lasonne informed of something? Was it him, who forbid him to do those things he normally appreciated ?... How bad was his condition?

After 15 minutes, Oscar finally noticed the silhouette of the General in the corner of the garden. Sitting on a bench, he seemed to be observing the cloudless sky. Oscar gradually slowed down her steps until she completely stopped walking…

Ge : "Well, my child, are you so afraid of me, that you don't dare to come sit anywhere near me?"

Oscar (looking at father intently): "No, father!"

Ge: "If that's the case, come join me on this bench!"

Oscar did as he asked, but however still left an open space between them as an apology to have disturbed him. "Granny has sent me to come and tell you… Loulou will blow out the candles on her cake soon…"

Ge: "…And make a wish! … Like me!"

Oscar (surprised): "Like you, father?"

The General, who had come to sit closer, so he could take her against him and make her look up :"Yes, Oscar… like me."

At that moment, a rain of falling stars enlightened the sky … making bright orange lines cut through the darkened night air. As every year in august, meteors made their appearance in the sky-high of France, enchanting a father and his daughter that year.

Ge: "Did you make a wish?"

Oscar: "Yes…"

Ge: "Mine is to still be there next year, close to you and your mother…and for many years like that to follow… And yours?"

Oscar (tears in her eyes): "Father! You shouldn't say that out loud, or it won't come true!" …"

Ge: "You're right, that's too bad.. seems I've wasted my wish, isn't it?... and maybe other things as well…Well! Let's go now, there's a cake waiting for us!"

Oscar (drying her tears, wanting to hide them from her father): "And Loulou!"

...

One year later, in the rose garden at the Jarjayes mansion, an old man silently cried under a rain of falling stars… His wish could never come true anymore.

Ge: "You were right again, Oscar… I shouldn't have said it out loud!"

Oscar had been killed that 14th of July in 1789, 3 weeks before that date, joining André in the starry heavens… But at least, she had finally seen her wish being granted: to find her soul mate…"

The end

…

Do not comment about writing style or try to influence the story, because this is only a translation from someone else's story.

Comments to encourage my translation work are always welcome though.