AN :Here is a short story, inspired by a French song called .. Ne me quitte pas. It's a really really sad song. You can find it on Youtube or Dailymotion – Do prefer Jacques Brel's version . Really worth listening, even if you don't speak French.
I would like to thank Mack_the_spoon for the beta ! Thanks so much J
Disclaimer: I own nothing – I just borrow them a little bit.
"Mare, can you please plug my iPod in?" Marshall asked his partner.
Mary turned her gaze from the SUV's window to look at her friend, who was looking for an audible radio station, but couldn't find one.
"Oh, no, Paganini, no opera in the middle of the desert, or else I can't guarantee that you'll arrive alive in Flagstaff."
Not impressed by her tone, Marshall turned to look at the blond woman sitting on the passenger's seat, smirking. "Because you can guarantee it the other times we're driving? That's new. Anyway, Mare, it's your rule: the one who drives picks the music. Strangely, it even applies when you're not the one behind the wheel. So since I'm driving, I choose the music. And no Valkyries this time. Only music, I swear."
Mary sighed. She knew Marshall was right. She had made up a rule for their long hours in cars, and had to live through all the kinds of music Marshall liked, from German operas to bossa-nova, to electronic music she found boring. She wondered what was in stock for this trip.
Both marshals were heading to Flagstaff, AZ, to pick up their new witness. They had left Albuquerque at the end of the afternoon, and the sun was already bidding its goodbye to the red desert sand around. Here and there, signs mentioned Navajo and Zuni places, some of them Mary had visited, dragged by her friend, some of them still to discover.
"Mare... the iPod." She sighed, and started looking in the glove compartment to find the little white piece of technology, wondering whether she would end up throwing it out the window ( she didn't want to go through another piece of Wagner) or plugging it into the car. Mary felt a few seconds of happiness, as she didn't find the iPod while pretending to search for it. She knew perfectly well that she had stolen it from his jacket pocket and put it in her desk drawer, so as to have only hers available.
"Mare. In my right pocket. You know it's not in the glove compartment." Marshall said, not taking his look from the road in front of him, not mentioning that he knew she had borrowed the iPod, not acknowledging the fact that he had found it in her desk drawer.
Dammit. He's good. Mary reluctantly stopped pretending to look in the compartment, loosened her seatbelt a bit, and reached behind her to grab Marshall's jacket lying, on the back seat of the SUV. There, in the right pocket, she found his iPod with earbuds attached, carefully wrapped around it.
Sighing again, she plugged the white device into the console, and waited for the apocalypse to come. She was sure she would have to suffer through at least one hour of Marshall's crap choices in music, and readied herself.
"Ah, Mare, so predictable. I thought we could have a bit of fun... How about you tell me the title and where the song is from... Are you ready? he asked, smiling, but still looking at the road.
Crossing her arms in front of her, Mary did not intend to play any games. She was sure they would involve unknown singers, just like that one she'd had to listen to from that island in the Atlantic, who was singing in Portuguese. As if she could be expected to understand Portuguese.
Marshall took her non-answer for a "yes", and still smiling, turned on the iPod, saying "Annd... Here we go...Try to guess where it's from, Mare. One point per good answer."
And music filled the interior of the car.
Mary, recognizing the music, turned to her friend, smiling. For once, she could play! She asked. " WaitTV shows or movies too?"
Marshall looked at her. "Patience, Grasshopper. You will find out soon enough. So? What's that TV show?"
"Magnum, P.I".
"We've got a winner … next one? « At Mary's nod, he continued, "Here we go."
Several minutes later, and music from Xfiles, Hawaii 5-0, Leverage, and others recognized (or not). Suddenly piano notes filled the car.
The same note, played sadly, and then a voice, singing in a language Mary didn't understand but recognized as French. Marshall had frozen his hands solid on the wheel, as if lost in thoughts, memories. Mary didn't say a word, either, moved by the pain coming out of the singer's voice, with only a few piano notes behind.
The song lingered in the car, and when the music died, extinguished, silence fell upon them, broken only by the sound of a clarinet, muffled. To Mary, it evoked a movie she had seen with a partner, with Robert Redford in it, and Africa displayed on the screen.
Marshall seemed to come back to life, regaining some colors, taking a deep breath, and he started to move his hands towards the iPod, to remove it from its place. Then he heard her voice.
"What was that song?" she whispered, afraid to break the silence too violently and lose the magic the music had brought.
"It's called Ne me Quitte pas, it's in French. Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles sang the English version, and Sting too I think. The singer is Jacques Brel. He is Belgian, and not French, and..." Marshall was interrupted in his sentence.
"Can you translate it?" Mary asked softly, looking at the road, as if she was avoiding looking at her partner.
"As I was going to tell you Mare, [there is a translation made by Rod McKuen, under the title If you go away. I'm sure you can find a translation on that Blackberry of yours, although I have to say, it's slightly different from the meaning of the French version, but..." Once again Marshall was interrupted.
"Can you translate it in your own words, Marshall, please?"
Marshall did not know whether it was Mary's tone, or the use of «please" that convinced him. He knew he shouldn't be doing that, that he was hurting himself by listening to the words again, but when was the last time he could deny Mary anything?
He nodded, and put the song back on.
The sound of a crying piano, on a single simple note, once again filled the car.
Ne me quitte pas, il faut oublier, Tout peut s'oublier, qui s'enfuit déja,
«Don't leave me, we have to forget, everything can be forgotten, it already is,"
Oublier le temps des malentendus, et le temps perdu à savoir comment,
"Forget the times of misunderstandings, and the time lost to understand why"
Oublier ces heures qui tuaient parfois, à coups de pourquoi le coeur du bonheur
"Forget these hours that were killing us sometimes with "why?" in the heart of our happiness»
Ne me quitte pas
Don't leave me
Moi je t'offrirai des perles de pluie venues de pays ou il ne pleut pas
"I will offer you pearls of rain, coming from lands where it doesn't rain"
Je creuserai la terre jusqu'après ma mort pour couvrir ton corps d'or et de lumières
"I will dig the ground until after I'm dead, to cover you with gold and light"
Je ferai un domaine ou l amour sera roi où l'amour sera loi, où tu seras reine
"I will make a kingdom, where love will be king, where love will be law, and where you will be queen"
Ne me quitte pas
Don't leave me
Je t'inventerai des mots insensés que tu comprendras
"I will create for you meaningless words that only you will understand
Je te parlerai de ces amants là qui ont vu deux fois leurs coeurs s'embraser
"I will tell you about theses lovers who saw their hearts burn for love twice»
Je te raconterai l histoire de ce roi mort de n'avoir pas pu te rencontrer
"I will tell you the story of this king who died because he couldn't meet you"
Ne me quitte pas
Don't leave me
On a vu souvent rejaillir le feu de l ancien volcan qu'on croyait trop vieux
"We often saw the fire from the old volcano rebound, even though we thought it was too old"
Il est parait il des terres brûlées donnant plus de blé qu'un meilleur avril
"There are, they say, burned lands giving more wheat than in the best April"
Et quand vient le soir pour qu un ciel flamboie, le rouge et le noir ne s'épousent ils pas
"And when comes the evening, for a sky to shine, don't we see red and black going together? "
Ne me quitte pas
"Don't leave me"
Je ne vais plus pleurer , je ne vais plus parler je me cacherai la à te regarder danser et sourire et à t'écouter chanter, rire, laisse moi devenir l'ombre de ton ombre, l'ombre de ta main, l'ombre de ton chien, mais ne me quitte pas, ne me quitte pas ….
"I will not cry anymore, will not talk anymore, I will hide here, looking at you smiling, and dancing, and listening to you singing, laughing... Let me become the shadow of your shadow, the shadow of your hand, the shadow of your dog, but don't leave me, don't leave me … don't leave me..."
Marshall's voice was barely a whisper when the song ended. She could see traces of tears on his cheeks, traces he didn't care she could see. Once again, he had told her what he was keeping inside him, this time using the words of another man in pain, seeing the woman he loved disappear from his life. She knew he just couldn't stand that.
Mary's hand went to the iPod, silencing it, before coming back to her face to hide the tears that were coming from her eyes. The song had been painful when she couldn't understand the words, but now it was heart-breaking. She was running out of words, and more importantly, out of the words she needed to tell her partner.
Mary had turned to the window and had grabbed her Blackberry, looking at something, when Marshall looked at her a few minutes later. She was surely looking for the translation of the song on the net, he thought, when he heard his own phone vibrate.
He grabbed his phone, to see he had received a text message. From Mary:
Je ne te quitterai jamais.
Maybe there was hope, after all.
That's it. Really hope you enjoyed ! If so, please leave a message after the tone by a review. It would be much appreciated.