Chapter 6
Anything organized by a company you work for always seems to be the same thing, a lame excuse for a social gathering. Even the Disney park team is not exempt form this rule. An alcohol free, more virginal kid friendly than sexually active adult friendly 'picnic' greeted Frollo when he stepped of the bus that had taken the characters there after they're shift.
Only one other person from his Paris, Clopin, had come. Claude had actually asked him why when he spotted him. His reply was,
"Well it was either this load of shit or the load of shit waiting for me back 'home'."
Thankfully Anya spotted him not long after his arrival and led him to a secluded spot in front of the movie screen. She had set up another little private luncheon for them, but with strange modern foods. He gave her a quizzical look and she shrugged a bit.
"They wouldn't let me bring outside stuff."
He heaved a sigh.
"It'll do."
They sat together and watched some of the scenes around them while waiting for the sun to finish setting and the film to start. Clopin seemed to have gotten caught up in a tug of war game with toons against humans, and it gave Claude great pleasure to see him dragged into the mud pit between the teams.
Some people had brought their children, who Anya said had gotten into a huge bowl of candy in the food tent and were still crazy high on sugar. He believed that seeing how they screamed at nothing and ran at about 1000 miles per hour. Most people had broken into groups and were spread out at various places and were chatting about nothing.
Some others were acting like buffoons on the inflatable games, like playing 'novice contortionist' on the twister, or yanking them selves forward as far as they could against giant bungee cords, or worse yet, bouncing around one inflatable with boxing gloves the size of their own torsos.
Anya shook her head and rolled her eyes, Claude smiled and a tiny chuckle escaped from him. He caught himself and cleared his throat. The sun took forever to set in the late July heat, and stained the sky fiery orange and blood red.
"When is this movie supposed to begin?" asked Claude.
"Um…" Anya looked at her watch, "in about one hour."
"Then I suggest we go for a walk while its still light."
"Alright."
They both got up, Anya paused to brush of her skirt; when she looked up, Claude was offering his arm to her. She grinned a little and took it and they set of on one of the asphalt paths of the park.
Once the noise of the picnic had faded away, they started talking. Not about anything important really, Anya told him about some of the memories she had of the forests she used to camp in every summer back in Minnesota. Her parents had built a Dacha or cabin in the North Woods and the family went there practically every weekend in warm summer months.
Claude listened to her, asked her questions about Minnesota, and even felt comfortable enough to share a memory of the courtyard garden of his university. Eventually the path wound its way around and they came back to the noisy picnic. The first sight that greeted them was of a still mud covered Clopin trying to pick dried clump from his beard.
Claude held in a storm of laughter with great effort and ushered Anya back to their blanket. By the time they got back it was twilight at last and other people were gathering in front of the movie screen. Claude's inner storm erupted as soon as he sat down and while he was incapacitated Anya looked cautiously about her and started digging in the basket. Claude could barely speak through his laughter.
"Anya, Anya what are you doing?"
"Looking for…" she grasped something in the basket and did one last look around before pulling it out.
"This."
In her hands was a bottle of Domaine De Clos De L'Epinay Bordeaux. Claude stopped laughing immediately and sat straight up.
"Where did you get that you evil, incredible girl?"
Anya smiled and giggled a bit.
"An old friend of my father's works for the Grand Hotel in St. Petersburg buying all they're wine. He sends us extra bottles from time to time, and I asked Papa to send the best French bottle he had."
"Best French? This could be the best in the world!"
"Shh! Keep it down, this is supposed to be a dry party. We'd better open it now while there's still some noise, or else we'll have to time it with the gunshots in the movie."
Frollo nodded and concealed the precious bottle in his hands while she dug out the glasses and corkscrew. They opened it o-so quietly and carefully and he poured the glasses with expert grace. He raised his glass to her and she did the same.
"A votre santé."
"Spasibo, budem zdorovy."
Claude took in the incredible bouquet of that wine and then only took the tiniest sip. Anya took a larger drink but savored it for some time.
"What was that you said?"
Anya looked at him.
"Hmm?"
"It was obviously Russian, but what does it mean?"
"Spasibo means thank you, and budem zdorovy means; lets be healthy. Yours meant, to your health, right?"
He nodded. Anya smiled to herself and settled down as the screen lit up and the movie started. The Mission was quite an interesting film, about Jesuit priests founding missions in the South American jungles that were built on soon-to-be Portuguese territory where the natives they try to save may be enslaved no matter what they're belief. As the former mercenary and slave trader Rodrigo took the vows to become a Jesuit near the middle of the movie, Claude's eyes flickered back to Anya.
She was caught in the story and was unaware of his gaze at first, but she soon felt his eyes on her. She turned her own gaze to him but unlike other times he did not turn back. Rather they seemed to be drawn closer together till she was so near he could felt the warmth of her skin and smell the flowery wine on her lips, her red, lush lips.
Maybe the wine had clouded his head, maybe the darkness made him feel more secure, something allowed him to come that close to her.
He looked back and forth between her eyes and her mouth unsure of what to do next. He felt himself slip a little closer and something in him started screaming
Kiss her you idiot! Kiss her now!
His breathing sped up and he lifted his hand to gently cradle her head, then tilted his own and leaned in.
Victory. It was sweet and mellow, and seemed to last a decade. By the time he pulled back Anya had lost track of time. She didn't much care either. She snuggled up to him reveled in the fruits of her labor. He wrapped one arm around her and rested his head on hers. For the first time in a painfully long time man and woman were content and completely at ease.
But as all couples soon learn, peace of mind and above all, privacy, are very temporary things. Most others around them were distracted either by the movie or another, but a few loners spotted the two of them and by the time they would return to their duties the next day their romance would be all over the park. For now though they enjoyed one another's company blissfully unaware of how much fighting they would have to do just to stay that way.
