Defy Time
Simic
Once a day in Copenhagen, France... There was once a man before the French Revolution began who earned a very reasonable title but lost everything dear, foolish story though...
A man was holding a newspaper with a headline, saying something about the queen's kidnapping. He rushed to the living room and approached the old woman's chair,
"Sorry, I got to go mom!" A man kissed the old woman in the living room, it was full of things occupying the corners, and there was a huge Victorian fireplace that was complimented by a bear skin rug. Leather chairs with quality silk covering the backrest. It was all filled with such splendor none can explain! He runs to the kitchen, dropping his keys. He was wearing a beige detective coat with a black necktie, a badge stating Copenhagen Agency of Inspection (CAOI), and a pair of glasses.
"Father, see you later. Got to go to work. Bye!" He kisses an old man sitting in his office chair reading newspaper. He dashes up the front door and went past the lush, green clearing colonized by cypress trees and a huge sycamore tree in the middle, accompanied by a huge fountain with a statue of a cupid standing with one foot. He rushed to his car, seeing that it was 10:18, late. He grabbed his bag and tried to look for the keys he had lost earlier.
"Oh that blasted key!" He opened the passenger's car door, it was auto-locked. He reached out for his car door, auto-locked too. And finally, he opened the window and pushed himself out forcefully. He runs past a pillar, instantly changing the scenery into a train station. He pushes all the people before him, causing them to fall like dominos.
"Watch where you're going, hotshot!"
"Yeah! And form your line!" People began to scream with such anger that it coerced him to cover his ears.
"But I'm in a hurry! A ticket to Paris please." He quickly handed the payment to the cashier and got the ticket then skipped the red velvet bar, ignoring the guard.
"HEY!" The guard began to chase him as the ticket fell from his hand and landed at the guard's face. The focus changes instantly to a woman just got in the train; she put on lip balm and smacked to fill her lips with it. Then the man slid across the open train door, and dashed in with no eyes open. The next thing he knew was that he was already making a scandal, he was kissing the woman! He pulled himself off the kiss and made a smooching sound.
"Sorry about that." He scratches his head in apology.
"It was nothing, really. You didn't actually kiss me, you kissed another woman." She pointed her finger at an old woman about 72 years old and raggedly retorted,
"Why, hello there handsome!" The old woman bent her fingers seductively saying hello.
He spit out saliva in reply,
"Yuck, that was certainly gross and disturbing." He pouted out.
"Yeah, that happens to many people." The woman replied,
"Marcus Winchester. You are?" He offered his hand, asking,
"Therese Lambridge. Nice meeting you, Marcus." said Therese as she shook his hand.
"Oh. Nice meeting you too, uh, Therese." He smiled at her as he began to sit down the chair just beside him,
"Oh, would you like to have a seat?" offered Marcus, she shook her head in denial.
"I'll just look for another, thank you." She focused on the seats searching for a vacant one. Every seat was occupied!
"Guess I'll just sit here. Coincidence, isn't it?"
"I don't think so, because coincidence isn't true. It's natural." He responded,
"Oh, natural. Good answer, I guess. So where are you heading?" asked Therese, her eyes wondering at the sights.
"Paris, what about you?"
"I don't know, anywhere. And umm, I'm from some another place. Just can't remember, all I can remember was that I fell in one of this alley named Bordeaux aux Noir. Weird arrangement of names, maroon in black?"
"Yeah, that alley used to be famous because of the eerie phantom that used to call out portals in the night. And every after that night, newcomers begin to appear. And the phantom there used to be a real person, well... not in this era though." Marcus began to narrate; his words began to haunt her memory as he continued, but a few minutes later.
"Oh, Paris. Wait, before I go... do you have any house where I can call you?" asked Marcus,
"Well... no. But I have a very huge favor."
"Anything for a new friend." He smiled as she began to drag his head near her mouth and began to whisper.
"Well, I guess there's no harm with you coming with me. Since I'm forced to stay there for one year."
"Yippee! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" She hugged him tight until she heard bones crunching,
"AAh... choking... Can't bReaThe... bones... CRushEd... OuCH... STOP... can't..."
"Oh sorry about that, Marcus... eheh... hrmm-mm..." said Therese, clearing her throat.
"Whoa, quite a grip you got there!" replied Marcus, shrugging his shoulder, making a cracking sound.
"Oww... that hurts too."
"Really sorry."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there, done that." Marcus laughed, forcing her to laugh too.
"Well, time's running out. Better get off this train before the door closes."
"Shall we?" Marcus bent his arm, requesting for accompaniment.
"Oui!" For the first time, she spoke French! He didn't know because her surname sounds rather American than French.
"Um..." riposted Marcus,
"Are you... French?" He continued,
"No, but my mother is."
"Oh," He paused, looking at the busy street finding where to settle for awhile.
"Do you want to have lunch? Or dinner, perhaps?" He suggested, trouncing a silly smirk.
"Why not? Lunch would be better, it's afternoon." She teased, knowing that it'd annoy him very well. He winced for a while, then changed it into a smile from ear to ear, he knew it'd be a blast.
"Where do you want to eat? A gourmet restaurant, coffee brasserie, or I suggest... a five-star hotel?" He smiled sweetly for he thought that it'd please her so much.
"Oh but, Marcus... you... you know I can't take such offer, it's so expensive!"
"Oh but it's nothing, really. Now, now dear... don't fret." said Marcus as he grabbed his handkerchief, wiping sweat off her face. An hour after,
"Oh the sylvannas are baked to perfection; I don't think I could have more."
"Oh please do up to your satisfaction, leave it to me." He replied, striking a goofy grin in his face.
"Oh waiter! Another platter of sylvannas please." Then he changed his gaze outside, at the police station. There was a huge, recognizable poster of the queen with a reward if rescued.
"Yes, sire. Would it be custard sauce or vanilla?" The waiter questioned,
"Therese, what do you want?" asked Marcus, still gazing at the poster and figured it out. He changed the queuing, puckered brow to a frustrated languish,
"I'd have both for you and me." Said Therese, as the waiter landed a plate full of sylvannas again.
"Oh that was a charming dinner." She stated, expressing a very jolly beam.
"Glad to see you pleased." He was flattered, for the first time in his life, he never felt so good.
"So can I show you now my suite? It has two bedrooms actually, so don't get any ideas." He teased, laughing after the words he had just spoken.
"Oh don't worry. I think it'd be great." She changed direction of walking towards him, kicking the stones getting in the way.
"I don't know, but yes. Great indeed." He frowned repulsively,
"There now, you have no raison d'être to sulk. Do you? Now smile, relax. Nothing to fret." said Therese, applying perfume on her face.
"I didn't understand what she said, oh well." He thought, fixing his hair. He inhaled deeply smelling the perfume she had just applied, it smelled like a mixture of chamomile and lavender. His eyes widened in delight, his mouth gradually smirking and his hands trembling in exhilaration.
"Your perfume smells so good!" He retorted, thinking how lucky he is to find someone like her.
"Why thank you, Marcus!" She beamed back,
"It's really nothing, for a friend that is..." Then without prior notice, he frowned deeply forming an uneasy gaze down the broken road...
"What's the matter, Marc?" Therese began to call out another name, still... nothing drove him away from focusing in his mind.
"Who could be behind the disappearance of the queen?" He began to ponder his thoughts, gathering them one by one, the paper he saw posted in the street, the newspaper in the house, and the police station with a huge poster of the queen. It was beyond explanation! He could've figured it out; he is after all, a very cunning inspector judging by the looks of his badge. Everything's unclear, how can such events happen? And so, he decided to run and inspect the case... on his own...
Chapter 2
"Marcus, where are you going? And what's the rush? It's 9:59! And it's full moon." Therese said, left behind and halting Marcus from his thudding steps,
"Full, gulp, moon? Oh you're not talking about that crazy tradition are you? I mean we just knew each other!"
"You know what this means," She closed her head in the view before resuming, "It must be real."
"No, I-I-I mean the love tradition? I can't be with you then!"
"Nah, just take me to your suite. You can do that stuff tomorrow, hot stuff."
"Ho-hot stuff?" Sweat began to fall down his forehead, turning red as she approached him; she put a finger in his mouth,
"A-a-ah, no more talk. Let's just head straight home!" She growled playfully, seductively gnarling but rather hideously,
"I was just joking." She laughed,
"I didn't know you'd fall for it!" This time, the grass was greener,
"N-no! I was just... just playing around, heh... me too!" He scratched his nape and walked away, he was so embarrassed but tried to beat her in her own game,
"She'd better be joking, or else." He whispered, and slowed down to let Therese catch up,
"Hey, what's the hot stuff for by the way?"
"Nothing, really. Just that I want to play a trick on you." responded Therese, and they continued to talk as they vanished down the road.
The next day, in his suite,
"Morning, Marc! Breakfast in bedside table!" She set a silver tray down the side table, a plate with roasted chicken with cranberry sauce, strawberry shortcake a la mode, and his favorite, tuna omelet with parsley as side dish and espresso.
"Oh this is per- is there poison here?" Marcus asked,
"Because you seem different today, I wonder..." said Marcus, he put a hand in his chin mustering whatever happened to her,
"No. I just want to serve breakfast as gratitude for letting me stay in this luxurious penthouse! It's even near the skyline penthouse over there!" pointed Therese,
"That required a lot of money, oh and my response is ha-ha-ha quality thief." said Marcus,
"You don't know me, and neither do I!" She dropped down the chair just near the other bedroom,
"Oh, wa-wait, you don't know yourself?" He chuckled, doubting the words,
"Yes, I don't. Weren't you listening yesterday?" She walked into the kitchen,
"No, I was looking at a post about a kidnapping that I was about to solve myself yesterday full moon but I fell asleep here. Sorry about that, eheh." Marcus absurdly replied, she rolled her eyes in answer as he began to gobble his food. Then, just a second after the second chomp, they heard a ring from the door, and Therese rotated the faucet grip and put water in a kettle at the same time,
"I'll get it. Stay there." He approached the door cautiously and opened it but the chains are still intact,
"Hugh Thames, you remember me?" The man just outside said, fixing his hair and shrugged his shoulders to warm up.
"O-oh, company. Come in." said Marcus pretentiously, he unchained the Maplewood door and enter Hugh,
"Oh, so sorry. Didn't know you had a wife, Marcus!" Hugh stared at Therese strangely,
"Oh, she's not. She's just my uh-umm... live-in partner, since she had nowhere to go here in Paris."
"Oh great, thanks a lot Marc." She angrily gnashed her teeth, boiling the water inside the kettle she was just about to heat.
"So Hugh, what made you come here?" said Marcus, as he opened the latest Time magazine issue, drinking the espresso Therese made,
"This is great!" complimented Marcus,
"Heard about the kidnapping?"
"Yeah, and?" asked Marcus, who is wincing currently as he focused back his gaze at Hugh,
"Want to solve it? I'll come with you."
"No way! I'll solve it!" said Marcus, spitting the espresso in his mouth landing on Hugh's pants,
"Great... you really did it, Marc." He nastily replied with furrows down,
"Sorry about that, well I've decided. Let's just do this together, shall we?"
"Well, glad to hear you say the words I've been expecting." He picked up the brazier and the tongs, throwing coals inside the fireplace and secretly setting a transmitter with a strange gum below the armrest of the couch. Minutes later,
"I should go now, I have an appointment. See you later!" bade Hugh, waving his hands.
"Farris, it's all set." Then the panorama changes from the suite to a control panel room,
"Tracking device is located, coordinates X-172 and Y-133, Latitude 27 degrees east, Longitude 45 degrees north. Got that right, Hugh?"
"Everything's going to plan, secure the queen." responded Hugh, laughing evilly as it echoes the hallway, then the elevator clicks and room service approaches,
"Hrmm-hmm, I'll get that for you, room service." Hugh courteously suggested,
"Thank you, sire. I'll be leaving now." The room service walked away with steps heard until the sound vanished. Hugh rolled the cart to the sidewall, leaving it be.
Meanwhile, back inside the room,
"I got a partner, well that was easy. You want to go to the mall?" asked Marcus,
"Why yes, I'll just be dressing up and can I use the shower?"
"Well... okay, but don't change the thermostat. It changes the-" She didn't hear the rest anymore, she fled the living room and into the shower room,
Marcus resumed, "Coldness only and you can't return it to norm- Oh what's the worst thing that could happen, nothing I guess." He left the living room and into his bedroom, locking the door of course. He opened it once again and heard Therese serenading inside the shower, he beamed and returned to the room, tearing up his clothes.
Eleven minutes later, the shower door opened with a fog covering up the view, Therese exited with a turban-like style of towel in her hair. And at the same time, Marcus exited the door with a very extravagant tuxedo! He made it out of the torn clothes,
"Voila!" exclaimed Marcus as he presented his tux,
"You look rather debonair, wow." said Therese, who was clapping her hands,