At least he had all his front teeth. People didn't trust people who missed more than two teeth in the front, how could you trust a man when he couldn't even keep his own teeth? Monsieur Thérnadier knew it, so through the years, he had managed to keep a decent smile, inviting, trust worthy. The smile and the right words would be enough, or so he hoped.
"And you being such a…a classy man" He spoke out loud, moving his hands as he walked down the street. "And you, being such an understanding monsieur. And you. You, monsieur! Being such an understanding and dignified man. Yeah, that's it!" He snapped his fingers and grinned.
This was nothing new, monsieur Thérnadier knew his way around it. Back in Montfermeil all it took was a round of whiskey on the inn, and there would be no talk of debts for months. When they finally evicted him it was from afar, they wouldn't have been able to otherwise, not if they had been to the inn. To him, that was a victory of sorts. He smirked and took his hat off as he stepped into the pub.
"Hello, my man, is monsieur Jacques here?" He asked at the bar.
"Upstairs"
Monsieur walked towards the stairs, repeating the speech he had been perfecting during the morning. As he heard the wood of the steps creaking he hoped he would remember when to smile, afterall, that was the key.
"Am I seeing correctly, Vincent?" Frère Jacques's voice sounded even before he arrived to the second floor.
"Look at that, the hardest man to find in Paris" Jacques smiled, but his eyes were stern and made monsieur Thérnadier play with the hat he held in his hands.
"Hasn't skipped town, you owe me ten sous." One of the henchmen whispered.
"Give him time." The other replied.
"Ah monsieur Jacques, sorry for that. You know how it is, us good men can never catch a break" Monsieur Thérnadier said, taking a chair from a nearby table to sit right in front of the older man.
"See? What did I tell you? I know how to choose them, and here he is, an honest man who has come to pay his debts" Jacques smiled, pointing at monsieur.
"Of course, of course, I have the money. Well, it's actually a funny story, monsieur, I had the money, had it all yesterday, but, you see, our precious little daughter became ill, terribly so. Oh monsieur it began with this cough, first very normal, but by noon it turned into this dry cough" Monsieur Thérnadier stopped to cough loudly, adding some wheezing as well " What kind of father wouldn't worry? And we waited, and waited, but it only got worse, monsieur. Oh it only got worse! Our little angel kept coughing and when I looked at my handkerchief I saw it was all covered with blood, monsieur, more blood than a heavenly creature like that should ever expel. That's when we went to the hospital."
"And what happened, is she alright?" Jaques asked, calmly.
"I was up all night watching her, praying, begging God not to take our angel away. And I think he listened monsieur because by the morning she was feeling better. She's as good as new now, but I fear the whole experience was expensive, and I must say I lost a lot of money, barely have enough left. I'm so sorry, monsieur, but I'll give you all we have, because I am an honorable man, monsieur, I am. And you. You monsieur!"
Monsieur Thérnadier hit the table with his fist and held back some fake tears.
"You being such an understanding and dignified man, I know you'll -"
The older man raised a hand and remained silent as he grabbed the bottle on the table and filled a glass. Then he slid it towards Thérnadier.
"Calm down, my friend, breathe" He replied calmly. "I wouldn't even talk with a man who didn't put family first, what does a man have in this world if he doesn't have his family?"
"It's exactly what I think, yes monsieur. Couldn't have said it better" Thérnadier replied, taking the glass and gulping half of the content. "And top of everything the roof at the apartment has been crumbling down, and the landlord, of course, is nowhere to be found."
"Typical of course, I'll eat my own cravat when I find an honorable landlord."
"Some men just don't have any shame, it's like they were born without it monsieur. And on top of everything, I can't work as fast as I wish, my back has been killing me, I think I'm getting old."
"Age is a curse worse than death, my friend," Jaques chuckled exposing a set of teeth that would have been perfect if only his right fang wasn't overlapping over another tooth "my left knee is practically useless."
"You, monsieur? But you look younger every time I see you! You seem to have found the fountain of youth, I'll have to figure out your secret!" Monsieur Thérnadier laughed.
"Oh, well I'll gladly tell it to you now, c'mon, lean a little bit closer" Jacques commanded. Monsieur Thérnadier leaned closer, listening carefully as the man whispered "My secret is that I'm a very patient man, but I have limits."
Suddenly Jacques snapped his finger and the next thing Monsieur Thérnadier felt was his head being smashed violently against the edge of the table by one of the henchmen.
"You have two days to pay. No excuses." Jacques stated leaning back and taking a sip from his drink. "Now get out of my sight."
Monsieur Thérnadier felt the warm blood come down from his nose, as he stood up slowly.
"Two days, no problem." Monsieur Thérnadier replied giving the man a small grin before stumbling away, pressing a handkerchief against his nostrils. He walked downstairs as the ultimatum repeated itself in his head, two days. He walked outside, and cursed loudly when he noticed he had left his hat inside. He mumbled something and walked away, as he ran his tongue over his teeth, feeling the salty taste left. He then noticed one of them was loose and when he stopped to look at it on one of the windows of the nearby houses, he realized it would probably fall by the end of the day.
Even as they walked calmly away from the market, Azelma could still hear her heart pounding in her ears. Today, she had done better than other days. A total of three handkerchiefs and a watch, which almost cost her everything if Éponine hadn't step in to distract the fellow as she slid the chain out of his pocket. Azelma smiled as they kept walking, but she wished they had tried another remedy for the lice, for the one Marie had applied was making the itch worse.
"Are you sure this works?" Azelma asked Marie, raising a lock of her hair. "It feels weird"
"And it smells weird" Gavroche added, looking at his sister´s hair.
"I know, but it works, believe me, when it comes to hair, I know a thing or two. If my grandmother told me something, it's you can tell just about anything about a girl by looking at her hair, it's true."
"Don't you get tired of making stuff up?" Éponine smiled, and Azelma chuckled.
"I didn't make it up! Look at my hair, for instance, it says 'wise beyond her years'" Marie smiled "Your hair, on the other hand, dear Éponine, says 'terrified'"
"Terrified? Of what, if I may know?"
"Of everything, dear, everything in this city."
"What does my hair say?" Azelma asked, before her sister could reply anything.
"Your hair, well that's more complicated, let me see." Marie stopped, and suddenly moved in front of the younger girl, grabbing her slightly by the shoulders as she stared carefully. "Your hair, young lady, says 'lice'" Marie laughed loudly and resume walking as she added "Actually, your hair clearly says you're obedient, well educated."
"Truly?"
"Truly." Marie replied before shifting her attention to Éponine "Now, I believe it's time for me to show the surprise."
"You insist on that?" Éponine asked with a faint sigh.
"I do."
"Fine." Éponine then looked at her siblings "Go to the apartment, alright? I'll be there soon."
"Can't we stay?" Gavroche asked.
"Sorry, little man, I don't think so." Marie concluded, and without further ado, the two younger Thérnadier siblings made their way towards La Perle.
"Do you think I'm obedient?" Azelma asked her brother, playing with the watch in her pocket. She didn't even need to hear Gavroche's response, she knew the answer, she was basically touching it at the moment, for all her extra effort she had put into pick pocketing today was for her father, even if she did like the shivers that went down her spine each time she approached a new victim.
"It was different back home" She sighed. "Nadege, Pauline and I would do all sorts of crazy things. I don't know, maybe it's different when your friends are around"
"I don't think it's a bad thing, I mean, listening to father, at least he doesn't give you a hard time. Well not as bad as Ponine at least."
"I guess" Azelma replied faintly, but she remained pensive as they went around the corner "It wouldn't kill me…to stand up to him every now and then, though."
"Well maybe not kill, but..."
"You're exaggerating" She smiled, ruffling his blond hair. "So anyway, what's with the boys who stole your shoes, what's their problem?"
And as Azelma listened to her brother's complaints, she thought that at least he had something to talk about. He couldn't know how lucky he was to have a bad day, rather than no day at all, for, by now, she had become the queen of the no-days. She had seen the sun go up and down, as if nothing had happened in between. Sometimes she found herself in the apartment while Éponine worked with father and Gavroche was who knows where, so she would just walk around, sit in front of the window with her bare feet against the warm glass and think the same stain from yesterday was still there. She wouldn't say anything though because the last time she mentioned the odd stain her mother had made her clean all the windows. By now she was starting to miss school, but helping Éponine rob was proving to be fairly amusing, so each day she set herself with new goals. But she still wished someone she could talk to. Éponine seemed to be always busy going one place or another, and Gavroche, well he was a good listener, but he was still too young to understand, after all, she was about to turn twelve now and the subjects that interested them both seemed fewer and fewer. Still, that didn't stop them from laughing in their room that night as soon as they saw the gap in their father's grin, or shiver when, some hours later, the door opened and Éponine entered the complex, smelling as if she had fallen into a pool of whiskey.
Hello, I hope you're enjoying the story!
I want to thank Hagios and honeypleasedontflatteryourself for their support!
As always feel free to leave any comment, suggestion, idea, critique, insult, opinion, question, you want!
Greetings from Colombia