Chapter 10 – How now?
´He looked fine. And he acted just like he always did though he was rather quiet. Did you notice he didn't wear socks? Well, I still understand why he told Francois he didn't need him anymore. He is a man who likes his independency. And before you know it he will wear shirts again, not T-shirts. And shoes with laces.
´He's still wearing black,´ kitchen maid Anna mentioned.
´Good lord girl, something would be seriously wrong when Mr Romero stops wearing black! Anyway, I'm glad he's back and as far as I know he hasn't seen Her Majesty since Saturday.´
´He is on sick leave Mrs Danieli!´ Anna said.
´Yes, you're right dear,´ the cook said and she glanced at the housekeeper's assistant, who did understand her point.
OoOoOoO
Joe was pleased with himself for having had lunch in the canteen. No one had eyed him funnily or mentioned the subject he dreaded. Why had he been nervous about seeing his colleagues? His concussion was to blame, no doubt about it.
Apart from going to the canteen Joe had made another resolution, but there were many excuses not to keep it: reading the paper, checking e-mail and making a long walk at the estate needed his full concentration and didn't combine with thinking about what Clarisse had said.
He checked what time it was and then turned on the TV. He'd found out that on week-days episodes of the A-team were shown. He made himself comfortable on the couch. Hannibal and his men were replaced by the Ewing family. Joe kept watching. After Dallas another old series made its appearance.
´Alf!´
His voice sounded gruff. He cleared his throat. ´That has been a while.´
He watched half the episode about the furry alien and then he turned off the TV for he started to feel like a pathetic loser. What was he supposed to do? His days were normally filled with work, sports. Clarisse.
He turned on the TV again and he was pleased when he found an awarded documentary to watch.
OoOoOoO
Queen Clarisse felt like closing her eyes for just a moment so she could picture the hand lying on the small of her back to be Joseph's. Lord Jalva, who waltzed her around, would notice that however and so would the many people watching her.
´Do you recall the performance of Don Carlo we saw in the early 1980's Lord Jalva?´
The nobleman's eyes darted to the Queen's face.
´I'm not sure Your Majesty.´
The Queen gave him some names to remember the performance by but her partner's expression left no doubt that nothing about it had lingered and he honestly told her so, adding that he had enjoyed the Don Carlo they had just witnessed. Over the Queen's shoulder Lord Jalva saw Viscount Mabrey raising his eyebrows at him and making a gesture as if he was to step in. Jalva led the Queen to another part of the dance floor. He wasn't willing to separate from his feminine, sweet smelling liege and he day-dreamed about them being together in a more private setting. With a smile he answered a question about his youngest son who was on a journey around the world, doing volunteer's work.
´For the past month Javier's been teaching English at an elementary school in Kenia.´
´How wonderful. He'll learn so much!´
Bertrand Jalva voiced his agreement and added: ´Javier will be back in five weeks. Which reminds me: I heard that your head of security has returned for duty?´
´He did return,´ the Queen replied, ´but according to his doctor he can't work yet.´
In a greasy tone Jalva said: ´I do hope the man will soon recover. From what I've heard he's a good solid employee. I trust that his substitute is doing a fine job?´
´For as far as it is within his power the acting head of security protects me from harm.´
Lord Jalva nervously copied the Queen's smile. He was sure that the Viscount would have come up with a witty reply but unlike Mabrey he was a refined gentleman, wasn't he?
OoOoOoO
Joe's fingers traced the contours of his Queen. His eyes were also glued to her picture in the morning paper. Months ago she'd told him that she had ordered a nearly backless dress ´for your eyes only Joseph´. Had she worn it to remind him? He hadn't been waiting down the stairs when she'd ascended. Hadn't kissed her hand. Hadn't let his eyes communicate that she looked beautiful. He pushed aside the guilt he felt by reasoning that their lack of contact wasn't caused by him alone.
´And I haven't deliberately forgotten about the opera,´ Joe heard himself say.
OoOoOoO
Charlotte removed her bag from the chair next to hers so Joe could sit down for lunch. Colonel Frerer inquired after his health. Joe briefly informed her about it and added: ´But please colonel. I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation.´
´We were just talking about Star Trek Joe,´ Charlotte said. ´I told the colonel about an episode I once saw. I found it cruel.´
´It was the episode in which Deanna Troi had to take an exam on the Holodeck,´ the colonel told Mr Romero. Joe shrugged to indicate that he didn't know it.
´She was presented with a script, ´ the officer explained. ´The Enterprise was in danger and if she didn't take the right action, everyone on it would die. It was clear what she had to do, but she kept searching for alternatives. There were none and she failed the test. However, after receiving the obligatory wise lesson she was allowed to try it again and she ordered her friend and colleague Geordi La Forge to save the day, knowing it would cost him his life.´
´See?´ Charlotte said. ´Cruel. Say Joe, do you read a lot these days?´
´I take the opportunity to see some DVD boxes I bought years ago.´
Charlotte wanted to know what he was watching and Joe told her. Unlike Charlotte the colonel had seen Elizabeth R too. Joe asked her for her opinion.
´I remember that I had to get used to see Robert Hardy as a lover.´
Joe grinned.
´And I did not like it that Elizabeth was made to wear a strait-jacket while her father got away with having mistresses and beheading two of his wives.´
´Different times colonel,´ Charlotte said with a shrug. She reminded Joe that he would show her the pictures he'd made during his holiday.
OoOoOoO
´Valais!´
Guard Valais turned his back to a candy machine. Seeing his colleague Capras walk toward him he calmly took the wrap from a Mars he'd just bought.
´You're on duty man!´ Capras angrily said.
´The boss heard my stomach rumble and he told me to get a bite.´
´Teba- Oh! The boss? Is he back on duty?´
´That's what I asked. He told me to pay attention to the screens.´
´Sounds like the old Romero.´
´Yeah. A while later on he said that sick-leave bored him.´
´No surprise there.´
OoOoOoO
The irony of watching not one but fifteen screens and feeling good about it amused Joe. All screens were connected to two or more cameras and screen number six alternately showed the corridor leading to the Japanese Room and said room itself where Her Majesty was presiding a meeting. The cameras showed black and white images only, but from the pattern of the Queen's shawl Joe concluded it was grey with turquoise which would reveal a rare shade of blue in her eyes.
OoOoOoO
PEEP
´That's nice.´
PEEP
´This must be Fabiola.´
´No, that's Magdalena.´
PEEP
´Lovely garden.´
´It's Sofia's pride and -´
PEEP
PEEP
´What's wrong Charlotte?´
Charlotte put down Joe's camera.
´Oh, I just hoped that she would invite me for her meeting about the museum shop. I told her I found the subject interesting. I may not be an expert but I am a consumer. That girl from the merchandising team only cares for money.´
Charlotte continued talking and Joe nodded and hummed at appropriate moments. When Charlotte checked her watch and said that she needed to leave because she had to finish the book for her book club, Joe nodded understandingly. He'd made a decision.
´And I'm off to Her Majesty's office,´ he said. ´She won't have any appointments now…´
Joe waited for Charlotte's confirmation before continuing: ´so I won't disturb her too much when I inform her that I worked in the monitoring room in the afternoon.´
´You did?! That's great!´
´I'm surprised you didn't know already.´
Charlotte laughed contagiously: ´I haven't been in the kitchen since lunch time!´
OoOoOoO
The bright smile on Clarisse's face when she saw him reminded Joe of the way she'd looked at him after he'd returned home from the hospital. It reminded him of many smiles she had bestowed on him. Sweet smiles, sated smiles.
Clarisse put aside the document she was reading, took off her glasses and gestured toward a chair.
´I'm sorry I didn't come to see you earlier,´ Joe started after he'd sat down opposite her desk. ´I realise that you can't just come and see me.´
´Thank you Joseph. I could have made up a reason to summon you, but I felt that you wouldn't appreciate that.´
Joe cleared his throat.
´I walked Maurice twice a day so we might meet in the gardens but I realised that there was no need for you to go for a walk,´ Clarisse said for she wanted Joseph to know that as far as it was in her power she had tried to see him.
Joe nodded but remained silent.
´I thought about Saturday a lot,´ Clarisse continued.
´So did I. ´
Joseph looked at Clarisse. ´I heard Maurice bark near the greenhouse yesterday. I left. I wasn't ready to see you.´
Clarisse quickly recovered. ´But you are here now.´
´Yes.´
Thinking that ready to see apparently didn't mean ready to talk, Clarisse helpfully, if not a little nervously, said: ´We have an unfinished conversation to deal with.´
´You indicated that a discussion about whether or not you would have told me was hypothetical,´ Joe said. ´I guess it is. I'm glad you were spared a decision.´
´So am I.´
´You would have sacrificed your own happiness for you put Genovia first. It's so very you. The Queen and the woman both. But- ´
Joe stopped talking when he saw Clarisse flinch at his last word. She bravely urged him to continue: ´But?´
´What will happen next? What will happen to us?´
´We can still be together Joseph.´
´How close do you want me Corazon?´
Tick-tack. Tick-tack.
Clarisse folded one hand over the other.
´Something changed. It shifted,´ Joseph said. ´You say that we can be together and that our future looks bleak. It seemed a contradiction to me, but I now think that you are right.´
Conscious of the fact that in the monitoring room one of his men was watching his every move within a six second frame, Joe resisted the urge to lean toward the desk.
´The bleakness being that if you feel it is required of you, you will dump me.´
Clarisse's knuckles turned white.
´And even if there's no need for that; you will prefer the certain to the uncertain and keep me hidden.´
Tick-tack. Tick-tack. Tick-tack.
´I don't want that,´ Clarisse said in a small voice that made Joseph's heart ache.
´Nor do I. But that's how things will work out.´
Tick-tack. Tick-tack.
Joseph rose.
´I came to tell you that I spent some hours in the monitoring room today. I needed to do something.´
For the sake of the man in the monitoring room Joseph inclined his head for his Queen. He walked to the door but he stopped when Clarisse called his name.
´What will happen next?´ she asked.
´I will let you know.´
…
…
Author's note: So, what do you think of the story so far? (I hope this isn't going to be the second chapter in a row without any reviews.)