TIME MACHINE CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
A/N Disclaimer: The background history of the characters in this story is not necessarily the same as the ones used by the Casualty scriptwriters. I do not own Casualty.
The next day Madame Duffine accosted them at breakfast. She was brandishing a newspaper nearly in their faces.
"So! We have a woman who pretends to be a man, and a vulgar dancer who pretends to be a lady so she and her friends can get rooms in my establishment. And here-" she pointed to Ethan, who was eating his breakfast without a care in the world – "we have a man who thinks he is an elephant!"
She whipped the dish of croissants out of Ethan's reach. He gave a little gibber of rage.
"You filthy Bohemians are out by midday, compris? And do not dare to ask for a refund."
Lucius, lack of sleep and misery about his nightmare getting the better of him, shouted:
"You're a horrible, mean lady!"
Nobody was prepared for what happened next. Madame Duffine slapped Lucius hard across the face. Ben was across the room in a couple of paces.
"I have never struck a woman yet, Madame. But if you do not apologise to our ward this minute I shall make an exception for you."
She looked at Ben's pale face and set lips and realised he meant it. She said coldly:
"I am sorry I hit you, child."
"Speak to him at his own level, or are your knees too creaky?" Ben persisted.
Looking viciously at Ben, she knelt to the little boy.
"I am sorry I hit you."
Ben nodded tersely. Dylan was upset by how horny the incident had made him feel.
"We are leaving, Madam Duffine. You are a mean, spiteful woman and we can now afford a decent lodging. We will all be gone by midday."
Cal was a little worried, knowing Ethan could sometimes go to his second childhood when he had been upset or challenged. This time, however, his eyes were sparkling.
"We're leaving? Whooo-eeeeeeee!"
He charged upstairs. A few minutes later the bedsprings in his room twanged dangerously.
"Ethan" , Cal told him, "Seriously? Bouncing on the bed?"
"It seems to me I'm going to have two babies to take care of" sighed Jess.
They packed their few belongings and marched past Madame Duffine.
Everyone else walked past her without a word, even Ben.
Nobody expected Dylan to have anything to say but he made an elaborate bow and said:
"Adieu, Madame Hatchet-face."
The new lodgings couldn't have been more of a contrast. The charming Marie-Claire Bellecoeur, their new landlady, welcomed them smilingly.
"Ah, the delightful Cheeky Rita from last night! How my son has sung your praises today, the naughty boy!"
"Please could our ward sleep in the same room as ourselves? He has nightmares" Ben explained.
"Ah, poor little thing! What is your name?"
"Lucius, Madame."
"Lucius, I have a fine old tomcat who loves to be stroked and petted. Will you play with him while you are staying here?"
"I'd love to. Thank you!"
Lucius became calmer, being allowed to share a room with Ben and Dylan – they were never sure if Marie-Claire knew their actual relationship but were heartened by the fact that she trusted them completely with the small boy.
Constantin and La Scintillante became a huge success, this being helped by Zidler's imaginative ideas:
"Now in this song, you, Constance, are the proud Army Officer, and you, Rita, are his far from unwilling prisoner…. Constantin, in this rather sad scene, you are the poet who dreams of a beautiful muse, and then Rita will appear like a vision but sadly she will always vanish with the dawn, leaving the poet alone and sad."
He introduced arias from Offenbach operettas that were not too difficult to sing, and there were a couple of crafty thefts from Gilbert and Sullivan, which made Dylan wince as he sat in the audience. Ben had managed to get himself a job at a nightclub around the corner where male singers were needed, and he was vastly relieved to find he didn't need to dress in drag, just in a clean suit. However not all audiences were kind.
Dylan went to fetch Ben after his performance one night and found him crumpled in the alley behind the nightclub, the pouring rain helping to wash the blood from a vicious cut on his lip and to soothe his swollen eye.
"At least I kept all my teeth" he joked grimly. Dylan, however, was sickened.
"And he did this to you just because he suspected you were gay?"
Ben nodded grimly.
"The sh*t. Come on, sweetheart, let's get you back and patch you up."
"Supposing Madame Bellecoeur suspects the worst?"
"Ah, she's sound. Come on, now, you're soaked."
Madame Bellecoeur had only sympathy for Ben and rage for his attacker.
"Ah, I have no time for prejudices! Now, my friend, you are to have this glass of brandy to settle your nerves… M'sieur Dylan had better have one as well… and then you shall sleep. I advise that you do not go back to that job. Those ladies are earning enough to pay for everybody's lodgings."
"I just want to pay my way" Ben replied sadly.
"Ah, I have it! You shall help me! I have jobs in my garden that you can do, and for this I shall take a discount from the price of your lodgings. But no work tomorrow, you must rest those ribs."
"RIBS?" yelled Dylan, instantly apologising.
"Alas, M'sieur, your friend has bad bruising."
"Show me!" Dylan commanded.
Ben showed him in the bedroom. Ugly bruises, turning a colourful mix of blue and purple, ran along his ribs.
"Hell! Isn't there one place on this earth, at one time, where we can all live in peace?"
"I don't think there is, Dylan. People being what they are... " Ben changed the subject.
"I still have a dream of getting back home."
"To 2014?"
Ben nodded.
"But we'll be blown apart by Hanssen's thugs if we go back. And we can't just programme the machine like that."
"I know" Ben said gently, "But I have this dream of seeing my parents again."
"I dream of going back and getting a dog. I want a dog, Ben."
"I'd love that!"
"In the meantime, we just go on. Trying to find that one place where people care."
It sounded like a good plan. The next day when they discussed it at breakfast, Cal , Ethan and Jess were happy to keep searching. What they weren't prepared for was the fact that Connie and Rita had fallen in love with Paris and the Moulin Rouge.
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