Chapter 12: The Break
Esmeralda woke Frollo at noon, as promised.
"How did you sleep?" She asked.
"Rather well." Frollo said curiously.
He'd enjoyed a dreamless, peaceful sleep this time. It seemed too good to be true, but Frollo thought it best not to question. Maybe the torment in his sleep had ended once and for all. He hoped that was the case.
It was time to visit Quasimodo. Although Frollo had intended for his break not to involve Esmeralda, he decided he should bring her. Letting her and Quasimodo see each other was the best thing he could do to keep the peace in his relationships with both of them.
Quasimodo was glad when Frollo and Esmeralda showed up. Although Frollo was and always had been a source of fear, these visits were becoming the best part of the bell ringer's day since he was able to see Esmeralda. In fact, Frollo thought Quasimodo was becoming a little too eager to be visited. He decided to put some fear in the boy with an unwelcome surprise.
"I'm quizzing you." Frollo announced. "Hopefully you remember your alphabet."
"Oh..." Quasimodo said with unease. "Well, I think I remember it."
"A?"
"Abomination!"
"B?"
"Blasphemy!"
"C?"
"Contrition!"
Esmeralda watched with confusion. What was the meaning of this quiz?
Quasimodo, thankfully, remembered all the answers, cautious not to misremember the "F" this time. Frollo was a bit disappointed that he had no mistake to criticize, but at least he'd succeeded in putting some stress on the boy.
"Well done." Frollo praised with a frown.
"Does this mean you'll bring me a book?" Quasimodo asked hopefully.
"I will consider it." Frollo answered.
Esmeralda wondered what this quiz was all about. She took the opportunity to ask when she had her chance to converse with Quasimodo.
"Oh, Frollo is teaching me to read." The bell ringer explained. "I told him I want to read books because it gets so boring up here. Hopefully he'll finally bring me one to practice with now that I have the alphabet down."
"Really?" Esmeralda questioned. "I wouldn't have pictured him taking the time to teach someone."
"I think it's because he's bored." Quasimodo said with a frown. "His day probably wouldn't be as interesting if he didn't have me to terrorize. I guess that's why he's shown up every day all these years..."
"He certainly does make time for you..." Esmeralda commented.
"Yeah. He says he's never too busy to meet me. Anyway, did you figure out what he was losing his mind over?"
"Not yet..."
Back at the palace, Frollo sat reading again. But it was foolish to assume that he wouldn't be interrupted.
"Quasimodo says you're teaching him to read." Esmeralda mentioned.
"Correct." Frollo said without looking up from his book.
"Could you teach me too?" Esmeralda requested.
Frollo looked up after hearing that. He was surprised at the realization that his wife was illiterate, but it made sense when he thought about it. Most peasants couldn't read. The judge had only forgotten that because he didn't associate with peasants. He'd always been around educated men, those who had to read for their lines of work.
"Why would you want to read?" Frollo questioned.
"Funny that you say that with a book in your hands." Esmeralda mocked. "I just thought it would give me something to do."
"Maybe sometime." Frollo said uncaringly, directing his attention back to the pages.
"What are you reading?" Esmeralda asked.
"An English Poem."
"What's it called?"
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
"Sounds interesting. Why don't you read it to me?"
Frollo grew tired of being spoken to. He rolled his eyes.
"You wouldn't like this." He insisted. "It's just an old story of a knight's quest."
"That sounds exciting." Esmeralda commented. "Will you please read it to me?"
Frollo ignored her.
"Then why don't you tell me something else." Esmeralda suggested. "Where did Quasimodo come from?"
Frollo flinched at the question. He'd always been afraid that someone might discover the truth of this matter. It had been half of his reason for keeping Quasimodo hidden. He wanted to keep ignoring Esmeralda, but the last thing he needed was her speculating.
"He was abandoned. I found him. It's very simple."
"And you raised him purely out of kindness of your heart? I find that hard to believe."
"Believe it or don't. It makes little difference to me."
"You know what I'm starting to think? I think you took him in just so you could bully him. Is that the truth?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
Frollo growled in frustration. He'd anticipated that Esmeralda would be difficult if they lived together, but the number of questions she asked was far more than the judge had bargained for.
"Will you stop it with your questions?!" Frollo thundered.
"I'll stop asking," Esmeralda said mischievously. "If you will read to me."
Suddenly, reading aloud didn't seem so bad. It was a chance for Frollo to focus on his book AND get Esmeralda to shut up.
"Very well..." He gave in.
Esmeralda listened intently to the story, which Frollo read with elegance. She was fascinated as the Green Knight appeared to Arthur and his knights, offering an exchange of blows. It seemed to be over too early when Sir Gawain took the Green Knight's head off, but there was clearly more to come.
"He held straight up the head in his hand," Frollo read. "towards the noblest at the table he twisted his face, and it lifted up its eyelids and looked at them all, and made words with its mouth that they could understand: 'Get ready, Gawain, to go as you vowed, and faithfully seek until you find me, good sir, as you have promised in this place in the presence of these knights. To the Green Chapel go, and get there, I command you, such a hit as you have dealt—indeed you have earned a swift swing in return on New Year's morning! As the Knight of the Green Chapel I am known by many, so if you endeavor to find me, you will not fail. Therefore come! Or you deserve to be called a coward.'"
Esmeralda laughed. Frollo looked at her judgmentally.
"Is there something funny about this?" He asked.
"The foolishness." Esmeralda replied. "Did Sir Gawain really think there was no catch to a strange man offering his neck like that? It was awfully stupid of him to cut his head off and think that was the end of it."
"Perhaps." Frollo acknowledged. "I think that is enough for now."
He closed the book.
"Where did you learn to read like that?" Esmeralda asked.
"My father taught me." Frollo answered. "He was a professor."
"You must have had a very educational upbringing." Esmeralda assumed.
Educational indeed... Frollo had learned a good deal from his father. Some of the lessons were too painful to ever forget.
"...Quite." He confirmed vaguely. "A shame my father was dead before I graduated from university. He would have been pleased."
"What was it like going to university?" Esmeralda inquired. "Tell me a story about it."
"Why are you so curious?"
"Because it's something I know nothing about."
Perhaps it made sense that Esmeralda wanted to know about Frollo's life, since his was so different from hers. The judge decided there was no harm in telling her a story. It was a chance to exalt himself and remind her of his fine qualities.
"There was a time," Frollo began. "When I didn't like the book I had to read for a class. So I told the professor what I thought of it. He said to me, 'If you think the reading material is so bad, why don't you write something better?' And so I did. I wrote a magnificent story and brought it to him. That professor apologized. He even said that instead of going on to study law, I should start writing full time."
"Did you want to?" Esmeralda asked.
"Some part of me did." Frollo admitted.
"Why didn't you?"
"I had to study law. It was much more important than writing."
Esmeralda wondered if Frollo the writer would be more likeable than Frollo the judge.
"That story you wrote," She mentioned. "What was it about?"
"You really wouldn't like it." Frollo promised.
"Tell me." Esmeralda insisted.
"It was about a man who got married only to realize that his wife was a witch who had seduced him with sorcery. When he discovered it, she left him. But he was too affected by her spell to live without her, so he killed himself."
Esmeralda regretted asking, but she wondered what had ever inspired Frollo to write such a story.
"How in the world did you come up with that?" She asked.
"I don't know." Frollo said coldly. "Creativity doesn't have to have a source."
He clearly didn't want to elaborate, so Esmeralda asked for another story. Frollo indulged her. He rather liked talking about his time at university. It had been one of the better times of his life. He told Esmeralda all about it, surprisingly going on for hours. Eventually he realized that night was falling.
"I must be going." Frollo informed.
He picked up his sword, which he hoped he wouldn't need tonight. Hopefully tonight's ambush would go smoothly.
"Will you be gone all night again?" Esmeralda questioned.
"I don't think so." Frollo replied. "I'd like to make up for the sleep I missed."
He wouldn't have been so willing to say that earlier, but now that the nightmares seemed to be over, Frollo didn't want to spend the whole night in the streets.
Esmeralda decided to wait by the fireplace for him.
