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She sits at the table in front of me, her long blond tresses spilling over her shoulders. Her milk white hands fiddle with the sugar, turning the small black paper package over and over. She twists it in her hands, folds forming as she does. She looks up, her eyes full of knowledge. For a second I feel a thrill of fear, it tingles up and down my spine as if a feather has been there.
The waiter approaches us, his movements seems to be slow and peaceful, like most of the days in Paris. He asks for our order as his black hair falls into his face and covers one of his eyes. I order two cappuccinos, she changes her order to something else, a local specialty, she explains.
As the waiter returns to the counter with our order she gestures to him, “You see him, Jessica?” I nod as she continues, “His name is David with a long ‘A’. He is working here to pay for his university fees. He is studying to be a doctor at Paris University. In a few years he'll graduate and decide he doesn't want to work in a hospital. He'll travel back to his home town in the countryside. He'll set up a doctor's practice and meet an English girl named Bella. They'll fall in love and get married in a rose covered church. They'll have one son and name him Rupert's after Bella's father. He'll come to Paris to study and work at this cafe“.
I stare at her as my head fills with questions. How does she know all this? I ask her. She avoids my question and my eyes. Her younger eyes gaze at a woman sitting next to the window. She is wearing a red hat and looks like she is in her mid forties. Her brunette hair flows out from under her hat; she stares out at the road.
Then she begins her story, “That woman in the red hat once dreamt of being a famous actress. She was told she would never make any money so she quit. She only ever had two auditions. She became a tour guide. She's married but her husband is dying in hospital from cancer. After her daily trip to the hospital, she always visits this cafe, orders a short black espresso and two palmers. She always sits next to the window and tells the story of her first audition to anyone who'll listen“. Then she gets silent.
Eventually we leave the cafe. We stroll through the Parisian Autumn back to our hotel. The leaves cascade about us as we do so. I lie awake on my bed, and then I hear voices. I hear David and the Red Hat Lady. Suddenly I am back at the café and watch as David leans over to talk to the Woman in the Red Hat, she whispers something in his ear. “Do you see those girls over there?” she asks as David nods, “They are sisters, and they have come to Paris after the death of their father. The elder one now feels responsible for the younger“. David takes over the story,” But one day soon the eldest will be in a car crash outside this cafe. She won't survive“. I then unfortunately wake up.
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Whovian
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