A cappella

Chapter 12: The Eyes Dark

Max attentively observed the portrait of George Brassens that appeared on the screen. A wrinkled face, sparkling eyes and a smile caught in his thick bushy eyebrows.

His grandfather had recommended him to listen to Brassens, a true poet, he had explained.

He resembled his grandfather, thought Max, the same brown eyes, the same curly hair.

Was it because they were both French that they were alike or was it because they were both from the same generation?

To be French, it was thus to be rather with brown skin and hair, and to have a keen glance, under bushy eyebrows like... bushes full of Chikadees! According to the expression his grandfather used, always close to nature he was!

A few minutes later, he would go out running towards the beach, his IPod in the pocket of his tracksuit, the earphones in his ears.

It was barely six o'clock; the sun was already setting, and the fresh air from the nearby ocean, that filled his lungs, felt so good that he took several deep breaths as if to refresh his heart.

The day had been full of emotions and he felt that he would have to run as far as the end of the world to be able to release everything.

In his ears, it was the voice of a young American woman, who sang with great sensitivity and a bit of an accent,

"I've shrunk so small in the face of a doll".

He could not bring himself to listen to Brassens himself, with his dry guitar, a voice coming from beyond the grave, which would not encourage him to run.

The American woman, on the other hand, who tried singing a classic French song, was young and a foreigner just like Max.

It was surely for that reason that Max, unconsciously, chose her among all the interpreters of the songs of Brassens.

"I was a fierce dog, but she had me eating
From her teeny hand
The wolf teeth I had, I've changed them instead
For baby's peggies"

That afternoon, it was Marion who had tried to tame him, and make him eat from her hand.

But he decided it would be the wolf in him that would speak.

He hadn't seen Marion in a while now, she rarely took a break from her studies, unlike Babakar, who was often ready to go out with Max.

That day, they had all decided to meet, Max, Danielle, Babakar, and Marion, in front of the Royal cinema in Biarritz.

But Danielle had apologized at the last moment, and Babakar had called Max saying, "Marion, she only thinks of you, I assure you Max. For her, I'm just another medical student, I'm unable to even talk to her about anything but studies. Its only when I bring you up in the conversation that she suddenly becomes interested! So I leave it to you, go ahead... see what you want to do."

So they then found themselves face-to-face, she, friendly and smiling, and him, making her talk and laugh, always knowing how to ask the right questions.

They decided to have a drink before the start of the movie, he made her talk about everything other than studies. They spoke about the films she loved, what she found was essential in a movie, for her to say, "Yes, I enjoyed this movie."

In the end, she had come to realize she needed a female character whom she could identify with in order to feel in sync with the movie. It also required a love story, emotions, and a beautiful, interesting, even exotic setting. A beautiful landscape, it was fundamental in a film, she said.

Whether it was a social or action film, it didn't matter, she could take an interest in everything, she'ld allow the movie to be drag her away from her everyday life, as long as the main character spoke to her.

They had spoken like that in a broken circle, her tastes being the main theme of their conversation, striving by his questions to surprise her and make her reveal herself.

Max quickly learned faces and nkw knew by heart her little her pure and round face, her brown eyes behind the glasses with blue mounts, her teeth, small and very white with visible gums when she laughed.

When he watched her drink her hot chocolate, he also saw the well-behaved girl she had been, and the responsible and confident woman doctor she would become one day.

He, next to her, felt like a wolf, one who sees far beyond the little red riding hood, and who has other plans than to gently help her gather flowers in the forest.

"Lets go," he had said, leaving a few coins on the table.

The film was part of a retrospective of an American action movie, Kill Bill 2...

They had chosen this film thinking they'ld watch it in a large group of friends, not like that, a romantic head to head. It was... yes, very far from their daily lives, certainly, and beautiful too, very beautiful even at times.

For Max, it was perfect, he loved that old actor who said "I'm the man!" But some scenes were very violent and he could feel her gaze on him from time to time instead of watching the screen, he could also see her hand, which she placed carelessly on the armrest close to him.

During the whole movie, he would push himself to give her, a smile from here, and then a joke whispered in her ear, to make sure she had a good time.

When they had separated, at the bus stop that was going to drop her off back at university campus, where she was staying, she was happy. He had made every effort to make her feel he appreciated her company, without being too gentle or sentimental.

"Greet Babakar for me, when you see him tomorrow. You're really lucky to study with him, let him know he was missed..." he had said as he left.

It was dark now. Annoyed by the song that repeated in his ears, he finally turned his IPod off. He had arrived on the ledge, with, on one side the illuminated buildings of Biarritz, on the other, what looked like a black hole of an ocean.

He had an appointment to go to the following day at the university of Anglet for a job interview.

They were looking for a substitute teacher of English; he had been told by his contact with Stéphane.

But to Marion, he had not said a word about this project, as if he did not want to share with her what was personal to him.

He was a special man, he knew how to listen to others, but not to confide, as if it were too much for the common man, what he had to say.

Breathless by the running, he stood now facing the formidable sound of the waves, all the ocean beating to the rhythm of the pulsation of his heart.

When he would later return to his grandparents' large house. He would keep his gaze at his reflection in the foggy mirror of the bathroom for a long time, after his shower, wiping his curly hair, smoothing his thick black eyebrows; he would observe his lively and dark eyes, French perhaps... but lined with lashes so long and curved that his mother sometimes said they were there to protect his eyes from desert sand...

.....

I promise you wont be disappointed listening to this song up there! This lady is amazing! One of my favs! Drop a vote/comment <3 <3