A Breathless Moment

“Que fais-tu ici?”

“I am here to take in the surroundings to use for my next novel.”

“Mais monsieur, les alarmes ont sonné, cela signifie que les bombes reviendront!”

“Yes, I have heard the sirens go off. I know it means I should seek shelter before the bombs drop, but right now, look around you. The sky is a peaceful blue. The quiet of the moment pervades our very essence.

“Even in the event of death, even that, the Germans cannot take that away from us.”

“Oh mon ami, tu dois te mettre à l’abri avant qu’il ne soit trop tard!”

“ Don’t worry. When I hear the planes, and I will, then I will seek cover, but for now, I must write.

“There is a saying, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’. And right now, if I ended my story today, I would have amassed enough pennies to buy you, me and two friends lunch. Isn’t that such a grand thing! We could do lunch at the Paris en Scène, have a dish of foie gras, a glass of champagne, and enjoy what life offers us.”

“Tu es fou, mon ami!”

“Wait, don’t run!”

As Claude hurries to a shelter two blocks form this bistro, I simply shake my head. He may be right. Maybe I am crazy like he said, but I have a story to write.

I have lovers who cling to each other as dust settles over their heads, shaking the rafters above, with bombs going off all around them. They hold each other tighter, knowing in this hour, this very moment, there may be no tomorrow, but they are passionate for one another, and not even impending doom will separate their hearts, their very souls from this moment.

… and that was as far as I got when the first bomb hit.