Monday, January 21, 2013

Paris Changes Everything


Chapter Four
Cinderella's Shoe

          Once inside Le Cave, Trish pushed her way past the dimly lit tables and dance floor, leaving her friends Lucy and Isablelle to claim a table for them, while she plowed her way through the crowd and toward the bar. 
            Now that she was on terra firma, or at least on a level wooden floor, Trish felt a bit more confident.  Plus, she had her trusty Nikon with her and that always made her feel happy, even powerful.
        And so, she did her best to get the attention of the bartender.  She leaned forward stretching her long torso over the width of the bar.  She was so close to a bottle of wine and some glasses, she could practically reach over and pour the wine by herself.  She waved to the bartender at the other end of the old-fashioned zinc counter and called out excusez moi, Monsieur!  A couple of guys looked at her, but why?  She was speaking French and she didn’t make the grave error of calling him garçon or “boy.”  She’d read enough travel guides to know not to do that.  Maybe they were just jealous that she was a confident American woman who knew how to get what she wanted.  And with this thought, Trish decided to just reach over and grab a bottle.  She was going to pay for it, of course, she just thought, this would help the bartender out.  After all, he was obviously too busy.  Maybe they’ll even give her a part time job here, she thought.  After all, they could use some extra help. 
            And that’s when it happened.  Somehow, she reached a little too far and while she was able to grab the bottle of white, she couldn’t seem to find her footing back down to the floor and for an embarrassing moment, she just kind of hung there over the bar, with her feet dangling.  And then, her left shoe fell off with a loud clunk somewhere behind her on the floor. 

            “Damn,” she whispered, her face turning red.
            “I am thinking I have your shoe, Madamoiselle,” 
            Trish turned around to find the actor Clive Owen standing behind her with her shoe in his hand.  Okay, it wasn't actually Clive Owen, but he could have been Clive Owen's twin brother.  
For a moment, Trish was lost in a confusion of thoughts.  This guy was so handsome, it made her dizzy.  What had he said to her?  I am thinking I have your shoe?  And then, the realization dawned on her.  
He indeed had her shoe!           
         He stood behind her, with this index finger hooked inside the back of her pink sparkly pink platform pump and smiled at her, with a sly look of triumph, as if he had just moved his chess piece forward and wondered how she planned to protect her queen from this unexpected turn of events!
And so the games began.
To be continued....
P.S.  I would like to give Lucy (the shy friend with the boyfriend in America) an interesting complication...any suggestions?
           

4 comments:

  1. An accidental text message from the boyfriend to someone else? I've done this.

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  2. Elena--That's brilliant! Thank you so much. I am going to try to work this in. Merci beaucoup, Jamie

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