The Girl Kneeling (Aristide Maillol) Bronze Sculpture (Paris Stories) - Part IX

The Girl Kneeling (Part IX)

La fille agenouillée

(Paris) “Sit with me here, Charlotte…” 

Gabriel was leaning up against the headboard of the antique Louis XV French Bed. They were both naked, yet felt no shame.

“What do you want?” replied Charlotte. She was pensive and withdrawn, curled up in the soft cotton sheets.

“How can I help you?” “What’s going on in your head?”

“I don’t know, Gabriel.” “I want you, I want my art, I want to share my life, but I’m as cold as a bronze sculpture.”

“You know how much I love Aristide Maillol’s works; I don’t see them as cold.” Sometimes she loved how literal the Frenchman could be, but not tonight.

“But they aren’t as detailed as the Realists.” Charlotte wondered what in the hell he was talking about, but strangely she sat up with her legs underneath her buttocks, facing forward, as beautiful as a statue.

Gabriel continued not knowing what to say, “You’re sort of abstract, Charlotte"; although he pondered her there as anything but abstract, face-to-face, kneeling like the girl in Maillol's bronze.

“It’s because I’m out of my comfort zone; I’m in between chapters of my story.” "It's almost, but not yet."

“How do you mean, Char?” (again, transfixed on her).

“My heart is wrenching, numb; and I don’t know what to follow, how to step into the water.”

She said, “You know you can dip your toe into cold water, and it might be OK, but it’s just too cold to jump in. I’m old enough to know how to swim and I know that to get to the other shore, I have to go across. But the water's too cold and if I jump in, it'll be terrible - for awhile, but I’ll get used to it. It might even feel good! When I’m acclimated to the cold water, I’ll be ready to swim!” Her perfect paragraph speeches captured the moment, always.

Nevertheless, Gabriel was pretty slow when it came to American metaphors: “Right now you’re just sitting there looking at the water, and you don’t know if you’ll jump in?”

“Exactly." Charlotte huffed a frustrated response. She almost rolled her eyes.

“Well, I can understand that Charlotte; thank you for saying what you did. I want you to jump in when you’re ready, but I don’t know if I’ll jump in with you?” Gabriel stood his ground.

He added with some hesitation: “Can I ask you if the other shore is America?” 
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[my video talisman for this piece is dedicated to the real Charlotte:
of course, it's "Jump" by Van Halen, 1984] https://youtu.be/bX9RMdcFQAw

Fiction©Mark H. Pillsbury

To be continued..............