Mirror

[Sweetcherrie]

Apremont (Vendee, France), July 2003

 

It was one of those really hot summer days. The air was weighing down, and the humidity seemed to choke me. Together with a friend I was supposed to go canoeing, but my friend had called that he couldn’t make it.

So I had decided that I would go on my own. Maybe on the water the air would be cooler and if not than I could always jump in and cool down myself that way.

After packing my stuff in a rug sack, sandwich, bottle of water, towel, cigarettes, and wallet, I changed and put my bikini under my shorts and top. This way later on I wouldn’t have to find a place to do that.

(I hate that when you want to jump in and you first have to find somewhere to change into your bikini. And always when you wanted to change some brads would be running around trying to catch a glimpse of girls changing themselves.)

I looked around if I hadn’t forgotten anything and discovered the book that I was reading; I decided to bring it, in case I would get bored later.

 

All packed I walked down the street towards the river.

I would rent out a canoe with a company that one of my friends worked with and if he could slip it by the boss he would probably let me have it for free.

It was unusually quiet on the street, but then again, it was a very hot day and everybody would probably be sitting in air-conditioned houses.

 

When I finally reached the river, the canoe-renting place was deserted, and the canoes were dancing lonely on the water. Only their ropes withheld them from drifting off to better places. I walked over to the office and found my friend sitting there with his head almost stuck in the ventilator. When I came in he almost fell of his chair has he tried to stand up swiftly in case it was the boss. When he saw that it was me he sank down on his chair again.

 

“Mireille!” he said, while wiping sweat of his forehead “It’s you, I thought it was the boss” I wondered if he was sweating because of the weather, or because of the sudden fright I had given him.

 

“Why are you here?” he asked, “I would have thought you would be sitting in front of the air-conditioning like everybody else.”

 

I grinned, “You know very well that I am not like everybody else,” he nodded in agreement.

 

“Can I have a canoe for the afternoon?” I asked.

 

He looked at the clock, it was ten past three already, and seemed to make up his mind.

 

“Yeah, why not. The boss won’t come in anymore, the fat bastard will be puffing in his own sweat somewhere.”

 

It was common knowledge that my friend didn’t like his boss and he had told me and our other friends many times that if he wouldn’t need the money, he would have been gone already.

 

“I hope all that fat starts to melt with this heat,” He now muttered under his breath as he walked to the key cabinet to get the keys for my canoe.

 

Together we walked out to the little wooden wharf. He unchained a canoe and shoved me a paddle and a lifejacket in my hands.

 

“I know you are not going to use the lifejacket,” he said as he saw my upcoming protest, “but you also know that I have to give them out”

 

“Thank you” and I gave him a kiss on his cheek before I climbed in the canoe.

 

“Have a good one, and be back at six” he shouted after me.

 

I was already on my way to one of my most favourite places on the river. I had discovered this spot two year ago and since then I came here regularly to chill. That point of the river could only be reached by canoe and couldn’t be seen from of the sides. I peddled slowly and let the rhythm of the water take me further along, enjoying the breeze that had developed from the combination of movement and water.

Even the birds that you could usually hear were not singing, they too, were hiding for the heat. Trees were touching the water with their low hanging branches and the sun was playing shadow games on the still water of the river. The only thing that disturbed the smooth surface was my canoe as I peddled it along.

Soon I had reached my secret hideout and was glad to discover that there was indeed nobody there. I heaved my paddle out of the water and put it on the bottom of the canoe.

Since the boat was small, but big enough, I stretched out and decided to read some from my book.

 

I grabbed my bag and looked in it to find my book. Of course the book had slipped to the bottom and had hidden itself under the towel. I stuck my arm in it and wriggled around; when my hands found the book I smiled and pulled it out of the bag. While doing so I clumsily pulled out all the other stuff, and unluckily enough my wallet landed in the water and sank immediately.

I peered over the edge of the canoe to see if I could discover my wallet, since the river was only 20 inches deep here, I had good hope.

I saw something blinking and stuck my hand in the water to grab it, the canoe rocked unsteadily for a moment, and then decided to get rid of its load.

It toppled over and I found myself sitting on all fours in the shallow water, with mud dripping out of my hair.

 

“Just my luck” I thought “well at least I have my wallet back”

 

I pulled my hand out of the water and to my surprise I wasn’t holding my wallet.

I looked at it closer…it was an old mirror, rusty from the water. On the backside was an inscription

 

Apremont (Vendee, France), July 1603

 

Mireio woke up with a nice lazy feeling, and lay still in the sheets for a while, trying to recapture the dream she had had. It had been such a wonderful dream; Sir Passart had taken her on his horse and was riding away with her to unknown countries. Slowly the dream fled away and Mireio got out of bed with a sigh, she loved her dream world a lot better than the real one.

 

Today was her eighteenth birthday, which meant that she would have to stay inside looking pretty all day. Her mother’s guest would be parading in front of her all day, trying to catch her attention. She had to choose a husband, it was long due. But none of these overdressed, colourful peacocks, parading their wealth, interested her. The man that had stolen her heart was, unfortunately, already engaged. She knew that it had been stupid of her to loose her heart to this man, but couldn’t have stopped it, even if she had wanted to. She sighed again and rang the bell for her ladies to come and help her dress.

 

An hour later she went downstairs to join her mother in the garden, who had two servants standing at either side of her waving fresh air at her with big peacock feathered fans.

 

“Ahh, there you are,” her mother said, “I would have come up myself to get you but it is such a hot day and I didn’t want to ruin my make up”

 

All her mother ever cared about was her appearance and other people’s appearances. She couldn’t ware anything without her mother looking disapprovingly, and making comments about it. Today, however, it seemed that it was too hot or something, because her mother didn’t say anything as Mireio sat down in a chair behind her. Immediately two other servants, with sunburned necks, ran over and started waving her cool air.

 

“We have about an hour to... stay in the shade!” her mother cried all of a sudden “You don’t want to look like a farmer girl on your birthday, do you?”

 

Her mother obviously expected no answer because she went on about what was on the program for that afternoon and evening. This afternoon they would receive the admirers with their gifts, and tonight at the ball they could dance with her. Thinking about the dance tonight, Mireio’s feet already started to hurt. Her mother talked endlessly until it was time to go inside and take their places, to receive the guests.

 

Sitting in the middle of the room always made Mireio feel ridiculous. An endless stream of men had already passed and there would be more to come. None of them were very interesting, and Mireio’s face started to cramp up, because of the constant smile she had to wear. She started dreaming away, dreaming about her own Sir Passart.

 

"He would take her away on his white horse and they would leave this showcase parade behind them…" Mireio had been so caught up in her daydreaming, that she didn’t even notice it the first time her mother spoke to her. She drew herself away from her fantasies and focused on her mother’s words.

 

“…Sir Amets, is maybe a bit older dear, but his money easily makes up for that.” Mireio looked at the man that was currently bowing at her feet. "A bit older, this man would not survive the first year into our marriage," Mireio thought, "than again that is probably how mother would like it best..." She smiled at the man and he returned the smile, showing a mouth full of brown rotten teeth. Mireio suppressed a shiver, how could her mother think that she could marry him.

 

She was infinitely relieved when she could retreat to her rooms, to get herself ready for the ball that night. When her helps had heaved her in her tight ballroom dress, and they had finished powdering her hair, she sent them away. She needed a few moments to herself before going to the grand hall to finish the porcelain-puppet-in-a-glass-case day. Quietly she sneaked down the stairs and slipped into the gardens.

 

The moon was shining brightly tonight and there were hardly any clouds to be seen. By the silver rays of light she found her way to the river that ran through the gardens. When she had found a place that was covered from sight by thick, low hanging branches filled with leaves, she sat down. Tears started leaking from her eyes, unwanted, hot, burning tears.

 

She sat their softly crying until she heard a soft whisper in the tree. Startled she looked around and discovered that a man was walking towards her. Quickly she started to wipe away her tears.

 

“Don’t worry I won’t tell,” the man said as he sat down next to her, “I know only to well how hard these days are, and the only thing you want to do is hide in a corner, unseen by the rest of the world.”

 

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her; she used it to wipe away the tears.

 

“You can keep it,” he smiled when she wanted to give him back his handkerchief.

 

The man was handsome; he had blond hair that fell curly until his shoulders. His eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen, and twinkled boyishly.

 

“My name is Nathan,” he said “I think you were daydreaming when we were presented this afternoon”

 

Mireio laughed, the way he said it made it seem as if daydreaming was the most natural thing to do during something so important.

 

“I think so, because I would surely remember you,” as she said it, she felt the blood streaming to her cheeks.

 

“I have a gift for you that I wanted to give you personally,”

 

He pulled a small package from his pocket.

 

“It’s a mirror, to show you the beauty I see in you”

 

Mireio turned the mirror around, it was clearly handmade and little pearls were shining on the edge, on the back there was an inscription -For the beautiful Mireio, from her forever faithful Nathan-.

 

Apremont (Vendee, France), July 2003

 

I tried to decipher the inscription, but all I could read was the names, Mireio and Nathan.

 

I turned the mirror around again, instead of my own reflection I saw a pretty girl and a man sitting on the side of the river, they were kissing.

 

“Man what trash people throw away, spoiling the environment, these days…” I thought, and pocketed the mirror so I could throw it away properly later.

 

I felt around on the bottom, and discovered that my wallet was lying straight next to my hand.

 

I swam around for a while, and washed my clothes free from mud. When it ran towards six, I got back in my canoe and returned to the wharf.

 

As I locked the canoe with the chain, my friend came walking over.

 

“Had a nice afternoon then?” He asked.

 

“Hmm, hot and boring” I said, “thanks for the canoe”

 

“Anytime,” he replied and walked back to the office to put away the keys.

 

“See you!” I shouted back at him.

 

I walked back to the road, throwing the mirror in a bin I passed on the way.

 

It had been a nice, slow, sweltering afternoon.

Edited January 25, 2005 by Sweetcherrie