Dream Robbery
Sunday afternoon Ana, how beautiful you look in the light of this afternoon as we walk along the wide beach. The clouds pass over us effortlessly, passing us in slow breathing. I taste our silences like rain after the drought. My lips are cracking after this week without you. Every weekend is an oasis of you. Ana, how beautiful you look in the light of this afternoon, I savor this time, ignoring your impending flight to where I am not. I'm keeping my worries to myself. I'm ill-equipped to cross those deserts of your absence. Torn apart, we sail by sight, day after day, looking ahead to the horizon of the next Friday. But this afternoon, I concentrate on that moment, which continues deliciously. Erwan and Ana are hugging on the beach. The walkers are already scarce. We'll have to go home for a last meal together. This morning they went to the market, the fishmonger had fresh swordfish that Erwan will accompany with rice in a beurre blanc sauce. He will have prepared a nice tablecloth and a candle for each one.
Sunday evening At the table, they stop at every bite. Earlier the silence was broken by the black cat, Duig, for food. They stretch the moment as long as they can. Then, after some sweet, fragrant organic Jurançon wine, they get up. They slowly undress, one the other, quenching from each other's eyesight. They lie down embracing tenderly, their bodies crossing, overlapping each other, occupying the same space. The heat is already melting them. Erwan touches her internal organs with his thoughts, his emotions, scanning her liver, her entrails, her uterus, then they separate, caress each other's skin in the most secret places with their hands, lips, rubbing parts of the body against his/her body. They know each other by heart and yet there are so many new sensations to explore. Tongue, fingers are like antennas of the soul. They have enjoyed at the same time, souls reunited, separation erased. They dozed off a little, then came up from the shallow river of sleep, dreaming of each other and then pursuing their dreams during the waking phases, all blending together.
Monday morning The awakening tears the silence and the atmosphere changes. While Ana takes her shower, Erwan takes out the little surprise pastries he has prepared for her trip. He gets dressed without showering, taking care to keep the smell of his wife for the rest of the night. He drives her silently to the station. Soon the train will open its doors and Ana will make a last sign through the window, the train is already leaving, Erwan watches her disappear, swallowed by the last turn. Now he can't wait to get back home, to undress, to get into the bed, still warm of the smell of their bodies from before.
Erwan's dream He fell asleep and had a dream. He still has to go back up the dream like a Viking going up a river from the sea. They continued making love. She was so present, he will ask her if they had the same dream. He was her. They were the same being in the dream, playing body-switching games. It goes back further. There the dream branched off, he is in Ana's dream, the one she told him last week.
Ana's dream I'm in Paris in my old sunless apartment in the La Chapelle district. That was before I met you. I was looking for work, flirting with depression and personal bankruptcy. In my dream, I smell a faint odor of gas in the lobby. Then a soft music rises which wakes me up into another dream. Then I see an old woman sitting at the end of a table covered with a pile of nuts: walnuts, almonds... She is wearing jewelry and talks to me with her eyes, she protects me, I get a shiver and then I wake up. My current apartment is modern and I have never smelled gas in it. I remember misplacing my mother's jewelry when I moved out. I searched for a long time, but I was sure I had left them between two piles of sheets in the cupboard.
Erwan's dream suite I dream about Ana's old apartment. The building's collapsed and the fire department's already there digging through the rubble. My heart pounds, I'm afraid they're going to pull her body out of the rubble. But a voice speaks to me and reassures me. So I go down a sort of spiral staircase counterclockwise, I'm in her old apartment. Taking the hallway, I hear a noise at the door, then drop a book noisily on the floor. I walk to the bedroom linen cupboard. Slipping my hand between the piles of sheets, I feel the hard edges of a small box, containing a silver blue stone ring and an amethyst pendant. Finally, I climb back the spiral staircase clockwise and wake up in the ordinary reality.
The Parisian thief He decides to enter an old building in the La Chapelle district, presses the button on the door which opens with a sound signal. It leads to a black and white tiled entrance hall, a small elevator and a waxed staircase. A very slight smell of gas floats in the humid air. He takes the stairs with a sure step, decides to try the 3rd floor. He remains motionless for five minutes between floors: nothing, so he reaches the landing on tiptoes. He slips the X-ray film between the door and the frame, which pressed on the strike, without success. About to take out his locksmith's tools, he jumps as an object falls inside the apartment.
Ana's birthday When they come in, they hug. The tablecloth is put in the room and two big candles are burning, the flutes are already laid. He brings the champagne back from the refrigerator, pours it. Ana, a fortnight ago you told me about those jewels you had misplaced before you moved. I need you to trust me. Monday when I came back home, I had a dream, we were making love. Then the dream changed and I ended up in your old apartment. In your room, I found your jewelry. When I woke up, I had them in our bed between our sheets. And then he took the box out of his pocket and handed it to Ana, who opened it in amazement, contemplating the jewels she thought were lost forever.