See, the darkness is leaking from the cracks.
I cannot contain it. I cannot contain my life.
- Sylvia Plath, "Three Women"
I was stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany in 1981, and had the opportunity to spend the last weekend of August in Paris, France. These, now, are my memories of Paris, for the tragedy that unfolded before my eyes on that Saturday afternoon overshadowed any of the sweeter sights and sounds of the city.
It was a dark and quiet Saturday afternoon in the Latin Quarter of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. A man stood on a rooftop and shouted. He shouted down to the people on the street below and at the people in the sidewalk café. After a final blood-curdling scream, he dove into the air, and landed headfirst on the roof of a small blue parked car. Then he rolled off the car and spilled onto the cobblestone street. He died, lying there with a dark crimson pool of blood spreading slowly out around his head, and his light brown overcoat crumpled up around him like a shroud. Nobody came crying out to him. No one seemed to care.
A little boy was making his way down the street playing kick the can with an empty Orange Crush can. He stopped and looked over at the man, curious for a few moments, then went back to the business at hand, kicking his cylindrical toy down the street, around the corner, and out of sight. Some of the patrons in the café continued their meals, but the small band of tourists who had stopped for lunch at the café stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed, standing near the little white picket fence that separated the café from the sidewalk and the general public, watching helplessly as the tragedy unfolded.
After a few minutes a small police car and an ambulance came squealing around the corner, red lights flashing and sirens blurting, and came to shrill tired halts. The police officers and ambulance attendants got out of their vehicles. They inspected the man lying in the street and the caved-in roof of the parked car. Then a man came out of the building, which sat like a silent witness to the tragedy, and spoke to them; the officers took out their note pads to begin their paperwork about the incident.
After all the questions were answered, the workers tucked the man's body neatly into the back of the ambulance on a stretcher and covered with a clean white sheet. The men got back into their vehicles and drove away. All that remained to mark where the man had died was a dent in the parked car and a dark stain on the cobblestone street. The tourists gathered their belongs and shuffled onto the bus that had come to collect them, and that was it; it was over. Paris and the day moved on.
Article comments
1 - roger nowosielski
A beautiful piece, Jeannie, and so moving. I only hope we should all try to understand you better and see more than mere pixels on the computer screen.
2 - Jon Sobel
Beautifully expressed.
3 - roger nowosielski
Well, Jeannie. I'm not alone. You have another admirer.
Check Jon's blogsite, though. You'll find him to be quite talented, too.
There's hope for America, after all, if it keeps on producing so many talented people and artists. I don't want to be stinking rich. I'll just take "the room with a view" (E. M. Forster), or better yet, "a room of my own" (Virginia Woolf), and I'll be happy. And cases of cheap white vine so I could finish my masterpiece.
Screw the rest.
4 - Jeannie Danna
Thank you Roger, actually I just popped back out on to this page!
I did check out Jon's blogs, in-fact I have The Stone Coyotes on my browser right now..:)
5 - Jeannie Danna
Thank you Jon, I don't know what to say, now there's a first!
6 - roger nowosielski
Just looked at it. What's the connection with Jon Sobel?
It mentions Elmore Leonard's "Be Cool," another great writer. But the one that will really blow you away is none other than James Ellroy. If you think that "The Black Dahlia" is any good, I've got news for you.
Read "American Tabloid" and weep.
7 - Christopher Rose
Another great piece of writing, Jeannie. Just remember to hold on to the love and let go of the paranoia.
8 - roger nowosielski
Just occurred to me, Jeannie. The events you describe remind me of John le Carré's Absolute Friends.
The story is told from the opposite point of view - that of "the terrorists'" - but the scene of action is also in Germany and the story is contemporary.
You should look it up.
9 - Jeannie Danna
Thanks Chris, I will try, but you know that comment thread..:) ha ha