Road to Paris

After hours of thorough search in the town and analysis of unforgettable and full of useless trivia stories about all kinds of nobility from the town folk, Eugene learnt absolutely nothing about the la Avise family. At one point, he found the domain of their whereabouts, but felt too anxious about knocking and fled in shame by the road near the lavender field. Purple flowers were gradually enveloped with greenery of local park and soon enough, Eugene reached his apartment. Apparently, the la Avise were living quite close to his home, which is not that of a surprise, considering the size of the town.

"Why would they even move to such an outback?"

His mind was deep in thought, but even so he was able to hear a familiar voice, "Hey, Eugene! Here you are!"

Eugene looked around and right beneath his apartment window he found a young gentleman. His neat attire and fancy wristwatches could fool many into the belief that a wealthy individual stands in front of them. Alas, this is just a facade, but this man, like many others, still envelopes himself in pricey artefacts, everything to cast himself away from the lower class. And the name of this man was Douglas Wesson, the final passenger for the race to Paris.

"Where were you? I was bombarding your phone and later your doorbell for hours! Thank god I found you sooner, I was considering getting into your home from the window."

"What!?" exclaimed Eugene, "Do you have a sudden lack of attention? Why could not you just check on me at "Monso rooster" or at least use your goddamn legs and look around?"

"Whoa-whoa, relax! It was just a joke, stiff as ever, huh?" Douglas giggled, making Eugene frown, then he continued, "But seriously what were you doing all morning? Or rather were you today at home, perhaps at the lady's place?"

Eugene snorted and came closer to Douglas, his friend's face with a cheeky smile was tempting his fist, he restrained himself and leaned on the wall next to him. Before Eugene could speak, he noticed a cigarette that Douglas was offering to him. Douglas shrugged and instead threw it into his own mouth and light it up.

"Foremost, I am not you to hunt for skirts. Secondly…" Eugene swallowed his words and instead said, "I was just walking in the park, it is a blooming season of lavender after all."

Douglas sighed and looked at the sky in disappointment, "What a boring man you are."

"I was not actually expecting to see you today." mentioned Eugene to change the topic.

"Really?" raised his brow, Douglas and faced Eugene, "and why is that?"

"Knowing you, I would not be surprised if you spent all the day at some bar."

Eugene looked at him with a wry smile and Douglas in exchange tucked his shoulder, "As if I would ever cheat on Cossette! Love changes people, Eugene, and I recommend you to experience it from the first hand."

"So you mean to say that you actually did not go to a bar yesterday?"

A slight breeze flew through the 2, and they remained standing in an awkward silence. Douglas did not touch his cigarette, and it steadily burned down, giving him an excuse to leave for a minute or two. The sudden hush from his friend was conclusive enough for Eugene to make his judgments, yet again he felt pity for Cossette.

After a while, Douglas came back, and they continued waiting for Christopher's arrival, which did not last for a long time. Soon enough, a black Renault rose from the horizon and drove their way. Douglas had a long stare down with the car, as if he was hypnotized by it. Eugene, on the other hand, was focusing on the front window where a familiar figure sat.

"Being a doctor sure has its benefits!" announced Douglas right after the car made a sharp turn and stopped with its side facing the 2.

"It is profitable, but I doubt you would have patience to become one, Douglas." answered Christopher with a slight sigh. Then, he turned to Eugene and they exchanged smiles. Eugene made a step further, but was suddenly stopped by Douglas.

"Hey, I am open for a bargain for the front seat."

"One million franks."

"Screw you!" cried out Douglas and hopped into a backseat, making Christopher giggle. Eugene followed Douglas's lead and sat to the front seat, and they started moving. The view of surroundings was gradually moving from narrow streets and houses to open fields and later on to the mixture of thick forests and meadows, as well as a railroad hidden a few meters away from the asphalt road behind some trees.

"Cars sure are amazing! I really need to get one for myself one day." said Douglas, but nobody reacted to his words. The man frowned, cleared his throat and energetically continued, "Why so gloomy, Dagaz brothers? At such pace, you two are going to fall asleep! Thus, for your own sake I will tell you something that happened to me a few days ago, it was crazy!"

********************************

The sound of the wheels rolling by the road was relaxing, even though it was occasionally interrupted by quiet snorting coming from the backseat. Eugene was enjoying the views of French nature as well as rare marks of humankind like road signs, small settlements and of course the seemingly never ending road to Paris. At one point, though, Eugene had to face his brother.

"Chris, is everything alright?"

Christopher for a second turned to Eugene and then back to the road, he thought for a while and then answered, "Yes, why?"

"You have not said a word from the very start of our trip, did something happen?" anxiously asked Eugene.

"Do not worry about it, just some trivial stuff at work. By the way, how are you doing? Is everything good at "Monso rooster"?"

Eugene saw a slight smile on his brother's face, it was barely visible and seemingly the forced one. But the sole fact that his brother started talking made him feel the relief and Eugene answered, "Well, I had one unpleasant accident yesterday… Actually, I have a question for you."

Christopher faced his brother yet again, and for long enough to show off his raised brow. Eugene asked in doubt, "When you were working there, have you ever had a client in… let's say, elegant clothing who were bragging on Arnold's coffee? Perhaps a blonde woman with a nasty attitude?"

Christopher hummed for a minute and said, "That's a weirdly specific description. I served all kinds of clients, some of them were grumpy, some were quite nice, but your depiction does not ring any bells."

"Then what about the la Avise? Have you ever heard of them?"

"Not that I remember. Did something happened between you and this person or family?"

"Well, this la Avise family moved to our town quite recently, and I am not yet sure if she is from this family, though it is quite likely… We had a beef over Arnold's work and then this creaker announced a coffee-brewing competition between us! But the worst thing." Eugene hesitated for a moment, but then announced, "I lost! Arnold said her coffee was superior to mine."

"Oh wow."

"But the most frustrating part was her final words to me. She challenged to find out her name, as if I have nothing else to do! And Arnold, even though he knows her for sure, refused to tell her name as if his life depends on it. Just how stubborn he can be?"

Christopher finally laughed and quite vocally, "Well, that's interesting! I wish something like this happened at "Monso rooster" when I was working there. This daily routine was as boring as purgatory for me."

"Well, hopefully you are having fun at the hospital." caustically said Eugene, but then wished to take his words back. Immediately, his brother's expression changed to one more serious, and the smile disappeared without a trace. He shook his head lightly.

"I would rather stay in purgatory rather than deal with this "fun"... being a doctor is tough, Eugene."

Eugene pushed himself into the seat out of embarrassment. Even though he could not know the reason of his brother's sudden change in attitude upon mentioning his workplace, he knew the source of the problem was lying there from the beginning and, in the end, only hurt Christopher's feelings with this silly joke.

The silence, though, was a bit too loud for Christopher and after a few minutes of an awkward hush, he added, "Sorry, Eugene, the work is just too tense there, and I do not really want to talk about it."

Eugene shook his head, but did not say anything due to the lack of words to somehow conclude this topic. At this note, their trip to Paris continued with no piece of dialogue and only some songs from the car radio were complimenting the sounds of wheels rolling through the road. After a while, Douglas made himself relevant again with his sleep talk. He mentioned names of some women neither Eugene nor Christopher knew; Mary, Cossette and Sarah. Eugene immediately felt sympathy for Cossette, who somehow ended up dating the well known Casanova of the town.