Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Madeleine was heading towards her Monday lunch with Madame Seignet when Vannie stopped her in the hall. “Maddy,” Vannie called out. Madeleine turned around; she was startled that Vannie would even address her. “What is it?” Madeleine asked in her usual guarded fashion. Vannie walked up to her. “I heard that the doctor released you …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 1 February, Sad Chinese Poetry Always Leads to Tears"
In spite of her immediate circumstances, Carla was a very happy teenager as she drove her business truck through Jersey Heights. The only “heights” about the town was that it was inland enough—and close enough to the hills of Collina—to be the highest municipality in the Republic of Verecunda. The terrain was flat, but her …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 30 January, Rescued from the Bullies"
Jack’s fall from grace with Denise meant that he was also off of the “head table” with her and her friends. He chose to hang out more and more with Brent Murchison. Their fathers were law partners, and their sons got along, whether they were doing well or behaving badly. Jack was especially unconversational as …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 28 January, Sometimes Things with Women Don’t Go as Planned"
Pierre’s optimism was justified the next day when they received a five page letter from the Ministry of the Environment. While expressing deep concern at the situation of the scrap tyres, they expressed understanding with the company’s present situation and committed themselves to work with them for a better environment in Verecunda. “Are we okay?” …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 26 January, Calling the Education Bureaucracy’s Bluff"
Bell unexpectedly ended his class a few minutes early, but he tipped his hand when he said, “I would like to see Mr. Arnold and Miss des Cieux after class.” Denise smiled as she left, leaving Madeleine and Jack to go up to the front desk. “Do you understand why I threw you out of …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 25 January, Leakers are Always a Pain to Those in Power"
Pierre came into the office the next morning to find one and only one piece of paper in the central part of his desk. It was a telex from the home office; rendered in English, it read as follows: WLL RCVD YR SPCL TLX DTD 21 JAN 71. WLL CNTCT GVRNMT N RVRT ASAP. TKS …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 22 January, The Telex That Changes Things"
It seemed that divine impulse was percolating throughout the entire des Cieux family. Pierre got up early and, getting dressed, skipped his usual breakfast and went off to early morning Mass at the Cathedral. This was a rushed affair, with no music. It took only thirty-five minutes from start to finish. The sacred mysteries for …
Madeleine was decidedly nervous about returning to Bell’s Political Science class Wednesday morning, but return she did. She eased into her seat as Bell began to pontificate. Towards the end of class, Bell got off the subject of the basic structure of the legislature and started talking about the nationalisation of health care in the …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 20 January, When the Rector Doesn’t Drink, You Know It’s Trouble"
The next day was moving from classroom to athletic field as Madame Seignet sat in the faculty lounge, looking at the Paris-Match she had extracted from her box. “Classes going well?” a voice asked. She turned up from her reading to find it was Hancock. “Very,” she replied. He sat down next to her. “And …
Continue reading "The Ten Weeks, 19 January, There Are Many Things That Are Hard to Understand"
Madeleine’s first period class was Political Science, a one semester adventure taught by a young Brown graduate born and raised in Collina named William Bell. About half way through the class, the Headmaster’s secretary crept in, came up the side of the classroom, handed Bell a note, and left as quickly as she came. He …
Positive Infinity 