by D. B. Gilles
When they do, they come out having shared something primal and then the normal form of attraction takes over and a romance begins without the usual posing and game playing. When they go on a first date, they already know what the author calls the true person.
The flip side of the Crisis Encounter is when two people meeting in a heightened matter lose romantic attraction and become bonded in a unique friendship.
The relationship between Dalton and Juliet was textbook Crisis Encounter, but not romantically. Despite the fact that both were inherently shy and isolating personalities, a friendship took hold almost immediately.
After their first six weeks in Paris they had become each other’s best friend and confidant. Each knew there would be no hint of romance between then and both were fine with that.
Dalton and Juliet had both grown fond of Proctor. His connection to Peter Hillyer enabled him to tell anecdotes about him that pleased Dalton. As for Juliet, the death of her father when she was only seven had left a paternalistic void in her upbringing. In Proctor she found not only a father/grandfather figure, but a wise man to seek counsel from.
Uppermost on Juliet’s mind, though, was searching for her sister. Despite the fact that she was in possession of Eliza’s sketchbook with the list of places she would be going, it didn’t help much because of the sheer size of Paris. With Dalton’s and Proctor’s input she had pinpointed certain Arrondissements that Eliza was unlikely to live in or go to. Because of her devotion to art and becoming an artist, they assumed that Montmartre would be where Eliza was most likely to live. Or Pigalle. But there were cheap rents in the Latin Quarter, as well.
Proctor was convinced that the key to finding Eliza was through Toulouse-Lautrec if he were living in Paris. From what Proctor remembered about him, he had not risen to prominence until after the opening of the Moulin Rouge in October, 1889. Until then he was one of many up and coming painters. So during the first six weeks, Juliet and Dalton’s journeys to Montmartre were more about locating Toulouse-Lautrec, then Eliza.
“We’ll have a better chance of finding him in the spring of eighteen-eighty-nine,” Proctor said. “He definitely was living in Montmartre then.
What they had no way of knowing was that Eliza had put studying with Toulouse-Lautrec on the backburner within a month after arriving because she couldn’t find him and she wanted to study art, but didn’t want to wait for him. Unlike their male counterparts, women seeking professional careers in the fine arts were restricted in their opportunities to receive an artistic education. They were excluded from receiving free training at the state-sponsored École des Beaux-Arts until 1897. Prior to then, women turned for instruction to the studios of established artists or to private academies, which provided them with a reduced curriculum often at great expense. These private art institutions based their courses on the French academic system, which placed the mastery of human anatomy through the study of the live nude model at the core of its program. This classical training was crucial for the success of artists aspiring to success in history painting, the most elevated and lucrative category of painting.
While life-drawing classes were an essential part of academic study, they were denied to women through much of the century as they were deemed inappropriate and even dangerous to the mores of proper young ladies. Without access to nude models, female artists could not receive the training necessary for the production of important works of art. Accordingly, women artists were virtually excluded from state commissions and purchases as well as from participation within official competitions such as the coveted Prix de Rome, a prestigious scholarship offered to history painters for continued study at the French Academy in Rome.
To make a living, many female painters turned to portraiture, genre painting, landscape, and still life, subjects that were not held in high esteem. It was not until the 1870s that life drawing classes became more readily available to female students in Paris. All-women classes were offered at the renowned Charles Chaplin's studio and the women's section of the private Académie Julian.
Desperate to begin her studies, Eliza signed up to study with Mister Chaplin and found work at The Louvre as a copyist. As she went about her daily life and found a routine, uppermost in her mind was the hope that her sister was still in Paris and that, one day, Juliet would find her.
January 14, 1889
270 Days Until October 5, 1889
Chapter 56
Proctor managed to make a few friends involved in the worlds of art and museums, but access to the celebrities he wanted to meet was minimal. He knew it would take time. He tried hard to be patient, but at his age patience came with great difficulty. He had arrived without his medication for high blood pressure and his dangerously high cholesterol problem; his glasses were in need of a new prescription and he lived in constant fear that if he dropped them and broke a lens or worse, both, he would be nearly blind. And his teeth were giving him trouble because of the receding gums.
Juliet turned out to be a quick study and took to not only speaking, but writing, French quite proficiently. Despite the fact that Dalton spoke a decent amount of French, Juliet surpassed him. She was able to grasp the difficult of differentiating feminine from masculine, as well as the different inflections that so many French words had. They constantly tested and quizzed each other and agreed to communicate half of their conversations in French.
During her scores of daily walks Juliet found five restaurants that were not averse to hiring a woman. She applied for work at all five. None would even consider hiring her as a cook, but one was willing to take her on doing prep work.
She had found work at Le Chien De Paw, a ten-seat restaurant owned and operated by Joséphine Karlinger, a female chef, widowed the year before when her husband who had been the head chef, died. Joséphine had taken a liking to Juliet because she was an American. She and her husband had dreamed of visiting New York City and upon learning Juliet was from there, became fascinated with her, asking her questions and enjoying everything Juliet told her. The restaurant had a busy lunch and dinner crowd. Juliet was primarily a prep cook who doubled as waitress.
It was on January 14th, an unusually warm for January Paris day, that Juliet’s life would take a turn that she never expected. It was another example of the Crisis Encounter.
As two o’clock approached and the lunch crowd was thinning out, two well-dressed men in their late twenties entered and sat at a corner table near the window. Juliet approached them. As she handed them menus and was about to tell them the specials of the day, one of the men looked at her with smile and said, “La jeune fille par l'obélisque de la Place de La Concorde?”
Although she was learning the language at a fast pace, conversational French with strangers made her uncomfortable. With Dalton or Proctor she was fine because they wouldn’t judge her accent or the possibility of misusing a word or tense. When someone asked her a question or made a statement she wasn’t quite sure of, Juliet had gotten into the habit of translating it into English first.
The girl at the obelesk at Place de la Concorde, she said to herself, not one hundred percent sure she was right.
She stared at the man and within seconds, because of his full red moustache, recognized him immediately as the person who had saved her from Luger.
Luc.
It was the first conversation of many between the two and the start of their romance. Within two weeks they became inseparable.
She didn’t tell him the truth about how she came to Paris for fear that he would think she was insane. And from their numerous conversations about the night they met at the obelisk, Juliet was certain that Luc had no memory of Luger disappearing. She knew that if their relationship continued to grow, there would come a point when she might consider telling him, but she would wait for the right moment, if it came at all.
Most of their time together consisted of him helping her learn French, she teaching him English and discovering more of Paris.
Chapter 57
With four-and-a-half months having gone by, Eliza’s hope of either seeing Dalton or being seen by Juliet had diminished to the point of being nonexistent. She assumed that they had gone back to New York and gradually put them out of her mind as she tried to start a new life.
She took an apartment in Montmartre because of the cheap rents, as well as because of its proximity to where she knew Toulouse-Lautrec would be living. She had become disenchanted studying at Charles Chaplin’s salon and found herself yearning to be under the tutelage of Toulouse-Lautrec. But as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, even meeting him became more of a pipe dream.
Her days were filled taking classes, doing her own painting and working at The Louvre. She spent her free time exploring the city that had been in her head for so many years. She found great comfort walking the streets and seeing the sites that she had read about and researched.
As for company, she made friends with two young women from the art class, one from England the other from Nice, and she continued to meet the two elderly men she’d dined with the day she arrived. For entertainment she went to the various markets, art shows and cabarets she’d read about about.
She became especially intrigued by the various art salons devoted to up-and-coming painters popping up all over Paris. She loved visiting them, hoping to find the work of artists she knew would one day become famous.
As for her love life, although several men had professed interest and asked her out, she declined. None were her type, not that she knew what her type was.
She decided that if she could only find Toulouse-Lautrec she would be happy.
April 6, 1889
188 Days Until October 5, 1889
Chapter 58
Despite the cool spring temperature, Toulouse-Lautrec sat outside at La Bonne Franquette sipping his coffee and going over several sketches he had drawn of windmills. He had been hired the day before by Joseph Oller, owner of the Moulin Rouge nightclub, which would be opening in the fall, to draw promotional posters. Oller had seen his work and felt that he had the right touch.
The artist had returned to Paris from his home in Provence where he’d spent time with his family and viewed it as a period of creative rejuvenation.
Although Eliza had been studying at the Charles Chaplin studio, she still yearned to work under his tutelage, so she continued to make weekly junkets to Montmartre and Pigalle to look for, and inquire, about him.
Knowing that he was a habitué of cafes and bars, she would go to these areas during lunch and dinner. Concern for her safety prevented her from going too late in the evening. From her research she knew the places he frequented so that was where she concentrated most of her efforts.
On two occasions she had just missed him at La Bonne Franquette, once shortly after he had finished an early lunch, the other time after he’d finished a mid-afternoon drink.
But it was on this day luck smiled upon her. She saw him, finally, approached him and immediately went into the speech she’d gone over dozens of times in anticipation of this encounter.
In the time she’d lived in Paris, Eliza had lost weight and let her hair grow long, although like most Parisian women, she kept it up or in a bun when she was outdoors. The weight loss came largely because of the long walks she took daily and eating what she liked to call the French way, rather than in the modern American manner she’d been used to. Her sense of fashion also changed. In the twenty-first century she wore loose-fitting pants and blouses, rarely putting on a dress or skirt. But now she dressed like a fashion-conscious woman of Paris and had developed a confidence she never thought possible. She had developed a fondness for scarves.
So when she approached Toulouse-Lautrec he was pleased by what he saw. As he looked at her he thought to himself that he had never seen such a tall woman. She stood across from him and said the words she’d waited what seemed like years to say in perfect French.
“Monsieur, I am an America painter living here in Paris and I wish to study with you.”
He seemed taken aback. “Why me?”
“I’m a fan of your work.”
He was surprised. “How do you know my work?”
She had rehearsed the answer for weeks. “I traveled in the south of France and saw your work at a gallery in Toulouse. When I moved to Paris I heard you had completed your studies with Fernand Cormon and I thought it would be a wonderful experience to study under your tutelage.”
“I’m flattered. I’ve never taught before. I wouldn’t even know what to charge.”
“Charge what Monsieur Cormon charged me.”
He paused for a moment, removed his glasses and pondered the notion. “I have a better idea. What I could use is a model. What if we do a little barter?”
The idea of modeling for him had never crossed her mind, but the opportunity to be under his orbit made it seem like a perfect arrangement.
“I would be honored to pose for you,” she said.
“Very well. How soon can you begin?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Fine. Let me give you my address.”
As he tore a small piece of paper from his drawing pad to write down where he lived, Juliet noticed the sketches he’d made of windmills.
“I see you’re drawing windmills,” she said.
He smirked. “I was hired yesterday to do advertising for a new cabaret opening in the fall to be called Moulin Rouge.” He handed her the piece of paper with his address. “I’m going to turn it down. It’s humiliating work. Too commercial. I’m an artist not an advertising huckster. The only reason I said yes was because I need the money.”
“Who knows?” said Eliza. “It could turn out to be a very wise career move?”
“Career move?” he said, tilting his head. “Unusual expression.”
Eliza quickly realized that it an expression more indicative of the late twentieth century.
“Did the man who hired you ask you to draw windmills or is that your idea?” she asked.
“His. He’s naming the place Moulin Rouge plus this area has always had many windmills, so I’ve been fooling around with windmills.”
“Have you considered drawings of dancing girls?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s going to be a cabaret,” she said. “With beautiful women dancing. Men love to watch beautiful women dance, so why not show that in the posters you draw?”
He considered the comment. “I don’t know if I want to be associated with such a business. I am a serious artist.”
“I know, but sometimes situations arise that, although on the surface may seem foolish, actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise.”
He laughed. “Drawing dancing girls might be fun to do, but as to it being anything more than a way to earn some money, it seems unlikely.”
“Maybe, but as your new student and new model, I have a feeling that it will be a good choice for you.”
“Like you said, a good career move?” he smirked.
“Wait and see!” she smiled mischievously.
Chapter 59
After nearly eight months in Paris, Dalton continued to reside in Proctor’s apartment, as did Juliet, however, as her relationship with Luc continued to blossom, she spent more and more time with him. He lived with his parents on Rue Moufetard near The Pantheon and worked as a bookkeeper in his father’s import business. His slight limp came as a result of a soccer injury. They found privacy in cafes and parks, often having picnic lunches on The Seina.
Unlike the men she’d been involved with in New York who were immature, crude and sex-obsessed, Juliet found Luc to be a refreshing change. He was gentlemanly, respectful and deferential. As a woman from the 21st century, she was able to bring a sense of entitlement and modernity to their relationship. Luc enjoyed her aggressiveness. He found her intelligence unique and challenging. He loved her cooking. He’d never met anyone like her. She knew he was crazy about her and she felt the same about him. For the first time in her life, she w
as in love.
Dalton assumed the role of big brother to Juliet and felt protective of her when she began seeing Luc, but he quickly found him to be likeable and worthy of Juliet. The two became friends.
As both men weren’t comfortable speaking in each other’s language, they’d learned enough vocabulary to communicate about basic topics. One of them was women. Dalton would complain about not being able to meet women and Luc would ask Dalton for advice about Juliet.
“I do not understand her,” he would say. “She is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. I listen to her talk and she seems so wise. She knows things. I feel that she is keeping a great secret from me.”
Not wanting to make things awkward for Juliet, Dalton would appease Luc by saying things like “Juliet is a special woman. She’s wise beyond her years. She’s complicated?”
“Complicated?” said Luc. “What is this complicated?”
“She has issues,” said Dalton.
“Issues?” said Luc. “I do not understand?”
“Some women are easier to deal with than others,” said Dalton
Luc nodded vigorously in agreement. “Juliet is not easy, but I love her so.”
Dalton and Luc would have variations of this conversation several times and it brought them closer together.