there was just one person missing. i thought about him all through the train ride, as i cut through sunday landscape and seemingly chased fluffy clouds strewn into a steel blue sky.
even if i would have tried, i couldn't have banished his image from my mind. dashingly, he would sit opposite me, hand resting purposefully on his cut wooden cane. it could very well have been a duck's head, gently caressed by its preposterous owner.
his black mustache would be so articulately cut into art deco mode, it'd be another focal point throughout the journey.
we would converse in french. he would politely bend himself over backwards, to make up for his unexpected lack of expertise on the language front. he'd be acting galant, cautious of any possible mishaps.
then, of course, he would move onto to the most pressing topic of the day.
who'd-done-it. he'd start whispering, slipping into terribly portent mode.
can you feel him present too?
ma foi, mon ami. too right!☻
Did you meet Hercule Poirot?
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oh my! im so intrigued!!! Woolfie, the world awaits your novel. you write what i love to read and im sure im not alone!
ReplyDeletedo you remember the Gang of Four? late 80's.."who's that man, who's that man?...it's the man with the black moustache?!"
yes, i feel him. absolutely, in those lulxurious velour seats.
more please!
Poirot, of course! Who else would you meet on such an elegant "Express?" Are you following the new summer Masterpiece Mystery series?
ReplyDelete(I have a particular fondness for Poirot. His Thursday night appearances on Mystery in the 1990's kept me entertained while I awaited the birth of my first and only daughter - and I was on complete bedrest and a strict diet for the last three months, so solving mysteries with Poirot was a welcome distraction!)
Sherlock Holmes? or Watson?
ReplyDeletePoirot!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about the pretty book you're reading.
ReplyDeleteOh yessss, that detective occupies my mind from time to time too. Once I included him in the CV and, I believe, you commented then.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well with you this summer. Cheers~
What a fascinating character ... there is something about the directness of train travel which creates the most wondrously mysterious of scenarios.
ReplyDeletexx