Desdemona

By Isabelle Audiger

 

They were taking this trip down memory lane together. She was enjoying the soft, fresh feel of the sand beneath her naked feet. She was glad she could share this with him: her favorite place on earth. Would he like it too? What if he didn’t?

He could be so grounded sometimes and she could just imagine him sneering, “Who needs a favorite place, take what life gives you and carry on!” OK, Mr. So-Serious, now was the test! Was there a future for them? She would know very soon.

They had walked about halfway down the beach, deserted at this time of year. The weather was perfect, a mild breeze bringing to her imagination the possibilities of the ocean, the high tide stressing the flawless curve of the cove, and with the seagulls in conversation above them she decided now was the time.

Secretly caressing her late father's handkerchief that had faithfully accompanied her everywhere since the day, on that very beach, he used it as a bandage for her scratched knee – ever consoling, ever soothing – she started:

“Cole?”

“Yes, darling?”

“How do you like it then? Are you happy we came?”

“But of course, my love. A wonderful idea! I really needed a break…”

“No, but I mean, do you like the beach?”

“Well, I suppose so… What really matters is that we’re together, no? Beautiful beach or not.”

“Uh, huh…”

She quickly withdrew her fingers from her pocket, swallowed the next question on her agenda and mentally crossed his name off her growing list.

 

Isabelle Audiger from France taught French and English in France, the UK and Canada. She is a published and self-published author and poet, in France and the UK. She works and lives on the west coast of France with her three children and husband the artist JP Audiger.