© Ayr/Gray
Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE. (11//22/24). No more than 250 words in length.
“You’re sure this is the place?” Annette’s skepticism dripped thick as winter molasses on Remy’s spirit. Hunching his shoulders deeper into his Tennessee logger’s shirt, he regretted again suggesting it to the freshman Literature major.
“I mean, it’s packed and touristy, but I’m sure the coffee’s great because…Paris.” She paused, scratched at her black leggings, adjusting her beret. “It’s not exactly literary.”
This is what I get, he thought, for boinking my students. He looked sidewise at her white-blond hair, pale china-doll face, kohl-lined eyes, the artfully torn black shift. She looked a lot brighter in my classroom than she does right now.
“Still, this is on my bucket list. We gotta go in! Wonder how long the lines are, whether we could get pastries while we wait? Y’know, back home in Nordeast Minneapolis there’s this adorable breakfast spot, gives you coffee while you wait…” Her voice droned. Remy lost the thread.
I could kiss her, shut her up, but she’s been smoking non-stop since we got off the plane. Smiling vaguely, he nodded without knowing what he was agreeing to. It didn’t matter anyway.
Maybe he could ditch her and come back later. He’d heard stories about time and place sometimes slipping at midnight: he could live his dream and stay forever. Being a University graduate student, while it brought in some dough, wasn’t paying off the way he’d hoped.
I should’ve brought Carl, he sighed, following Annette. He’d understand. The midnight magic would work with him. Always did.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2024)
Valley of the Trolls 
Oh, excellent read, Liz! And yes, I know about Hemingway, and all the others, in that place. The movie, Midnight in Paris, is also one if my favs too.
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Glad you enjoyed! Owen Wilson, so disturbingly like Woody, but y’know, better looking! 😂😂😂😂
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Nice twist at the end, Liz.
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It snuck up on me! 😄
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Some choice one-liners in this one, Liz.
Good read; gave me a laugh.
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Thanks, Nancy. I’m happy to read that!
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One of the things that I look forward to in your story contributions is/are the Comments.
Of course, i enjoyed the read,. (got a flash of a scene from the movie ‘Annie Hall’ having to do with waiting in line to see a movie but especially get a kick out of the back-and-forth down here, below ‘The End’
insights and inferences, fun with story-telling. we really should do a group live vid chat sometime with the regulars here
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I agree about the comments, too. It’s an interesting group that goes in for these prompt blog parties. Adds so much to the fun!
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They always look smarter in the classroom…… Ha!
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He shoulda known!
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The name of this restaurant would give anyone pause!
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It’s actually real, and has a history of all the Paris literati and artists hanging out (like Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Dali…).
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Oh, interesting! Thanks for explaining.
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Movie tip: Midnight in Paris, a Woody Allen film that stars Owen Wilson doing a disturbingly good portrayal of Woody, but still looking like Owen. It’s a fav!
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I liked this, Liz, from the so-American girl trying too hard but still unable to avoid comparison with home to the somewhat louche teacher already bored with his latest conquest.
But then I was left confused by Carl and ‘Always did’.
And, as everyone knows, I’m not easily confused!
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That final paragraph snuck up on me. I think Remy’s regretting the very young female, remembering times with Carl & the magic they had together, romantic and otherwise, possibly slipping through the literary centuries (like Owen Wilson in that Woody Alllen film). How’s that?
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Ah, Midnight in Paris – if only!
Does he spot Sartre and de Beauvoir in the cafe, I wonder.
While she’s the stereotypical tourist with her clumsy attempt to look ‘French chic’ and her list of things to see – and compare unfavourably with ‘back home’.
Favourite description: Annette’s skepticism dripped thick as winter molasses on Remy’s spirit.
You’re story made me wish, Liz…
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I think Remy wishes for the magic of that Midnight Cafe, and for sure the special magic Carl brings along with him. He’d like to sit down and have an absinthe or two with all of them
And by all means, hop on that plane, prowl the streets of Paris. If not now, when?
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