Summer end
The long days are drawing to a slow descent. The air is cooler, the lake’s water bluer, darker. In the morning the air has a different taste, almost a warning of a colder season, of mist and maybe fog. Solange and Paul begin to think of the autumn. Solange has spoken several times with, they believe, Melissa, and later Agnes. She has also corresponded with Sarah to understand her view. They have arranged for Agnes to come and visit them, before the new university term. Agnes is studying physics and astronomy in Reims, something Paul is reflecting about. A loop is slowly closing, a revelation, the clearing of an old mystery.
Meeting
They are meeting at the airport, and Paul decided they would drive. Solange says that Melissa’s voice is smooth, without accent in either French or English. It’s a young voice, not that of an older woman. She’s expressed to her how keen Agnes is to meet them, to get to know her brother and his companion. Solange says it is genuine.
Agnes’s flight lands at nine in the morning. The highway is clear as Paul pilots their car, a Russian made four wheel drive with a hydrogen engine, in the direction of the airport. They leave the car withe robot-valet and take the silent lift to the arrival lounge. The plane has landed. They expect the formalities won’t take long: the whole process of identity control is automatic.
They see and recognise her immediately, and Agnes quickly walks to them her elfin face wet with tears. Paul is submerged by emotions, of course he knows this beautiful young twin of himself, he registers the delicate face, with a fine jawline, which is like his, a feminine version that makes him melt. He registers the sensual lines, the full breasts, the lovely curves of her hips: she’s a woman to be loved and love. They embrace, Solange holding Agnes tight against her chest, as they kiss. As the young woman turns to her brother, Paul feels how beautiful she is, the sensual lips, the smooth curves of her shoulders: they kiss, Agnes wants his lips, and he doesn’t fight.
Quiet reflection
In the car Solange and Agnes talk, about the flight, then about her mum, then how the couple looks forward to having some time to get to know her. Paul is quiet, and focuses on the now denser traffic. Soon they approach Tegel, as Solange tells Agnes about her medical studies. Paul lets the car park itself in the underground garage, they take the lift to their apartment. As Agnes walks to the entrance, holding Solange’s hand, Paul carrying her small suitcase, the two women soon disappear in the room they have prepared for Agnes.
Paul is in deep thoughts. Agnes is two years, at most, older than him. She has the same grey-green eyes as him, Julian’s high cheekbones, and is a little shorter than Paul. Her hair is light auburn, with streaks of darker red. Is he looking at the Melissa Julian fell in love with in Chalons? He has a sense of timelines crossing each other: Julian and Melissa, Julian and Sarah, Agnes and Solange, himself and Agnes.
Sensuality
As Solange and Agnes walk in the lounge and join him on the balcony, Agnes is saying that it is only her second trip to Berlin, as Melissa came with her here, when she was sixteen, to show her the city, and where she and her dad had walked, together. Agnes gets closer to Paul and puts her right arm around his shoulder, and admires the view. She’s changed into a light pale blue dress, that shows her lovely curves, and in sandals. They talk about the lake, about the forest nearby. Solange places her arm around Agnes’ waist and they kiss. Paul can only register the high emotional, perhaps erotic, intensity of their meeting. Paul says he’s going to the kitchen to mix drinks, the ladies choose Sekt, and Sekt it will be. As he comes back with three tall frosty glasses, they toast to their family. Agnes says she’s delighted with Sarah’s news, and also to be invited at the wedding. They drink and Paul refills the glasses. Solange says she will get a light lunch ready. Agnes follows her in the kitchen after kissing Paul, on the lips.
Enigma
As Paul walks to his study, he wonders: is this his destiny, to live with Solange and his sister, in a reconciliation of their father’s dreams with reality? He hears the light clutter of dishes in the kitchen, and of the ladies chat. So, Melissa was of chair and bones, how could he have ever doubted? Julian was inspired by his rediscovery of his youth’s love, to write this obscure love story of resurrection and out of space invasion. Yet Paul reflects that the key to the enigma is here now, there, chatting with Solange his lover, Paul’s and Melissa’s daughter, his almost twin. Later, as they enjoy an Italian salad under the wide parasol on the balcony, Agnes explains that her mum had finally found out where her dad lived, with the help of a local historian who could retrace Julian’s military record, and discovered the whereabouts of his sister Jane. It was via Jane that Melissa ultimately succeeded in contacting an incredulous Julian. The name of the historian was Gabrielle, said Agnes. Paul looks at Solange who smiles, they toast Gabrielle.
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