Rousseau's Garden by Ann Charney

Author:Ann Charney
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1579623093
Publisher: The Permenant Press

TWELVE

“How’s the phantom philosopher?” Zoé asked calling between patients.

“You’ll be happy to know I’m ignoring his advice. Perhaps that’s the reason I haven’t heard from him again.”

“Good for you. I’m always encouraging my patients to assert themselves. Listen, I’ve had a wonderful idea. I’m going to give a dinner party to bring together all the participants of that magical day at Ermenonville. I hate to see all the good feeling evaporate. Gilbert, Anne-Marie and Sophie were so hospitable to us, it’s moved me to reciprocate. It’s been ages since Simon and I had people over for dinner. You know Claire, in all my years of analysis I’ve not managed to rid myself of this infantile trait that makes me wait for others to initiate my pleasures. But I’m determined to fight it now.”

Giving a dinner party was not high on Claire’s list of pleasurable activities; she could not understand why anyone would choose to devote time and energy to preparing an elaborate meal when it was so much easier to meet in a restaurant and dispense with the tedious arrangements. Zoé, however, had always enjoyed receiving and serving friends in her home and appeared to do it painlessly. Claire felt she ought to offer her help, inexpert as it was.

“I’m going to keep it so simple, I really won’t need any help,” Zoé replied. “I won’t even think about dinner until Saturday. I’ll probably sleep late, have a long bath, read the newspapers. Then I’ll walk over to the outdoor market at Carrefour Buci and see what looks tempting. In any case, it won’t be anything extravagant. You know how lazy I am.” Zoé was anything but lazy, Claire thought, but she did admire her nonchalance, just as Zoé admired Claire’s ease in traveling. Neither felt entitled to admiration for things done without effort.

Zoé had agreed to allow Claire to bring dessert. So now she stood in front of Marta’s apartment building, carefully balancing a large pink box containing a miroir aux framboises from a pâtisserie Marta had recommended, while Adrian hunted for a cab. Marta had insisted on waiting with her, although she had been nothing but critical the entire day.

Her dislike of the Countess persisted despite Claire’s account of the Countess’ war time heroism. “Everyone in France of a certain age now claims to have been in the Resistance. It means nothing.” And why had Marta been so caustic about the dinner party as she watched Claire dress? Marta and Zoé had always liked each other, so that wasn’t the reason. The idea of the dinner itself seemed to upset Marta and she expressed this by launching into a long reminiscence about the simple life she and Bruno had led when they were young and working for the betterment of the world. In the process, Marta had criticized the black silk suit Claire wore, the cake she had bought, the champagne Claire had unwisely reported Simon liked to serve, as well as the other guests, whom Claire had described at Marta’s own request.

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