Tomas by James Palumbo

Author:James Palumbo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2009-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

The future of architecture …

Tereza has a surprise for Tomas.

Deities don’t usually sneak out of hotels for surprises; they waft about in clouds doing deitific things. But Tomas is a modern Messiah, and soon they’re in Tereza’s Deux Chevaux on their way to the Bois de Boulogne.

It’s late. Tereza parks in a side road. A few moments later, they’re at the edge of the park. And there’s the surprise. The fairground’s in town. Tereza performs her magic trick and they take their places in the time machine.

‘You choose,’ says Tereza.

Tomas thinks. Oceans of possibilities open before him. The dawn of time? The Stone Age? The Dark Ages? Or maybe the years 3000, 4000 or 5000? He chooses modestly. ‘Paris fifteen years from now.’

‘OK,’ Tereza replies, ‘strap in.’

Tereza presses some buttons and adjusts a lever. The machine begins to hum. There’s a silent clank as the craft slips its mooring and they glide vertically into the air.

The city looks beautiful twinkling in the night. Tomas is in the clouds on a journey through time with the woman he loves.

‘Where to?’ Tereza asks.

‘Another fairground,’ Tomas replies. ‘Euro Disney.’

The craft floats above the centre of Paris, which is identical to the one they left only minutes before. The business district and outskirts, however, have been rebuilt – ugly offices replaced by buildings of the same size but in the Parisian style. The workplace has been ennobled.

As they reach the suburbs, Tomas and Tereza are shocked. Paris, always small by global standards, now stretches for miles in every direction. It looks about the size of Tokyo. Yet all the architecture is in the traditional French style with tree-lined avenues, squares, parks and public places.

‘This can only mean one thing,’ says Tereza.

Tomas looks embarrassed.

They reach their destination. But where’s the magic castle? Has it magicked itself away? On the site of the Haunted House and Space Mountain sits the most beautiful building Tomas and Tereza have ever seen.

The palace is fashioned as a croissant – literally. Most palaces, with their bulky centres and outstretched wings, resemble a croissant to some extent. But this new presidential property has been built as a gigantic replica.

The palace is exquisite. Golden brown, its aura reminds Tomas of Tereza. It falls seamlessly from a high central core to two circling arms with a ribbed exterior. Great curved windows in the roof flood the building with light. A modern Versailles, it makes the original look fussy and old.

In front of the palace, ornamental lawns and fountains fan out on either side of a wide tree-lined boulevard. The craft hovers overhead and Tomas and Tereza gasp at a second wonder.

The boulevard opens on to a space that is dominated by an edifice in the shape of a giant beret. It looks as if it has just been removed from a milliner’s box. The rich, textured roof undulates like the creases of the cap; it is a perfect imitation, a million times the size. Like the croissant palace, curved roof windows punch light into its interior.

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