Wild Child
Selene Grimaud stood by the door of her boutique, and gently smiled, looking round the rooms
where she had spent spent most of the last 20 years of her life, she said to her friend, Cherise Flauret,
"It's all yours, Cher, for the next two weeks."
Cherise smiled, and replied, "Do you think you'll miss it while you are taking your holiday?"
Selene replied, without a moments pause, "Not for the first week, I have been many things, to many men,
over the years. The one thing I have never been is me. I feel now is the time to try to find some peace,
and love for who I am, not for someone else's wish."
Cherise smiled back, and commented, “We’ll be here if you feel the need to return early, Selene.
I hope you can find some peace, perhaps in the future, I will be in your place, for now, I’m happy doing
what I do to please the clients.”
Selene waved to her friend, then she turned and walked to her car, as she walked through the streets
to the car park, she thought “You’ll be in my place, Cher, we all end up in this situation it’s only a matter
of when.”
Selene got to the spot she parked, opened her car door, and sat in the seat. Turning the key in the ignition,
she pondered, “What can I do? I’ve never been here before, for the last 20 years,
I have not taken more than the occasional day off, and then only to do something to bring customers in.”
Selene drove in silence, the only sound came from her music device as she tuned into an
old-time jazz station, preferring the sounds of the 50’s, and 60’s to modern jazz which has lost its soul
in her view.
With the rise of techno-jazz in the late 70’s the music had gone to the dogs, in her opinion.
Music these days was being created by technicians more interested in the volume of the sound
they produced, than the soul of the music, which is why she never lost her love for the soulful sounds
of the saxophone.
The drive to her apartment was only 20 minutes, it appeared longer today, for once Selene was in no rush
to get back; for the next two weeks she could be herself, but who was she?
Since her schooldays, Selene knew she had the power to entice me, which is one reason she entered the
sex trade. Being desirable gave her a degree of satisfaction, but it meant she never had to find herself;
in the early years, this was not an issue for her. Now, in her mid-40’s she was feeling less desirable to men.
Was it age talking, or that the men appeared to be after the younger girls?
The question hadn’t bothered her, until last year, she knew she had many admirers of all ages,
but she felt she needed a break from the business to find peace, and who she is.
Selene drove through the village, on her way to her apartment, she stopped to get some groceries
for the night; she planned to leave early the next morning.
She had been in contact with her sisters, Anna, and Karen to find if the lodge the family owned
was in a usable condition as the holiday season was still weeks away.
The sisters kept in contact, though not on a regular basis, but not with Selene, as their lives moved
in different circles. Anna was an artist, and Karen had become a respected lawyer.
Neither sister liked Selene’s choice of career, but they understood why she had made the choice,
and they respected her for it.
Selene always had a rebellious streak, even as a young girl, there was something mystical about her
that nobody could pin down. She could be as gentle as a lamb, or as vindictive as a hyena;
nobody knew which she would be at any time.
Her beauty was as ethereal as her temper, she could look like an angel one day, and a wild child the next,
depending on her moods. The constant in her life was caution; she had not been fortunate enough
to feel loved, or wanted by her family. There was something she wasn’t being told, she knew that
from her childhood; the family dynamics appeared to her to be incorrect,
as though something was missing.
She had the feeling something was amiss, each time she approached the subject of why the age gap
for the sisters didn’t match, her parents changed the subject, or simply ignored her question;
this only made her more inquisitive about what they were hiding.
In her mid-40’s she still had the nagging questions hanging over her head, and nobody wanted to answer
the questions she asked.
Selene decided it was no use trying to force the answers to her puzzle; she would do better getting on
with her life, her way, and that is what she did.
Selene's father inherited a lodge in the country which he rented to hikers in the months from April
to October. She knew she'd been there, but she had no memory of the visits.
“Perhaps, now is the time to make some memories of my own,” she thought.
The only memory she had was vague, she recalled a drive in silence,
and a stay when few words were spoken, and smiles never occurred.
All her life she asked, “Why wouldn't the family talk about that trip?”
Even now, years after their parents died, her sisters refused to talk about the trip: as if they were bound
by a vow of silence.
During one of the rare talks they had, Karen told her where the keys to the lodge where,
and how to get to the lodge; the thought of her sister going to the country puzzled Karen, to her,
Selene was a lady of the city.
Packing her luggage, Selene watched as the clock wiled the seconds away, as she waited for the time
for the food store to open.
As the clock struck 0900, she walked to the door, with a glance behind she closed it,
and walked downstairs to the carpark to begin her journey.
At the store, Selene chose the food she thought she was going to need for her stay in the lodge.
She usually didn't have time to prepare a meal after work, but on the rare occasion she hosted a meal,
her cooking skills came to the fore. All she wanted was the basics, from virtually nothing
she could prepare a good meal.
After buying her food, and packing it in the paper bags, Selene began the walk to her car;
this was the time when her life took a wild change of direction, which she could not have foreseen
in her wildest dreams.
From an innocent accident, and an automatic reaction, a romance of wild passions was to bloom
over the coming months. Selene was crossing the car park to her car, when the bags she was carrying
broke; she cursed, and began picking her stores up, when a young man offered to help her. Out of pride,
she replied, “I don’t need help, thank you.”
Even after the rebuff, the young man remained to open the car door to allow her to put her bags in,
then with a nod, he said his goodbyes, and got on with his business.
Selene glanced back at the young man, and thought, “If I hadn’t been so brusque, we could have been
friends. It’s no use thinking what many have been, he’s probably got a girlfriend.”
What Selene didn’t know, was that the young man was thinking, “What a shame the lady was so irritable,
I am sure we could have been good friends, if not something more intimate. Well, that is something,
or nothing, the time has passed.”
Selene sat in her car, wondering what lie ahead. Listening to the radio, she was lost in her thoughts
of what her vacation was going to be like. This was the first time in many years she had time
to do what she wanted, and she was lost in her thoughts.
The next thing she heard was the announcer saying rain was forecast in her area, “Lovely,” she whispered,
Selene had always loved walking in the rain, the smells of the wild aroused her senses. As she drove,
she opened her side window to feel the breezes in her face, and to smell the natural beauty of the area.
Driving through the forested area, she wondered what the young man thought of her.
The drive to the lodge was a long one, giving her time to plan ahead for the upcoming weeks,
at this time, Selene had no idea what she wanted, or if she would return to the city. When she arrived
at the lodge, her first reaction was “OH, Lord, what have I let myself in for?”
Selene took the keys from her handbag, and inserted them in the lock, she paused, “Is this what I want?”
She thought.
Realising she had no choice in the fading light, she opened the door, and entered the darkened room.
She turned her torch on, and began seeking the light switch. With difficulty, she found the switch,
and with a resounding click, she switched the light on, what she saw didn’t lighten her tension;
a winter of not being in use had allowed the spiders free reign to spread,.
“Ugh,” She moaned, as she looked around, “I will need to get used to nature, I have no alternative,
one day I hope to enjoy the life.”
Life at the lodge was a far cry from the hustle, and bustle of the city with its flashing lights,
and endless noise. For the first hour Selene took in the silence as if she had gone deaf,
she could hear the birds, and the nearby stream rippling, and her thought was, “I could get to like this.
Cher has been asking about taking over the salon for a while, perhaps this is my time to step back,
and hand the business over.”
The lodge was filled with spider’s webs, at first, Selene began clearing, then she thought,
“Why should I destroy your home? If you stay there we can live together. You have something I never had
- a stable home. I never felt happy at the house, there was always a concern that I was left out.
Even now, years after the event, nobody has told me what was the cause.”
Meandering around the lodge, she glanced out of the window casually, and caught sight of a young man
fishing, she thought, “I wonder what he’s fishing for? When I’ve done here, I may go and ask,
out of curiosity.”
It took a good while before she was content that the cleaning she had completed had earned her a rest,
and a coffee. Selene had expected there to be no food after the lodge closed for the season,
so she had brought her supplies from the store in the village, this brought back the recent memory
of her clash with the young man, she thought, “I wonder who he is? What a pity I was so rude,
he was charming, and attractive; a young man such as he probably has a girlfriend,
and I am probably too old for him.”
Searching through the lodge, she found an old chair, which looked on its last legs, “this will do for now,”
she thought as she pulled it across to the door, then opening the door
Selene looked around for a place to rest the chair and enjoy the views.
In the distance, she heard the familiar rumblings of thunder, “here it comes,”
she whispered as the first drops fell on her face. “This is what I have missed,” she whispered, “
what I clamour for.” The rain fell on Selene’s face, plastering her once neat hairstyle to her head,
but this time she didn’t object, she may have found some freedom, now, she needed to find herself,
and who she was.
Despite having spent many years in the city, this was the first time she had felt at home.
Selene had not realised before now, how much peace you can have not being surrounded,
and hounded by people 24/7. For a lady of the night, she felt at ease with herself for the first time
in her memory.
For now, the mysteries of her past life could remain hidden; she would contact her sisters
when she returned to the city; now, all she wanted some time to herself.
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