PART III - Chapter 52: LOGAN'S FAREWELL

 

 

Chapter 52

Logan’s Farewell

(Ó 2010)

 

 

Cosette Adu and her life partner, Miriam Souelet, had now for the past two and one half hours, entertained their brand new friend, Melonie Church and her family from America. The euphoric emotions of the meeting of someone who was an integral part of the dear late friend Logan’s life were still going strong. Cosette brought Melonie to Chalet de Lily, where Melonie’s once high school sweetheart had lived most of his life.

 

Cosette and Miriam showed Melonie the gazebo in the back yard, and the rose bushes on either side of the chalet that Lily herself had planted , with Logan doing ‘most of the hard labor of course’, as Miriam would joke. They gave Melonie a tour of the chalet, showing her all the rooms and the kitchen, including Logan’s bedroom.

 

They were showing her all of the photographs that they had of Logan and Lily in their apartment in Paris, at Le Club Argenté D'oiseau, of Lily working at Clive’s Coiffeurs, of Clive, Bricey and Giselle. Photos of Logan playing football and of him with his friend Jean-Luc. Photos of Logan and Lily’s wedding, then of photos of Logan afterwards when he returned home. Some of the final photos that they showed Melonie were of Logan’s funeral where French Police Officers and Legionnaires carried his coffin, which was draped with the flag of the Republic of France, to his final resting place.

 

Melonie and her family sat with Miriam in the Sun Room and they all were telling stories that had to be separated as ‘Logan Stories’ and ‘Brent Stories’. Cosette entered the Sun Room with a silver folded picture frame. She looked to Melonie and said, “I believe that I do have one more thing to show you Melonie.” Cosette said and stepped over to her, “And I believe that Logan would have wanted you to have this.”

 

Melonie took the silver folded frame in her hands and opened it, when she did so she gasped then let out a little cry, “Oh … oh my God!” It was the pictures of Melonie when she was sixteen years old, one in front of the ice cream parlor and the other of her sitting with Brent in the park near her old home in Michigan. “I haven’t seen this since I was a girl.” Tears came to her eyes, “I had them but somehow they became misplaced over the years. Oh my … oh my Lord. I couldn’t … I just couldn’t take these.”

 

“Logan would want you to have this … as well as Lily.” Cosette said, “She always had a kind place in her heart for you. Logan told her everything about you and of how he left you when he had too. This is how I recognized you … the eyes … you still have the same beautiful kind eyes.” She then sat next to Melonie, “Logan told me one story that concerned you after he had to leave you in America. He told me of it when he showed me these photos.

 

“Logan was in Corsica,” Cosette began, “He had just finished with the most difficult test for a new Legionnaire, it one hundred fifty kilometer March for the Kepi Blanc. The distinctive white hats that are worn by the Legion. Upon the completion, Logan was awarded with his first weekend leave, or pass. Logan had a total of three days and was under strict orders to not leave the island. Many of the other new Legionnaires went on their way into the town of Calvi, where Camp Raffali is located. While all of the other new Legionnaires were going into the town to seek out wine, beer and women, Logan looked for a hotel. He found a small hotel by the sea. It was managed by an older woman who was a bit apprehensive at first to rent the room to Logan because she feared for what his intensions were for the room.

 

“Logan assured her that all he wanted to do was to lie down on a soft bed, because he just did not want to stand on his legs or feet anymore. His legs and knees ached so and his feet were still blistered and bleeding from the March of the Kepi Blanc. The older woman saw the expression of pain on his face and let Logan rent a nice room. The view of the room was of the sea and harbor in Calvi. The first thing that Logan did once in the room was to take a hot bath and soak his aching body. Afterwards, the older woman fed him a dinner of hot soup, bread and wine.

 

“Logan then went to his room and did just as he said he would. He dressed down to his under garments and then put himself into the bed. He stayed there for two days, just lying there in the bed to let his body heal. The woman would bring him his meals to his room and he also appreciated the quiet of the hotel, there were no screaming Sergeants or Corporals.

 

“Logan told me then of when he was lying there in the dark of one early morning. The moon was full and it was just about to set. He looked to his wristwatch to see what the time was, and when he did so, he figured that while the moon was setting here, it was rising where you were.

 

“He told me that he then stared right into the moon, and he was thinking and hoping that, wherever you were, right at that same moment, that you would be looking at it also.” Cosette then placed her hands over Melonie’s as she held the silver folding frame that held the photos, “Take these as a gift from us, I say again, I know our Logan … your Brent … would want you to have this, as well as Lily. It shall be a token of our new friendship. This gift has come round full circle to go back to the place where they first came from.”

 

Melonie then took the silver picture frame and said, “Thank you … thank you so much. I will put it in a nice place in my home if Florida. I have to say this, that I did do that sometimes. I did look at the moon myself sometimes, and thought of Brent, hoping that he was doing the same also.”

 

Then Miriam suddenly spoke up, “But of course! Why did not we think of it before?”

 

“What is that Miriam?” Cosette asked.

 

Miriam looked at Melonie and asked, “Would you like to see him? Would you like to see our Logan?” She then looked to Cosette, “The video Cosette, the video Logan left to us. Let us show it to Melonie.”

 

Cosettes’ eyes widened, “Excellent idea my love, I shall go and retrieve it.” Cosette then stood and went into what was Logan’s den where he would watch the football matches. In a few moments, she returned with a plug in device and a portable video player. Cosette then plugged in the video to the player, set it down in front of Melonie and as her family gathered around her, the handsome and silver haired image of the late Logan Ian Morrow appeared on the screen. He was sitting in the very same room that everyone was in at that moment. He then began to speak - - -

 

- - - “Hello Cosette, hello Miriam …well if you are viewing this … then you have just come from my funeral and you have met my attorney Frederic. Frederic is the executor of my estate and he is carrying out my wishes. One of those wishes was to bring you here to Chalet de Lily in order for you to view my last will and testament.

 

“I have made these arrangements some years ago …but, I really did not have to think so hard on it. I want you to know that I am doing what I do now because I love you both very much and I did not want for me to have any worries of you both, and Giselle also for that matter.

 

“This is my final way to say thank you both for everything. Thank you for being there for me all these years since I came back home. Thank you for being my friends … unconditionally, and for never judging me. Thank you for being there when I had to have someone to speak with. Generally, thank you both for being the best, the closest and the most wonderful friends that any human being could ever have. You have made all of these years not just bearable, but so wonderful for me.

 

“And watching the both of you together all of these years … well … the love you both share and have for each other would be envious to anyone else. So, I made arrangements for both of your … shall we say … golden years.

 

“I have a substantial amount of funds in my Swiss account. The first thing that I must do though is to take a generous portion of it to send to the Tribal Council of the Lakota Sioux Nation in South Dakota. I am having my mothers’ body exhumed from the cemetery in the town of Michigan where I lived for awhile, and having it sent to the Sioux Nation for reburial there. I want her bones to be placed back home with our ancestors, as it should be. The remaining amount will be donated to the Sioux Nation to help our people in any way that it can.

 

“The remaining funds of my account are going to be for you both and Giselle. You all will be receiving a shared amount of the interest every month to help give to you all a very comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your days. And please, tell Giselle that the priority of this money is for her living expenses, you know food, rent, utilities, that sort of thing. Not for the latest shoes or gowns at the shops in Paris.

 

“But also, please tell her that I have always been proud to be ‘her hero’.

 

“Finally, one more thing, Chalet de Lily is yours … for the both of you. I could not think of anyone else that I would want to live here than the both you. This house is filled with love, because this house is filled with Lily’s spirit. I want the both of you now to take it and keep it filled with your love. And by chance on a cold night you feel a warmth around you, or you both just feel a sudden joy come over you … well that will be Lily and me … just dropping by for a little visit.

 

“Be happy in your lives here my dear sweet friends, and remember that Clive, Bricey, Lily and myself will be waiting for you on the other side. And when we all do meet up again, we shall be at the table where Clive will raise his glass again to us all and say ‘Good food … good wine … good friends …good times.’

 

“Good-bye my friends until then … and I end this by telling you all one more time … that I love you very much.” - - -

 

- - - The screen then faded into black. Melonie wiped away some tears. “My goodness … this is all so overwhelming. To hear Brent’s … I mean Logan … I mean Brent’s voice and to see him again after all this time. It just doesn’t seem fair that I have such a limited time here.”

 

Miriam asked, “How long will you be staying in Paris Melonie?”

 

“Oh … we arrived just yesterday … and we came right over this morning. But, we have about eight more days remaining.”

 

Miriam then asked, “Then why do you not stay here with Cosette and me for a couple of days? We can show you the village and we can tell you more of Logan.”

 

“Yes, that is a wonderful idea,” Cosette then said, “We both will also make excellent guides for you and your family around Paris. We can show you where Logan first met Lily, where Lily worked, where they lived near the salon! It will be wonderful!”

 

Melonie looked to her sons and daughter, “Oh … do you think I can? Would you all mind?”

 

Colleen looked at her mother with a grin and said, “Mother … you look like a little girl asking to go to a slumber party with her friends at the last minute. Of course you can Mom, this is your trip.”

 

“Oh … thank you dear.” Melonie said smiling, she turned to Cosette and said, “We shall go back to the city tonight and I shall return in the morning with my things. Oh I am so looking forward to it.”

 

“We shall prepare the guest room for you then,” Miriam said, “we shall have a most wonderful time.”

 

Melonie was so happy at this moment with her new friends, and then, a solemn thought came to her. She looked to Cosette and Miriam and asked, “When we do go to the city together … can you show me where Lily died?”

 

Cosette smiled at Melonie, “Why … yes of course. We shall go there together, and we shall take some of Lily’s roses from the side of the house and place them there.”