My German Lover, Part 27, chapter 4

“What is it?”, I asked, all excited…

“A video…”

“A what? (…) I mean… From what I’ve seen, Will is not too much into that kind of stuff… He didn’t want me to explain to him how my computer works… so if you’re thinking about giving him a video, well…”

“No no… That’s not at all what I have in mind.”, Paul answered laughing…

“I don’t understand…”

“Look Jack. As I said Will and Lutz never went back to Europe. But I’m sure they would love to see how things look back there nowadays… to see the places where we lived… Paris… Berlin…”

“Oh… Well, I could go to Fort-de-France and buy a few tapes of Paris or Berlin… you know…”

“No no…”, Paul answered, still laughing… “That’s not what I want. Every day we can watch TV and see Paris or Berlin… That’s not what I want. (…) I told you our story. Now what I would like is for you to go there and film all the places I told you about. I want you to make a film!”

“…Me? Make a film? Paul! I… I…”

“Hey, you don’t have to accept you know. I’m just asking. And of course, I take it for granted that Mike would go with you. That way, he could see his family and you could meet them… And I would cover all the expenses! It wouldn’t cost you and Mike a dime. You would be staying at the best hotels… Trust me! And… and…”

“Okay okay Paul. Stop. I can see it’s important to you. (…) At first, I thought you were joking.. but I can see you are not. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you… or for Will and Lutz. You know that, huh? I’ll go. I’ll do it. I’ll talk to Mike… I don’t know what he’s going to say, but if I know him as well as I think I do, he will be thrilled… And we don’t need to stay at the best hotels…”

“Oh yes you do! My treat. Both of you will be my eyes over there… and I want you to make the best trip ever. As I said: Trust me! But I want to keep it a secret… so all we’ll say to Will and the others is that Mike and you are going to France for two or three weeks. That’s all.”

“…Fine with me”, I answered, laughing…

“When do you think you can talk to Mike about my plan?”

“Tomorrow morning. Is that soon enough for you?”, I answered laughing…

“Perfect!”, Paul answered with a big smile on his face…

I looked at my old friend and smiled. I had never seen him so happy. He was like a kid…

Now I had no idea how I would make that damn film… but if that’s what Paul wanted, I was ready to do my best.

“…Paul?”

“What?”

“Um… I don’t have a video camera… “

“Oh… that’s true. I suppose you need one huh?”

“What do you think?”, I answered grinning…

“No problem. Next time we go to Fort-de-France, we’ll buy all you need. And we’ll need to buy that thing… you know… the “thing” we need to see the film…”

“It’s called a VCR Paul. It’s a video cassette recorder. Not only can you play a tape with a VCR but you can make recordings also…”

“Whatever… As long as you know how it works…cause…”

“Don’t worry Paul”, I answered, laughing my heart out… “We have one at home, back in Montréal… and I know how it works…”

“Good!”

The day after, just as I had told Paul… I told Mike about Paul’s assignment.

“…You must be kidding!”, he exclaimed…

“No no… I’m dead serious… Paul wants us to go there and make a video…”

“Yeah well do you know what I think? I think Paul wants the two of us to have a very nice and very expensive vacation in Europe at his expense. I don’t know him as well as you do… but I think he and the others at Bagatelle would give the moon to you…”

“And to you… they like you a lot Mike. And about Paul’s assignment, I thought about it too. And I think you’re right. Paul wants us to have fun. But I think there’s more to it than that. I really think he want us to make that video… You should have seen him when he explained his idea to me. I swear to you, he was like a little kid… And anyway… whatever his reasons, he wants us to go there… so why not. It won’t cost us a dime, and we’ll have a chance to see your family. That’s unless you don’t want me to meet with them…”

“WHAT? What are you talking about? I’ve told them everything about you. I never stop telling them about you… They would be thrill to meet you…”

“So? What’s the problem…”

“…It’s just that…”

“Yeah yeah. You don’t want Paul to pay for you, huh?”

Mike looked at me and burst out laughing…

“I know you Mike. You are a proud guy. And I can understand why you don’t want Paul to pay the expenses… But look at it this way: Paul is getting old, and so are the others. Paul is asking for our help. Can we say no? And even if we think he’s doing that just so you and I have a nice vacation, obviously he would be happy seeing us going there and having fun. (…) I know Paul would like to go to Paris to see his sister before she dies. But I think such a long trip would be too much for Paul. It would be too tiring for him. And I think that’s why he said we would be his eyes there… I know that Paul calls his sister regularly and they talks for on and on…But to see her on a video, well… that would be different. To see on video the house on Foch Avenue where he has grown and where he lived with Will during the war… and all the other places… To be able to watch that on a tape as often as he wants… well, I think I can understand why he wants us to make that video…”

“Yeah. Maybe you’re right about that video. And anyway… you know perfectly well I just can’t say no to you. I just can’t. So okay. We’ll go. What else can I say huh? I surrender. Here, get your handcuffs”, Mike answered, laughing and showing me his wrists…

“Ohhhhhh don’t offer me to handcuff you cause I might just do so… and you have no idea what I’d do to you then… and I would never ever let you go free”

“Um… I might just like that you know. A bit kinky huh? Would you be a bit deviant huh? That could get interesting…”

“Oh shut up! (…) I’m worst than that!”, I answered, laughing my heart out… “So it’s YES I guess…”

“YES to what? To you handcuffing me and doing kinky things to me?”

“M I K E!”

“Okay okay. Yes, yes. You can tell Paul we’ll do it!”

“Good. When in August could we be leaving?”

“…Well, on August 8th I will be on vacation… and have to be back on the job on August 29th…”

“Perfect. We’ll tell Paul… and Mike?”

“What?”

“…Where do you think I could buy handcuff?”

He burst out laughing and said:

“I could ask some of our clients at the Club. From what I’ve seen, some of them seem to be rather kinky…”

“Never mind”, I answered, laughing…

That night, when Paul and I were alone, I told him he had a deal… and that Mike would be free to go starting August 8th… He was thrilled. I would have given him a million Francs… he would not have been more happy.

“Good”, he finally said. “Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yes… why?”

“You and I are going to Fort-de France. We’ll stop by the airport, to buy the tickets… then we’ll do some shopping. I want to buy that video thing you talk about…”

“…What about Will? If he comes with us, it’s gonna be hard to keep the whole thing a secret…”

“No problem my friend. Tomorrow, Will has some paper work to do at the distillery. And if we tell him we’re going to Fort-de-France to do some shopping… that’s enough to make him run away. He hates it when we go there to do shopping…”

“Yeah. I know”, I answered, laughing… So many times I had seen Will’s face change when Paul was telling him they had to go to Fort-de-France to do some shopping!

That very same night, as we were all watching TV… Paul said to Will:

“…Oh Will… Tomorrow, Jack and I are going to Fort-de-France to do some shopping. Do you want to come…”

I was watching Will’s reaction… and it didn’t take long for him to answer:

“Sorry guys! Can’t go. I have paper work to do tomorrow… Just can’t set it aside. Sorry!”

“…Oh well… are you sure you can’t come with us…”, Paul answered…

“Nope. Sorry guys! But please, go without me…”, Will answered, not realizing he had fallen into his lover’s trap…

Paul slowly turned across to looked at me with a silly smile on his face. I did my best not to burst out laughing and looked the other way.

A bit later, when Will left us to go to the bathroom, I looked at Paul and said:

“…Ohhhh You’re bad!”

“…I know my man…”, he answered, laughing…

The day after, Paul and I came back from Fort-de-France with every thing we needed. Paul had bought the tickets as well as the camera and a brand new VCR. Plus so many clothes I couldn’t believe my eyes! Clothes for Mike and I.

“…Buy all you need”, Paul said while we were at Fort-de-France. “You and Mike can’t be dressed like punks while staying at the hotels where you’ll be staying. As bad as it is, never forget that people will judge you by the way you look. That’s stupid, but that’s the way things are. If you look rich, they will treat you as such and will do all they can to help you and please you. If you look poor, they will just ignore you. That bad. But hey, it’s not today that we will change the world huh? So I want you and Mike to look good and rich.” 

Paul bought everything. Expensive suits… shirts… shoes… Everything.

“…Hey! We’re not going to Europe for a year, you know…”, I said at one point…

“Let’s not forget to buy suitcases. Very important!”

I rolled my eyes… “Suitcases huh?”, I said…

“Very important. The porter at the hotel will judge you by the quality of your suitcases. Always give him a big tip. He will remember you. Never forget that porters know everything there is to know in a city. They can help you a lot. They can save you time… and tell you all you need to know. Never forget that Jack.”

“Yeah… but we don’t have to buy the store, you know…”

“Yeah yeah…”, Paul answered.

I couldn’t help it but to burst out laughing…

“…What?”

“Can’t help it”, I answered. “Do you know what came to my mind?”

“What?”, Paul asked…

“You told me about the first Christmas you and Will were together in Paris… When he wanted to make a Christmas tree… and you went with him to the “Galeries Lafayette” to buy Christmas trimmings… where you bought everything they had in store… Well today you’re doing the same thing with me…”

Paul looked at me… and for a few seconds he remained still…

“…You remember I told you that?”

“Sure!”

“…Now I know your video will be perfect!”, he answered, with a nice smile on his face… 

“I’ll do my best Paul”, I answered, smiling. Then I took him into my arms and hugged him. “Mike and I will do our best”.

“…I know you will.”, Paul answered.

“Paul?”

“Yes…”

“You want Mike and I to go there so we can have the most beautiful vacation possible, huh?”

Paul looked at me for a while and grinned.

“…It’s part of the reason why I want the two of you to go there. I want you to have fun. I know you’ve been through a lot Jack. And I don’t care about money. I won’t take my money with me into my grave you know. You’re a fine young man Jack. And so is Mike. I just want the two of you to be happy. But I want that video too. It’s important…”

“I understand. And thanks Paul. We do appreciate…”

“I know. Now, I don’t want to hear about that ever. You hear? You’re going there to make that video and that’s all. And you better have fun while you’re there. Have as much fun as I would, if I could go… Have fun for me.”

“Yes. We will.”

On August 9th, Mike and I were sitting in first class, aboard an Air France plane on our way to Paris.

“…Can’t believe it!”, Mike said to me…

“Neither do I… and do you know where we’ll be staying while in Paris?”

“…No. Where?”

“At “Hôtel Meurice”…

“Huh? You’re kidding!”

“Nope. I swear. And a driver from the hotel will be waiting for us at Charles-de-Gaulle…”

“… Now you’re really pulling my leg, aren’t you?”

“Nope. You’ll see… Have I ever lied to you?”

“No”

And as I had said, when we got to the airport our names were called… telling us to report to a special counter. We did.

A driver was there, waiting for us.

“Bonjour messieurs. Au nom de l’hôtel Meurice, je vous souhaite la bienvenue à Paris. Nous espérons que vous avez fait un bon voyage… Je vous en prie, veuillez me suivre. Nous nous occupons déjà de vos bagages…”

(Good evening gentlemen. On behalf of hotel Meurice, I welcome you to Paris. We hope you had a nice trip. Please, follow me. We’re already taking care of your baggage…”)

I looked at Mike and with a big smile on my face I told him:

“What did I tell you, huh?”

“I think I’m going to like our vacation. I could get use to luxury, you know…”, he answered laughing.

“And so would I… as long as I’m not the one paying…”

We just couldn’t help it and burst out laughing…

But we were not laughing anymore when we got to our room at Hôtel Meurice!

For a while we just remained silent, looking all around us. We were stunned.

“…Shit! This is… this is… I mean… It’s a palace! What the hell are we doing here? Do you have any idea of how much it cost to stay here for a single night. More than I make in one year…”, Mike finally said…

“I can’t believe we’re staying here”, I answered… “Hey… look over there…”

“….Champagne! And the best!”, Mike said

I grinned and looked at my watch.

“…What are you doing?”, Mike asked me…

“Just watch me…” I answered.

I took the phone and got the hotel’s operator on the line:

“… Please, could you call that number for me?”

“But of course, Sir. It’s in Martinique, isn’t it?”

“Yes”

A few seconds later I heard Henri, our Martinican friend answer the phone. I told him I wanted to talk to Paul…

Then Paul came on the line.

“…You’re crazy Paul”, I said, laughing. “We just got to Hôtel Meurice! You’re crazy. We even have Champagne…”

At the end of the line, Paul was laughing his heart out…

“Have fun guys! Enjoy your vacation! Have fun for me…”

“…Paul?”

“Yes?”

“…We love you.”

Mike walked to the phone and the both of us said:

“We love you, Paul…”

“I know.”

We hung up. Our vacation was beginning…

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To all of you guys who have been reading my stories from the beginning: Thanks. I guess I have no other choice but to write another chapter… to tell you the rest of the story. The next chapter will be the last. Followed by the Epilogue, to bring you all up to date. But please, be patient. It could take me some times before I can write that last chapter. It’s not easy for me. You’ll understand later. At least, I hope you will. So bear with me for a while, will you? And thanks again for your support… and your nice reviews. They are important. They give me the courage that enables me to go on… THANKS. I love you all.