Chapters
- The Speed of Life (Finished: December 5, 2025 12:30 EST)
- Preparation (Finished: December 8, 2025 12:30 EST)
- Performance and Flight (Finished: December 8, 2025 17:30 EST)
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I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
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ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
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Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
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The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
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World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organization, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organization, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.
The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.
Wikipedia
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A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.
Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.
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Warning: This story deals with mature situations and themes. Reader discretion is definitely advised.
Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Episode 4: Rising Eclipse
The Speed of Life
Sixteen Years Ago
Rue Connaught, Bois-Franc
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Eight months before a certain graduation party that was to occur at a hotel in downtown Toronto, a fourteen year old girl sat in the auditorium of a public school, watching as the rest of her class rehearsed for their upcoming talent night. The night in question would be one where parents and community members, most of whom would make up the audience, would get to enjoy an evening of their daughters and sons presenting their thespian ambitions, live and on stage.
Each performance had been entirely put together by the students themselves, and included in the program only after careful scrutiny of their auditions by the teachers, and the principal herself.
That same girl who now sat towards the back of the auditorium as another trio of students up on stage performed their dance number, in her hand held the crib notes for her own performance. As the performers' acrobatic stylings of their dance number went on in the background, Monique mouthed the words to a poem she herself had written, while she mimed as best she could without the benefit of a full presentation, the various poses that went along with her verse at the appropriate points during its delivery.
When the dance routine on stage had ended, one of the performers went over to their boom box and stopped the music as Mr. Fontaine stepped up to the microphone and spoke into it:
[Who is next, uhhh... who could it be? Oh of course. Monique Defleur?]
"Qui est le prochain, euh... qui ça pourrait être ? Oh, bien sûr. Monique Defleur?" asked Mr. Fontaine, looking out into the auditorium to see if the girl he'd requested had arrived.
Monique got up and immediately ran for the stage, tripping and falling flat on her face, even sliding for a bit along the floor, drawing some laughter from some of the other students, while another student much closer to her went to her aid.
[Are you alright?]
"Ça va?" another girl, heavier and larger framed than Monique asked of her.
[I'm fine. Its just part of the show. You know, break a leg?]
"Ça va bien. Ça fait partie du spectacle. T'sais, tabarnak?" Monique lied, as she got to her feet, rubbing her left knee.
[Pardon me, but I don't think they meant literally.]
"Excusez-moi, mais je ne pense pas qu'ils le pensaient au sens littéral." the other girl replied.
[Who asked you anyway? Can't you see I'm hurt?]
"Qui t'a demandé ton avis, au juste ? Tu ne vois pas que je suis blessée?" Monique responded sarcastically as she limped her way over to the stage.
[Are you going to live, little lady?]
"Vas-tu vivre, p'tite madame?" Mr. Fontaine asked Monique as she ran up the stage stairs, almost tripping again.
[The show must go on, right?]
"Le spectacle doit continuer, n'est-ce pas?" Monique walked up to the microphone and reached out for the stand, almost as if it belonged to her.
[Alright Monique. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Monique Defleur, with poem: An Homage to the Red and the Blue.]
"Très bien Monique. Mesdames et messieurs, je vous présente Monique Defleur, avec son poème : Hommage au Rouge et au Bleu." Mr. Fontaine backed away from the microphone and center stage.
[Can I have the music please?]
"Puis-je avoir la musique, s'il vous plaît?" Monique asked of the audio visual geek, who sat backstage and ran the P.A. system.
A moment later, the auditorium was awash in the music of Alexina Louie's Interlude: Heavenly Night from Music for a Thousand Autumns, as arranged and performed by Lydia Wong.
[If sailors do take warning,
'Pon arrival of a red morning.
If violence condemns one true,
to bruises of black and blue.
Can not red be as thee
true north strong and free?
Under blue skies and without lies,
Together just you and me.]
"Si les marins font attention,
À l'arrivée d'un matin rouge.
Si la violence condamne un homme sincère,
aux bleus et aux contusions.
Le rouge ne peut-il pas être comme toi,
le vrai nord, fort et libre ?
Sous un ciel bleu et sans mensonges,
Ensemble, juste toi et moi." Monique posed with every line, her form in each like a frame within a movie.
The music itself was dissonant, holding a tension in its grip as much so as Monique's poem. The tension between red and blue, which as she saw it could come in many forms, though with her lack of life experience, the first she'd encountered this idea became the forefront of her being. In this case, it found its way into the words of her poem and performance.
Her poem ended almost perfectly with the music, and just as unresolved. She stood on the stage in the auditorium after having finished, and the applause after a silent pause arrived like the late afternoon itself.
[Monique? That was brilliant. You're ready for the performance, which will be tomorrow night as you know. Make sure you're backstage early. Preferably fifteen minutes before your stage call. Thank you, and that will be all Miss Defleur.]
"Monique ? C'était formidable. Vous êtes prête pour le spectacle, qui aura lieu demain soir, comme vous le savez. Assurez-vous d'être dans les coulisses tôt. Idéalement, quinze minutes avant votre entrée en scène. Merci, et c'est tout pour aujourd'hui, Mademoiselle Defleur." Mr. Fontaine instructed her and she left the stage with a mischievous smile on her face, still limping every so slightly.
Monique made her way to her locker, tying the back of her long brown hair into a pony tail with an elastic she'd retrieved from her pocket. When she'd retrieved her backpack, she closed and locked her locker and made her way out through the side exit of the school.
[Well look who it is. The front runner of talent in this forsaken school, perhaps even a future superstar?]
"Tiens, tiens, qui voilà ! Le prodige de cette école délaissée, peut-être même une future superstar?" Gervois met up with her as she emerged from the school.
Gervois was himself vertically impaired, puberty not yet having arrived at his doorstep to coincide with the arrival of his intellect, which for his age of fifteen was formidable. Hence how he was able to keep up with one such as Monique, one of his best friends.
[No. Just a little more courage than the next girl, though I've read that courage and lunacy are often interchangeable you know?]
"Non. Juste un peu plus de courage que les autres, même si j'ai lu que le courage et la folie sont souvent synonymes, tu vois?" Monique responded to Gervois, who nodded affirmatively.
[In either case, I wouldn't know.]
"Dans les deux cas, je ne le saurais pas." Gervois responded with an air of caution.
[You're courageous enough to hang with me despite the fact that I'm practically the marked property of the school thug.]
"Tu as le courage de rester avec moi alors que je suis pratiquement la cible du voyou de l'école." Monique responded, looking to Gervois playfully.
[I've known you for two years longer than he. I'm just making sure that he doesn't stake the claim of my best friend.]
"Je te connais depuis deux ans de plus que lui. Je veux juste m'assurer qu'il ne s'approprie pas mon meilleur ami." Gervois insisted as they rounded the corner and fell into school thug corner.
[Is that a flirt?]
"Est-ce une tentative de drague ?" Monique asked him, looking towards him as she bumped into a taller, sharply dressed, rough and tumble looking fellow.
[I thought I told you to stay away from my girl!]
"Je pensais t'avoir dit de rester loin de ma fille!" Samias towered over Gervois, who backed away until he hit the wall.
Samias pursued him until he'd cornered the shorter man.
[I wasn't under the impression that there was any ownership issues involved. I mean she is a person, not a thing, like you treat her.]
"Je n'avais pas l'impression qu'il y avait un quelconque problème de propriété. Après tout, c'est une personne, pas un objet, contrairement à ce que vous pensez." Gervois was quick to respond out of intimidation and sudden fright.
Beneath his jacket and school jersey, his heart was pounding as he felt himself broaching the point of a school beating.
[Damned right she's a person. She's my person. Now why don't you go on home to your rich parents, and have them fix you up with a whore and a job for life, and I'll keep watch over this one. You know what I'm saying?]
"Bien sûr que c'est une personne. C'est ma personne. Maintenant, pourquoi tu ne retournes pas chez tes riches parents, qu'ils te trouvent une pute et un emploi à vie, et moi je surveille celle-ci. Tu vois c'que j'veux dire ?" Samias, who himself was a bit older but certainly not wiser, was keeping watch over a number of social staples that maintained the illusion of his status as a serious thug in the school.
In all truth, though less so than Gervois, he too was frightened, though for a very different reason. Monique to him was his claim to a future, for she had possessed more so than he, the perseverance and ambition to brave the social, political and cultural politics in school despite her coming from a working class family, and not much better off than that of Samias own family.
She did however manage to over her years at school, go from a failing grade of F, to a B+ average, while still building an element of what Samias called grace and face. She was able to move through different social cliques in school, fitting in where ever need be, without compromising any of the others who'd welcomed her into their ranks. Her grace, as he'd referred to it.
Most of these cliques knew her or of her, and yet she'd somehow managed to remain discrete, while at the same time, having a sort of secret popularity amongst most of the students at the school. On one hand she participated in school almost as much as an academic hopeful, and on the other hand, she was a rebel, sometimes, but often not, comfortable with the status quot. One thing however she always secretly enjoyed, and that was that eventually, she'd be the center of attention. If it didn't happen today, then it would happen tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then sometime into the future.
Samias was at the top of the school's predatory food chain, which essentially was, though few would ever admit, a dead end. Samias might if he was lucky, find a job in a warehouse, which could pay reasonably well, but certainly not well enough to support a mortgage and a family. He'd be forced down the same road he'd started on. The road into the underground and black market economy. A thug is as a thug does, and a thug he'd be. A business thug, but still a thug nonetheless.
Samias knew that Monique had something. That thing, whatever it was, that would lead her and those around her to great fortune. Maybe in terms of finances. Maybe in terms of fame. Maybe in terms of accomplishment. Maybe in terms of infamy. Samias knew that she was destined for something more than whatever he could amount to, and so he wasn't just holding onto a person, and treating her like a thing. He was holding onto his chance. His only chance.
He had nothing personal against Gervois, though a man in his position was expected to assert some kind of intimidation and authority over someone like Gervois, for that was how men like Samias usurped the power of intellect and civility from others, reverting society back to the social rule of might is right, rather than might for right as T.H. White had once put it. In Samias' perspective, the might of the thug trumped the might of the intellect, and in the end it was fear that made that possible.
[I am not your property, Samias! I am my own woman!]
"Je ne suis pas ta propriété, Samias ! Je suis une femme libre!" Monique got between Samias and Gervois, facing off against the tallest of the two.
[You're a girl, not a woman. You need protecting. Now step aside and let me deal with this one.]
"T'es une fille, pas une femme. Tu dois être protégée. Maintenant, écarte-toi et laisse-moi m'en occuper." Samias attempted to push Monique aside, feeling intimidated by her, but very much ready to take it out on Gervois.
[Samias! Of the two of you, Gervois is the bigger man. You only look bigger, but the truth is that you're not a man. You're a boy.]
"Samias ! De vous deux, Gervois est le plus costaud. T'as juste l'air plus costaud, mais en réalité, t'es pas un homme. T'es un gamin." Monique defied Samias, not letting him push her aside as she held her place between them.
[Someday soon Monique, you're going to step over the limit and when you do, you're going to need someone like me to protect you. Pray that you don't burn down that bridge, before you need it!]
"Monique, un jour prochain, tu dépasseras les limites et, à ce moment-là, tu auras besoin de quelqu'un comme moi pour te protéger. Prie pour pas briser les ponts avant d'en avoir besoin !" Samias face grew grim and even vicious, like a dog baring its teeth, but he didn't pounce.
Instead, he put his hands into his pockets and returned to a group of his friends near the front entrance of the school.
Gervois let out an exasperated sigh of relief upon Samias' having vacated his space.
[Whew. That was too close. I don't know what's worse. The beating, or anticipating it.]
"Ouf ! Il faisait chaud ! Je ne sais pas ce qui est pire : les coups reçus ou l'appréhension." Gervois held out his hand, showing Monique just how much it was shaking.
[Someday Gervois, you're going to be in a position to exert power over others in a similar way. At least learn from what its like to be on the receiving end of such intimidation before the future when you're dishing it out as an intellectual leader of some kind?]
"Gervois, un jour, vous serez capable d'exercer un pouvoir semblable sur autrui. Au moins, apprenez de ce que c'est que d'être la cible de telles intimidations avant de les distribuer vous-même, en tant que figure intellectuelle influente." Monique did her best to remain fair to either man, though she knew that she was reaching the limits of her understanding.
Something else that had been pressing her had found its way into her head, and with that she left Gervois and quickly made her way home.
...
Marcel drove his pickup truck, a sizeable Dodge Ram, outfitted for a man of his tasking in the field of construction engineering. He had since he was in his mid-twenties overseen many construction projects in Quebec and into New Brunswick and even as far north as Labrador. He was a vital man (as were any who worked in the field of construction) for he'd work directly with architects in an engineering capacity, backed with his field skill as a former construction worker towards the ends of seeing their mutual visions realized. He wore the pride of the trust of his fellow architects as much so as he did his fellow engineers and it was apparent on his face, though he rarely if ever consciously ever thought about something of that nature.
Instead, what flowed through his mind were project schedules and deadlines. Materials and structural cohesion. The overall accomplishment of a project to its fullest potential and the perfection of its execution.
On that particular day he'd happened to be driving the side streets, back from one such project in the heart of Montreal when he'd recognized his daughter on her way home from school. He quickly stopped the truck at the side of the road and beeped his horn twice for her, rolling down the passenger window and calling her from within:
[Look who it is. The eclipse of the school day herself. Come on honey. Get in.]
"Regarde qui voilà ! L'éclipse de la journée scolaire en personne. Allez, ma belle, monte!" Marcel gestured to her, beeping several times as he waited by the curb.
She smiled when she saw her father and ran over to the door of the Dodge and got in the passenger seat, taking a deep breath of the smell within.
[Thanks Dad. Finished work?]
"Merci papa. Avez-vous terminé le travail?" Monique asked her father.
[Kind of. I'm on call for the night. They're finishing a mission critical section that was part of the architect's sell of the idea. So I can eat with you and your mother, but I might just as soon be gone.]
"En quelque sorte. Je suis de garde ce soir. Ils terminent une section cruciale pour le projet, un élément clé de l'argumentaire de l'architecte. Je peux donc souper avec toi et ta mère, mais je préférerais probablement partir." Marcel pulled back out into late afternoon traffic with his daughter in the passenger seat.
There was a moment of silence between the two until Marcel realized what day it was.
[So? How did your preparation performance go? Were you accepted?]
"Alors ? Comment s'est déroulée votre préparation ? Avez-vous été accepté(e)?" asked Marcel of Monique.
[You know. It went with a little frantic. A little mystery. A little improvisation... and I was accepted! I'm in for stage call tomorrow night. Between seven and eight PM.]
"Vous savez, ça s'est passé un peu dans la précipitation, avec un brin de mystère et d'improvisation… et j'ai été accepté ! Je serai convoqué à l'audition demain soir, entre 19 h et 20 h." Monique smiled as she told her father.
[Champion daughter! That's my daughter!]
"Fille championne ! C'est ma fille!" Marcel responded, holding his left hand up and away from the steering wheel, offering his daughter a high five.
She met his hand with hers and they both laughed for a moment until the silence.
[Dad?]
"Papa?" Monique looked to her father as he drove.
[Yes?]
"Oui?" he responded without his eyes leaving the road.
[What was it really like in Ukraine? You know, during the transition?]
"Comment c'était vraiment en Ukraine ? Vous savez, pendant la transition?" Monique asked her father thoughtfully.
[Difficult. Optimistic. Ambitious. Painful. Very painful. Like losing family. Like... we had something good, so good that maybe someone else didn't want us to have it. Somewhere between the ideal market economy and positioning... and a safety net of the public.]
"Difficile. Optimiste. Ambitieux. Douloureux. Très douloureux. Comme perdre un être cher. Comme si… nous avions quelque chose de précieux, de si précieux que peut-être quelqu’un d’autre ne voulait pas que nous l’ayons. Quelque part entre l’idéal de l’économie de marché et le positionnement stratégique… et un filet de sécurité social." Marcel answered his daughter honestly and from his own heart.
[I think you'll like my performance tomorrow.]
"Je pense que vous apprécierez ma performance demain." Monique responded.
[Look Monique. I'm doing everything I can to make sure I'm gonna be there. I have two engineers on stand-by to cover for me, but I might not be able to be there. No promises, but I'm going to try my best.]
"Écoute Monique. Je fais tout mon possible pour être là. J'ai deux ingénieurs prêts à me remplacer, mais je ne suis pas certaine de pouvoir être présente. Je ne peux rien promettre, mais je ferai de mon mieux." Marcel turned the corner onto the street of their suburban home.
[That's alright Dad. As long as you try.]
"C'est bon papa. Tant que tu essaies." Monique looked to her father as the two of them pulled into the driveway beside another car.
[Your mother's back from work. Looks like she went shopping. Let's grab a couple bags each and give her a hand.]
"Ta mère est revenue du travail. On dirait qu'elle a fait des courses. Prenons chacun deux sacs pour lui donner un coup de main." Marcel made his way over to the trunk at the rear of the car and grabbed the last four bags himself, directing Monique to the side door to retrieve the groceries from the back seat.
[Hi Mom! Its official! I'm in the talent show!]
"Salut maman ! C'est officiel ! Je participe au concours de talents!" Monique announced right away as she arrived in the kitchen, where Livea, her mother was already making space for the rest of the groceries.
[Are there any left?]
"En reste-t-il?" Livea asked Marcel as he put his groceries on the kitchen table, after which he turned to Livea and landed a quick but tender kiss on her lips.
[No. Monique and I got them all. How was your day?]
"Non. Monique et moi les avons tous eus. Comment s'est passée ta journée?" Marcel responded to her, and she immediately returned to getting the groceries into the fridge, cupboard and pantry.
[It was very hectic. We're preparing for a service parts inventory this coming weekend and the franchise auditors showed up early and started with my department of course. So here I was servicing customers while trying to meet our sales goals for the week, and at the same time dealing with the inquiries of the auditors... Needless to say it was a mess. Speaking of, did you clean your room like I asked you to Monique?]
"C'était un vrai chaos. On prépare l'inventaire des pièces détachées pour la fin de semaine prochaine et les auditeurs de la franchise sont arrivés tôt et ont commencé par mon rayon, bien sûr. Du coup, je me suis retrouvée à servir les clients tout en essayant d'atteindre nos objectifs de vente hebdomadaires, et en même temps à répondre aux questions des auditeurs… Autant dire que c'était un vrai bazar. Au fait, Monique, as-tu rangé ta chambre comme je te l'avais demandé?" Livea responded in a stream of consciousness that Marcel listened to carefully.
[Awwww Mom! I have a performance tomorrow! I need to rehearse! Did you even hear me?]
"Oh maman! J'ai un spectacle demain ! Je dois répéter ! Tu m'as entendue?" Monique responded defensively.
[Good for you. Now that you're a big star, could you at least keep your room clean like a big star? Your father and I were talking.]
"Bravo ! Maintenant que t'es une star, tu pourrais au moins ranger ta chambre comme une vraie star ? Ton père et moi en parlions justement." Livea spoke sarcastically to Monique, then returning her attention to Marcel.
[Dad? Want to see my geography test? I got an A!]
"Papa? Tu veux voir mon examen de géographie? J'ai eu un A!" Monique told her father excitedly.
Marcel was about to respond when Livea interrupted him.
[Did you even hear me? I said go clean your room young lady!]
"Tu m'as seulement entendue? Je t'ai dit d'aller nettoyer ta chambre, jeune fille!" Livea raised her voice slightly, and it was clear that at that time, she'd won in their competition for Marcel's attention.
[We'll talk at the dinner table, Monique.]
"On en reparlera à table, Monique." Marcel assured his daughter.
[That's one hour from now young lady. That might even be enough time for you to get your room clean.]
"Dans une heure, mademoiselle. Vous aurez peut-être même le temps de ranger votre chambre." Livea continued, then returning her attention to Marcel.
Monique ran from the kitchen and up the stairs of their home and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She then stomped on the floor several times and threw herself into bed where she began crying, face down in her pillow.
She and her mother had been, since Monique could talk, in a perpetual state of competition over the attention of Marcel. Livea's husband and Monique's father. Livea had come from a large family and had three other sisters and one brother, all of whom used to compete for their father's attention, so it was a dynamic that Livea was already very familiar with and one that she'd initiated her own daughter into early on.
Her family had been residents in Montreal since the late eighteen hundreds, having emigrated from France in 1857, a time during which they fled the economic hardships brought on by Napoleon Bonaparte III. They had flourished in Montreal since that time, many having left their mark in the city's illustrious history.
Marcel on the other hand was born in the Soviet Union. In Ukraine more specifically, and the great city of Kyiv, during a time when Russia and Ukraine were at peace and part of a whole much larger their countries alone. His family had weathered the difficult economic climate of cold war Ukraine. He grew up with an interest in construction, having been fascinated by the big digging machines, cranes and trucks he'd witnessed as a child. Those that had been a part of the cold war era of construction and infrastructure building in Ukraine during the competitively optimistic moment of their Soviet utopian dream.
A construction firm from Kyiv had even taken part in Expo 67, one year before Marcel was born, and had as such become local legends in their part of the world, for their participation in the event, which was hosted in Montreal. They had built an exhibit called: Workplace Of Tomorrow, featuring a uniquely designed building that was entirely heated and powered by natural means, both solar and wind, long before the arrival of computers and modern electronics in the office workplace, and hence feasible.
Marcel studied at the Kyiv Institute of Civil Engineering, taking their construction engineering program and when he'd graduated, he'd been snatched up by this same firm of the Soviet/Ukraine government. Two years before the fall of the Berlin wall, the upper management of that same company were spooked by the prospect of armed rebellion in the Soviet Union and hence made contact with their contemporaries of Expo 67 and arranged for a return visit for their entire firm. The visit however became defection and in 1989, Marcel, with all twenty-eight other employees of the firm, defected to Canada.
Initially, they worked in fields unrelated to their former careers for security and safety reasons, but when word of the collapse of the Berlin wall hit the news, they were promptly contacted by the Canadian Government and told that they were safe to resume their former careers in Canada once they'd been assessed to Canadian standards.
Within one year of that day, the entire twenty-eight member staff minus one who'd died of Cancer, had joined various construction firms throughout Canada, with Marcel having chosen to stay and work in Montreal. With his empowered income, he immediately went and bought himself a truck for work, which is exactly where he met Livea. She had been the Leasing agent with whom he'd dealt at the car dealership and after having been approved, he asked her out on a date, even picking her up in the very truck he'd procured from her.
One year on from that night, and they were married, bought a house together and lived happily as a married couple. Monique was born in July of nineteen ninety-four, their first and only child. Together, they weathered Monique's early years, taking turns feeding Monique and changing her diapers until she was old enough to tend for herself. From that point on, Livea and Monique were in competition for Marcel's attention. This was the dynamic of their family, and would be for a long time to come.
Monique awoke suddenly to the sound of someone tapping lightly on her door. The room was dark and the Moon was out, shining in through her window. She checked her clock on her night table:
[It's eight thirty already?!]
"Il est déjà huit heures et demie?!" she whispered to herself as she leaned up and sat at the side of the bed.
The tapping came again, and a familiar female voice joined its rhythm.
[Monique? Can we talk?]
"Monique ? On peut jaser?" Livea asked her from the other side of the door.
Monique ran for the door and opened it only slightly, not wanting her mother to see that she hadn't cleaned her room.
[I was sleeping, alright?!]
"Je dormais, d'accord?!" Monique spoke, peeking her head slightly out through the opening in the door.
[Its alright Monique. I know that you haven't cleaned your room. Leave that for another day. Can we talk?]
"Ça va, Monique. Je sais que tu n'as pas rangé ta chambre. On verra ça plus tard. On peut jaser?" Livea pleaded with her daughter.
[Alright, but not too long. I'm tired.]
"D'accord, mais pas trop longtemps. Je suis fatigué." Monique responded to her mother, turning her back to the woman and returning to her bed where she lay on her side awaiting her mother's lecture.
[Its hard on him you know?]
"C'est tough pour lui, tu sais?" Livea said to Monique after she'd closed Monique's door.
[What?]
"Quoi?" Monique asked.
[His work. Definitely. But moreso, us. We're hard on him.]
"Son travail. Sans aucun doute. Mais surtout, nous. On est dur avec lui." Livea approached the bed and sat on the edge, keeping her back to Monique momentarily and then turning halfway to face her.
[More like you. You barely give him any time before you...]
"Plutôt comme toi. Tu ne lui laisses même pas le temps de…" Monique responded quickly and sharply before she was cut off mid sentence.
[Enough! Listen, for once in your life young lady?]
"Ça suffit ! Écoute, pour une fois dans ta vie, jeune fille?" Livea raised her voice momentarily before she continued.
[When I was a young girl, just like you, I had three sisters and a brother to boot. My brother, Pierre wasn't too bad. Mostly quiet. But my sisters and I, and then my mother, we used to compete for his attention. My father's. All of us women, just wanting to be the one apple in his eye.]
"Quand j'étais petite, comme toi, j'avais trois sœurs et un frère. Mon frère, Pierre, n'était pas si mal. Plutôt calme. Mais mes sœurs, ma mère et mon père, on se disputait son attention. Toutes les femmes, on rêvait d'être la prunelle de ses yeux." Livea recalled her days as a fourteen year old girl, her three sisters, all younger than her, and her mother.
All of them constantly seeking their father's attention. Their father's approval.
[He worked hard too. Like your father. He was an engineer, just like your father, but he specialized in transit. A transportation engineer. He tended to be a lot more hands on as well, and he certainly, worked hard for his money every day of his life.]
"Lui aussi travaillait dur. Comme ton père. Il était ingénieur, comme ton père, mais spécialisé dans les transports. Ingénieur des transports. Il était beaucoup plus impliqué sur le terrain et, assurément, il a travaillé fort pour gagner sa vie." Livea continued her story.
[We kept on him almost all of the time, during his off hours, until his fuse would blow, and he'd rant at us but he'd never hurt us or threaten us. He'd just try to explain that he wanted some peace when he was at home. Of course, none of us heard him because we were only thinking of ourselves. It never occurred to us that he had feelings too. Wants and needs, especially the need for peace after a hard day's work.]
"On le harcelait presque sans arrêt, même en dehors de ses heures de travail, jusqu'à ce qu'il craque et se mette à nous crier dessus. Mais il ne nous a jamais fait de tort ni menacés. Il essayait simplement d'expliquer qu'il aspirait à un peu de tranquillité chez lui. Bien sûr, aucun de nous ne l'écoutait, parce qu'on ne pensait qu'à nous-mêmes. Il ne nous était jamais venu à l'idée qu'il avait, lui aussi, des sentiments, des envies et des besoins, notamment celui de trouver la paix après une dure journée de travail." Livea paused as she recalled one particular situation that momentarily brought both a tear and a smile to her face.
[Then, one night, after we'd driven him up the wall fighting for his attention, he stormed out of the house, yelling: 'I've had it! I've had enough!' And that was it. He left.]
"Puis, un soir, après l'avoir exaspéré à force d'essayer d'attirer son attention, il a quitté la maison en trombe, en criant : « J'en ai assez ! » Et c'était tout. Il est parti." Livea recalled that night as if it were yesterday.
[Did he come back?]
"Est-ce qu'il est revenu?" Monique leaned forward slightly as she asked, getting closer to hear better.
[Your grandfather? He most certainly did. Three days later. He smelt of liquor and whiskey. Like a man who hadn't had a shower in three days. Nearly a full beard on his usually clean shaven face. He didn't say a thing to us. He merely went upstairs, had a shower and a shave, and went to bed that night, sleeping until the morning and before any of us were up, he'd already left for work the next day.]
"Ton grand-père ? Absolument. Trois jours plus tard, il sentait l'alcool et le whisky. Comme un homme qui ne s'était pas douché depuis trois jours. Une barbe presque complète recouvrait son visage habituellement rasé de près. Il ne nous a rien dit. Il est juste monté en haut, a pris une douche, s'est rasé et est allé se coucher. Il a dormi jusqu'au matin et, avant même qu'on se lève, il était déjà parti travailler le lendemain." Livea shook her head as she recalled the evening he returned.
[He returned after work, and didn't say a thing to us except hello. He ate dinner with us. He went and watched his hockey after dinner while we cleaned the kitchen and did our homework. None of us from that point onward pestered him competitively again. We'd each choose nights when we had something to show him, and that night would be for one of us alone. The next night, my other sister would be the center of attention and so on. I guess my point is, that we didn't realize the effect we were having upon him until he really blew his fuse. It might have been worse though. It might have been a heart attack. It might have been Cancer. It could have been anything that can arise from constant stress.]
"Il est revenu du travail et ne nous a adressé qu'un simple bonjour. Il a soupé avec nous. Après le repas, il est allé regarder son match de hockey pendant qu'on nettoyait la cuisine et qu'on faisait nos devoirs. À partir de ce moment-là, aucun de nous n'a cherché à le provoquer. Chacun choisissait une soirée où il avait quelque chose à lui montrer, et cette soirée était réservée à l'un d'entre nous. Le lendemain soir, c'était au tour de mon autre sœur d'être mise de l'avant, et ainsi de suite. Je crois que ce que je veux dire, c'est qu'on n'a pas réalisé l'effet qu'on avait sur lui avant qu'il ne craque complètement. Ça aurait pu être pire. Il aurait pu faire une crise cardiaque. Un cancer. N'importe quelle maladie liée à un stress constant aurait pu en être la conséquence." Livea looked at Monique, and in some small way saw a reflection of herself.
[Its hard being a man with five girls to look after, let alone two. The two of us, we both need to be the center of attention, especially to the most important men in our lives, but I think that we have to tone it down or we might lose him, never realizing it because we've only been thinking of ourselves.]
"C'est difficile d'être un homme avec cinq filles à charge, alors imaginez deux ! Toutes les deux, on a besoin d'être au centre de l'attention, surtout pour les hommes les plus importants de nos vies, mais je pense qu'il faut qu'on se calme un peu, sinon on risque de le perdre sans même s'en rendre compte, parce qu'on ne pense qu'à nous." Livea confessed to Monique.
[Did grandpa ever tell you what he did on those three nights he was gone?]
"Est-ce que grand-père t'a jamais raconté ce qu'il a fait pendant ces trois nuits d'absence ?" Monique asked her mother.
[No, and none of us asked him. Not even my mother. Like what's in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Where he put all that pressure, we'll never know. But at least it didn't take him from us.]
"Non, et aucun de nous ne lui a posé la question. Même pas ma mère. Comme quoi, ce qui se passe à Vegas reste à Vegas. On ne saura jamais d'où lui venait toute cette pression. Mais au moins, il est toujours là." Livea stood from the bed and began towards the door.
[Are you coming to my performance tomorrow?]
"Tu viens à mon spectacle demain?" Monique asked her mother.
[Your father and I talked about it already. We'll both be there, and we're very much looking forward to seeing where you've been putting all of that creative energy of yours.]
"Ton père et moi en avons déjà parlé. Nous serons tous les deux présents et nous avons hâte de voir où tu as déployé toute cette énergie créative." Livea smile and waved to her daughter as she opened the bedroom door.
[Thanks mom.]
"Merci maman." Monique waved back.
[There's a plate in the fridge for you if you get hungry later. Throw it in the microwave and good eating.]
"Il y a une assiette dans le frigo pour toi si tu as faim plus tard. Passe-la au micro-ondes et bon appétit !" Livea left through the door, closing it behind her.
Monique turned over onto her back and fell asleep. She had dreams (and nightmares) about the collapse of the Berlin wall. About her father when he was young, fleeing Soviet Union Ukraine and what many had thought would turn into an armed rebellion. About her grandfather disappearing into a liquor fueled party in a modern Montreal Casino that inhabited the grounds of modern day Expo 67.
Ce qui se passe à Montréal reste à Montréal.
Preparation
When Monique had awaken the next day, her parents were already gone. They'd left a note on the fridge (with an affixed twenty dollar bill to pay for her lunch and snacks for the day). After cleaning herself, she quickly threw together a bag of snacks from the fridge and stowed them in her backpack and set off on her way to school, with her red and blue dress for the performance folded neatly away in her knapsack.
She walked the usual route she'd take to get to school, her iPod ear-pods comfortably in her ears as she listened to her favourite pop band during the walk. She was literally on top of the world when she heard the sound of a car horn from the side of the road. She peered towards the car, seeing somebody waving at her from the driver's seat. She squinted until she recognized Samias. A smile crossed her face and she ran for the passenger car door, almost ripping the ear-pods from her ears.
[Where'd you get it?]
"Où l'as-tu trouvé?" she asked Samias.
[I bought it. I've been saving for a while. Wanted to impress my girl.]
"Je l'ai acheté. J'étais inconscient depuis un moment. Je voulais impressionner ma copine." Samias responded with a devious smile on his face.
[Awwwe. That's so sweet. So are you going to drive me to school?]
"Oh, c'est mignon ! Tu vas m'amener à l'école?" Monique asked Samias.
[I don't have class first period.]
"J'ai pas d'école en première heure." Samias explained to her.
[I do, and I don't want to be late, again.]
"Oui, et je ne veux pas être en retard, encore une fois." Monique insisted to him.
[Alright. But I can't pick you up after school. I'm busy.]
"D'accord. Mais je ne peux pas venir te chercher après l'école. Je suis occupé(e)." Samias responded as he pulled out into traffic from the curbside.
[That's ok. I've got my performance tonight, and I volunteered to help setup the stage and auditorium. Aren't you coming tonight?]
"Pas de problème. J'ai un spectacle ce soir et je me suis porté volontaire pour aider à monter la scène et la salle. Tu viens pas ce soir?" Monique asked him a little too expectantly for his liking.
[Its not exactly my kind of thing. You know what I'm saying?]
"C'est pas vraiment mon truc. Tu vois c'que j'veux dire?" Samias responded as the pulled up to a red light at an intersection.
A police cruiser pulled out in front of the car, pausing momentarily to take a look. Samias pulled his baseball cap a bit lower to cover his face as he looked away non-chalantly. Much to his relief, the police cruiser pulled away and continued along with the other traffic.
The rest of the trip to the school was silent with the exception of Monique, who'd turned on the radio and found it tuned to a classical music station.
[I didn't know that you liked classical music?]
"Je ne savais pas que tu aimais la musique classique?" Monique asked him.
[This car was one of the demo models. I guess there were different people driving it all the time and messing with the radio and stuff.]
"Cette voiture était un modèle de démonstration. J'imagine que différentes personnes la conduisaient sans arrêt et bidouillaient la radio et tout ça." Samias thought quick on his feet as they arrived out front of the school.
[Call me later. After your performance.]
"Appelez-moi plus tard. Après ta prestation." Samias said to her as she got out.
[Nice car! Thanks. I'll call you later.]
"Belle auto ! Merci. Je t'appelle plus tard." Monique waved to him as she turned and ran for the doors of the school, wondering if everyone else had seen her getting out of her boyfriend's car.
...
The rest of the day went slowly as Monique anxiously watched the clock during every one of her classes, paying little attention as she fantasized about her performance to come that night. She remained curiously withdrawn during her math class and at one point, the teacher having delivered a lesson picked Monique from the class, just to see if she was paying attention.
[...using this exact formulation, we should be able to figure out the length of the hypoteneuse of any right angle triangle. Correct? Because the length of the opposite side squared plus the length of the adjacent side squared is equal to what? Monique?]
"… en utilisant cette formule précise, on devrait pouvoir calculer la longueur de l’hypoténuse de n’importe quel triangle rectangle. N'est-ce pas ? Car la somme du carré de la longueur du côté opposé et du carré de la longueur du côté adjacent est égale à quoi ? Monique?" the teacher asked Monique as she looked off into the distance, very obviously lost in some portion of her imagination.
[The tangent?]
"La tangente?" Monique responded.
[Well, at least you were partially paying attention. I suppose that's better than not paying attention at all. There's also the possibility that you're a genius and you already knew that we can calculate the length of the hypoteneuse using the square root of one plus the tangent of theta squared. I'll give you a mark for your answer this time, but next time you're going to have to work for it young lady.]
"Bon, au moins t'as un peu écouté. C'est toujours mieux que de ne pas écouter du tout. Il est aussi possible que tu sois un génie et que tu saches déjà qu'on peut calculer la longueur de l'hypoténuse avec la racine carrée de 1 plus la tangente de θ au carré. Je te donne un point pour ta réponse cette fois-ci, mais la prochaine fois, il va falloir faire un effort, mademoiselle." the teacher quickly wrote out the finished notation for both Pythagoras' theorem, and the tangent solution that arose from Monique's response, putting a checkmark beside each of them.
[The wonderful thing that you'll find with trigonometry is that there's not just one, but many different ways through the woods to grandma's house, proverbially speaking that is. Just don't let the wolf get there first.]
"Ce qui est génial avec la trigonométrie, c'est qu'il n'y a pas qu'un seul chemin, mais plusieurs pour se rendre chez grand-mère, comme on dit. Attention de ne pas vous faire devancer par le loup!" the teacher drew a tiny picture of a cartoonish looking wolf with sharp fangs, drawing a sum of laughter from the class.
...
Another half-hour later and her math class, the last class of the day, had ended. She quickly made her way from class and to her locker, bumping into Gervois along the way.
[Monique! Wait up!]
"Monique ! M'Attends!" Gervois spoke us as he pursued her.
[I'm gonna be late for decorating the auditorium.]
"Je vais être en retard pour le décor de l'auditorium." Monique responded as she grabbed her lock and quickly dialed the combination with one hand, using her thumb.
[I got your props and effects in the bag.]
"J'ai tout ce qu'il vous faut en accessoires et effets spéciaux." Gervois held up the bag, showing it to her.
[Shhhh! Put that down and hide it! Don't spoil my show!]
"Chut! Mets ça et cache-le ! Ne gâche pas mon spectacle!" Monique quickly scolded Gervois
[Where should I put it?]
"Où dois-je le mettre?" Gervois asked Monique.
[In your backpack maybe? Are you bringing it with you?]
"Dans ton sac à dos, peut-être ? Tu l'emportes avec toi?" Monique asked him as she grabbed her overalls from her locker.
[Sure. If you say so. I think Mr. Fontaine wants me to do the ground level decorations on account of my acrophobia. That's when I'll setup your effects.]
"Bien sûr. Si vous le dites. Je crois que M. Fontaine veut que je m'occupe de la déco au rez-de-chaussée à cause de mon vertige. C'est là que j'installerai vos effets spéciaux." Gervois explained to her as she slammed her locker door shut.
[Thank you so much Gervois. You'll get it back from me someday. I promise.]
"Merci beaucoup Gervois. Je te le rendrai un jour. Promis." Monique leaned over and planted a delicate kiss on his cheek, which caused him to blush profusely.
[For you, anything my friend. Not a problem.]
"Pour toi, tout est permis, mon ami. Aucun problème." Gervois nervously followed her as she quickly made her way to the auditorium.
Performance and Flight
The follow spot light settled upon a solitary singer, a young girl of perhaps sixteen years of age with a long red dress and her blonde hair tied up in an elaborate bun, as she sang the last verse of Un Peu Plus Haut. She was then joined by another girl, perhaps a year older with dark hair similarly styled hair in a long black and white dress.
The music backtrack accompanying their performance blared out of a speaker system setup by the school's audio visual club and provided by a local audio/visual rental retailer from the same community, and whose advertising posters were visible in several places on the auditorium walls. These same walls were decorated with seasonally appropriate holiday wreaths and ribbons, with several decorated trees in each of the corners of the auditorium, populated by gifts some of the parents had brought for both the students and the teachers of the arts department.
In the center of the auditorium were row after row of chairs, twenty of them in all, by thirty columns across, each one of them occupied by parents or members of the community. Some of them were swaying to the music, and yet others tapping their feet on the floor in rhythm with the song. At least two of the parents in the audience were at this moment in tears as they watched their daughters perform on stage, at what a key moment in the beginning of a long career.
As the song ended, the audience stood in applause for the performers, both of whom curtsied for the audience as Mr. Fontaine took to the podium in his jacket and a hand tied bow-tie, presenting the two singers once again as he too applauded for them, for Quebec had a long standing love affair with power ballads. It was as English Canada had put it: the cheese to go with Quebec's finest wine.
[Thank you to Miss Denise Gatineau and Miss Lorraine Medealoré for that wonderful performance of En peu plus haut. I remind you that all of this would not be possible without the incredible talent of these young women and men, and without your support for these programs which provide a performance foundation with good discipline and business sense for future artists. These programs I remind you are only possible by your vote at the polls in supporting council members who promote the arts alongside the regular academic curriculum and by the sponsorship of businesses who have a strong relationship with the arts. We thank you all for the possibility of shows like this, with your children as the stars. In preparation for when they are truly upon the world's stage.]
"Merci à Mlles Denise Gatineau et Lorraine Medealoré pour leur magnifique interprétation de « En peu plus haut ». Je tiens à rappeler que tout cela ne serait pas possible sans l'incroyable talent de ces jeunes et sans votre soutien à ces programmes qui offrent une formation artistique solide, alliant discipline et sens des affaires, aux futurs artistes. Ces programmes sont rendus possibles grâce à votre vote lors des élections, qui permet d'appuyer les conseillers municipaux qui font la promotion des arts parallèlement au programme scolaire régulier, et grâce au parrainage d'entreprises étroitement liées au monde des arts. Nous vous remercions tous de permettre la tenue de spectacles comme celui-ci, où vos enfants sont les vedettes. Une préparation essentielle pour le jour où ils fouleront véritablement la scène internationale." Mr. Fontaine took a moment to thank the audience and to remind them of the importance of their civic duty to the community, to which the audience also applauded as a show of their gratitude.
[And now, with a little bit of a change of pace, we present to you five unique dancers and choreographers who put this dance piece together which is set to the music of another young lady who might one day be a star herself. I present to you: Five Whose Dance Means Words, dancing to Gettin' To Da Point by MissGvious!]
"Et maintenant, changement de rythme ! Nous vous présentons cinq danseurs et chorégraphes exceptionnels qui ont créé cette pièce sur la musique d'une autre jeune artiste qui pourrait bien devenir une star un jour. Je vous présente : Five Whose Dance Means Words, sur le titre Gettin' To Da Point de MissGvious!" Mr. Fontaine began clapping and backing away from the podium as the stage lights flashed brilliantly as the five dancer/choreographers took center stage with the beat heavy dub step intro of one of MissGvious' more popular songs in the trip hop underground.
Backstage, Monique stood near the back, practicing her poses and the motion to arrive at them, which she'd learned through a course in pantomime through the same arts program. Her long brown hair was done up in braids and into bun atop of her head. While she wore a knee length dress whose colours were divided diagonally from her right shoulder to her left hip between red (her upper left side) and blue (her lower right side). The dress itself was tight and yet not revealing or overtly so, and despite the contrasting colours, it went very nicely with her makeup and hair.
Gervois snuck into the backstage area and approached Monique from the side. She nearly jumped when she turned to finish her last pose.
[What are you doing sneaking up on a girl like that!]
"Qu'est-ce que tu fais pour surprendre une fille comme ça!" Monique scolded him as she caught her breath after his scare.
[Everything's in place and ready. I talked to the other A/V guys and they're ready. I gave them a copy of the script you made for me, so we should all be in sync.]
"Tout est en place et prêt. J'ai parlé aux autres techniciens audiovisuels et ils sont prêts. Je leur ai donné une copie du script que vous avez préparé pour moi, donc on devrait tous être synchronisés." Gervois leaned in close to her ear and spoke as MissGvious' beats pounded out on stage.
[Alright. That's great Gervois. You're my hero. My real hero. I couldn't have done any of this without you.]
"Très bien. C'est super, Gervois. T'es mon héros. Mon vrai héros. J'aurais rien pu faire sans toi." Monique smiled at him, giving scratching his ear with her finger and then pressing the tip of his nose with the same.
He blushed once again, though it was lost to the darkness backstage.
[When you're big and famous, put in a good word for me, will you?]
"Quand tu seras célèbre et important, tu pourrais dire un mot en ma faveur, s'il te plaît?" Gervois asked her.
[I'll do that, and much more. Don't you worry. I'll never forget this. Ever.]
"Je vais le faire, et bien plus encore. Ne t'en fais pas. Je n'oublierai jamais ça. Jamais." Monique put her hand on his shoulder, and leaned her head momentarily there as one of the other stage hands came running up to them.
[This is their last verse. You're on in about another forty seconds.]
"Voici leur dernier couplet. Vous passerez dans une quarantaine de secondes." the stage hand yelled to her and she nodded affirmatively to him.
[Break a leg.]
"Bonne chance." Gervois said to her as she took a couple of deep breaths.
The music suddenly stopped, and the applause erupted from the audience. Through the applause, a man could be heard yelling: C'est mon gars là-haut. C'est mon gars!
Monique and Gervois turned to each other and had a quiet laugh between themselves over it, both of them wondering if it might be the parents who were just living vicariously through the lives of their children rather than the other way around.
One by one, the members of Five Whose Dance Means Words stepped off of the stage and walked by Monique backstage.
[Go get 'em girl. We warmed them up for you.]
"Vas-y, vas-y ! On les a réchauffés pour toi." one of them said to Monique as he passed her.
[Good show!]
"Bon spectacle!" Monique said as the last of their dance troupe passed her.
Out on stage, Mr. Fontaine had already stepped up to the podium and the lights had dimmed on stage as Monique snuck out into the darkness and took her spot in the center of the stage.
[Our next performance could be called short but sweet, but you should know that it took this young performer two years of hard work in our stage and theatre arts program to arrive at this very performance that she's about to deliver. I give to you over to the poetic visions of Monique Defleur and her vision: Red and Blue.]
"Notre prochain spectacle pourrait être qualifié de court mais intense, mais sachez que cette jeune artiste a consacré deux ans de travail acharné à notre programme d'arts de la scène pour parvenir à cette performance qu'elle s'apprête à vous offrir. Je vous laisse la parole aux visions poétiques de Monique Defleur et à sa création : Rouge et Bleu." Mr. Fontaine stepped away from the podium and the stage remained dark as a starless sky.
The music began quietly. Piano first and then the spot light illuminated Monique in her position in center stage, where she posed, her shoulders poised forward, her arms outstretched to her sides.
[If sailors do take warning,
'Pon arrival of a red morning.]
"Si les marins font attention,
À l'arrivée d'un matin rouge." Monique began reciting her poem as the operatic voice of the singer punctuated the background ambiance.
[If violence condemns one true,
to bruises of black and blue.]
"Si la violence condamne un homme sincère,
aux bleus et aux contusions." Monique continued, moving forward to the front of the stage nearest the audience, grasping her face as if someone had just struck it.
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| Library and Archives Canada PA-117477 The Montreal gazette), Fair use. Link to original media. |
The silence and shock in the audience was only broken by the music, as many shifted nervously and uncomfortably in their chairs as they watched Monique's performance.
[Can not red be as thee
true north strong and free?]
"Le rouge ne peut-il pas être comme toi,
le vrai nord, fort et libre?" Monique continued, grabbing hold of the blue portion of her dress and tearing it free from its surface, as it had only been held in place by velcro, the material underneath white to compliment the remaining red portion of Monique's dress, which appeared very much like the colours of the Canadian flag, though she waved the blue part of her dress that she'd removed and it became apparent that the underside of which held another secret.
[Under blue skies and without lies,
Together just you and me.]
"Sous un ciel bleu et sans mensonges,
Ensemble, juste toi et moi." Monique finished her recital and then stepped forward to the front and center of the stage.
[With the fall of the Soviet Union, another crisis is stirring between Russia and Ukraine, despite the leaders of both countries having signed agreements in good faith securing the prices of natural gas. Yulia Tymoshenko and Vladimir Putin worked together on this issue, while the companies upholding this infrastructure seem to be on a completely different page. Do not let the good faith between these two countries be withered away to nothing by the greed of those exploiting this situation! Don't let this turn into conflict!]
"Avec la chute de l'Union soviétique, une nouvelle crise se profile entre la Russie et l'Ukraine, malgré les accords signés de bonne foi par les dirigeants des deux pays pour garantir les prix du gaz naturel. Ioulia Timochenko et Vladimir Poutine ont collaboré sur ce dossier, tandis que les entreprises qui gèrent cette infrastructure semblent avoir des points de vue diamétralement opposés. Ne laissons pas la bonne foi entre ces deux pays être anéantie par la cupidité de ceux qui exploitent cette situation ! Ne laissons pas ça dégénérer en conflit!" Monique's voice rose and became louder and louder as she spoke, and it became clear that the underside of the blue portion of dress she'd removed contained half of the Russian flag, and half of the Ukrainian flag, while her dress represented the Canadian flag.
[For my mother and my father.]
"Pour ma mère et mon père." with that she bowed and as she did, nearly every single one of the members of the audience took a photograph of that moment.
And when she stood back up, and before the audience could applaud her, the room was suddenly immersed in the explosive firepower of more than two hundred fire crackers going off, each in turn.
The members of the audience screamed, now having been swung to the other side of their emotional extremity, many frightened nearly to death, and one of the audience members fell to the floor grasping their chest.
Another audience member, a woman who was a Doctor, ran over to the man and began performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation upon him as Monique's parents looked on in shock.
As Monique saw the rising calamity amongst the audience, she quietly slipped off stage and ran down the stairs to her parents.
[You could have at least discussed this with us first! You can't just do this to people Monique! Lay something like this upon them and then expect everything to be alright! This is way too much! You could have discussed this with us! Your mother and I!]
"Tu aurais au moins pu nous en parler avant ! T'es pas capable de faire ça aux gens comme ça, Monique ! Leur imposer une telle chose et t'attendre à ce que tout aille bien ? C'est vraiment inacceptable ! Tu aurais pu nous en jaser ! À ta mère et à moi!" Marcel scolded Monique, raising his voice at her for the very first time.
[I did this for you! The man who my mother seems to think works too hard, and so much so that she forgets just how hard she works! Its always you that are the one working, but you never recognized that we're working as part of this family too!]
"J'ai fait ça pour toi ! Toi, l'homme que ma mère trouve si acharné au travail, au point d'oublier le sien ! C'est toujours toi qui travailles, mais tu n'as jamais réalisé que nous autres aussi, au sein de cette famille, on travaille!" Monique responded to her father.
At that moment, a man with a thick moustache approached Marcel and patted him on the back.
[This is your daughter? She's a real spark, she is! She's got a real future in politics. I'm from one of the separatist parties. I won't say which one, but if she's interested in volunteering with our party, we would be more than interested in speaking with you and her.]
"C'est ta fille ? Elle est vraiment brillante ! Elle a un bel avenir en politique. Je suis membre d'un parti indépendantiste. Je ne dirai pas lequel, mais si elle veut faire du bénévolat pour notre parti, nous serions ravis de discuter avec vous et elle." the man handed Marcel a business card.
[Keep it. We're not interested. We stand with Canada. We are Canada.]
"Gardez-le. Ça ne nous intéresse pas. Nous sommes solidaires du Canada. On est le Canada." Marcel handed him back his business card and the man shrunk a little and backed away, and then turned and practically ran.
[You presented something like this and you didn't discuss it with us first? You are grounded young lady until further notice!]
"As-tu présenté quelque chose comme ça sans nous en parler au préalable ? Tu es privée de sortie, jeune fille, jusqu'à nouvel ordre!" Livea confronted Monique as the audience suddenly began applauding.
Monique smirked at her mother, and curtsied for those applauding, not realizing that they weren't applauding for her. They were applauding for the Doctor who'd just resuscitated the man from his cardiac arrest.
[You're coming with us home. Right now!]
"Tu viens avec nous à la maison. Tout de suite!" Livea grabbed Monique's hand in front of her friends and the entire school.
She pulled away from her mother's hand.
[I'm not going anywhere with you!]
"J'irai nulle part avec toi!" Monique screamed and then ran out of the auditorium and back to her locker.
By the time her parents had found her locker, she was already gone with all of her belongings and at the back of the school, where five minutes later a certain boy in his new car arrived.
[Need a ride little lady?]
"Besoin d'un lift, ma p'tite?" Samias asked Monique through the passenger window of his car.
[Where you going?]
"Où vas-tu?" Monique asked him, getting to her feet, her eye liner and mascara smeared from her tears.
[I don't know. I was thinking maybe, Toronto? Maybe start a new life there. I know some people that way.]
"Je ne sais pas. Je pensais peut-être à Toronto ? Peut-être recommencer une nouvelle vie. Je connais des gens qui y vivent." Samias replied.
[If we go now, we can get my things from home before my parents get back.]
"Si on y va maintenant, on pourra récupérer mes affaires chez moi avant le retour de mes parents." Monique said to him, getting in the passenger door.
[You got any money? Like for gas?]
"As-tu de l'argent ? Quel genre d'essence?" Samias asked her, tapping the gas meter on his dashboard.
[I have about two hundred dollars in my piggy bank, and I three fifty in the bank.]
"J'ai environ deux cents dollars dans ma tirelire et trois cent cinquante à la banque." Monique replied to him.
Samias pulled out of the parking lot and began heading towards her home.
[Where you going?]
"Où vas-tu?" asked Monique of him.
[Your place, and then we're going to Toronto.]
"On commence chez toi, pis après on s'en va à Toronto." Samias spoke with a big grin on his face.
Monique looked at him and laughed, throwing an empty fast food cup from the cup holder at him.
About halfway between Montreal and Toronto, Samias got out of the car and without telling Monique what he was doing, changed the plates with another pair he'd stolen from an identical vehicle.
He'd replaced the plates with stolen plates, because after all, he was driving a stolen car.
To be continued in... The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 5 - Power Shift
Credits and attribution:
Story written by Brian Joseph Johns
En peu plus haut, en peu plus loin written by Jean-Pierre Ferland and performed by Celine Dion, Ginette Reno and Jean-Pierre Ferland (in the video). Jean-Pierre Ferland passed away April 27, 2024 at age 89.
Cover Girl written by David Schindler, Jean-Claude Bords, Rita Johns and performed by
Véronique Béliveau.Reedsy.com for their many helpful resources and tools especially geared towards assisting independent and published writers craft their prose to perfection.
DeepSeek AI for a remarkable conversation about genetics and information theory, from which I derived the computer program analogy of genetic biology and a few other references (such as how to calculate the length of the hypoteneuse from the tangent).
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with contributions from others around the world listed here in the credits.
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
Brian Joseph Johns
https://www.shhhhdigital.comhttps://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigitalhttps://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Copyright © 2025 Brian Joseph Johns
Brian Joseph Johns
https://www.shhhhdigital.com
https://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigitalhttps://www.shhhhdigital.com
https://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Copyright © 2025 Brian Joseph Johns