“Why didn’t you say something before now?” Karyn asked.
“I wanted to see if there was anything that could be done to help you before it arrived,” Madeleine answered.
“And have you found anything?” Karyn asked in reply.
“Not so far. I 'ave been looking through ze journals that I 'ave 'ere, but zey all say ze same,” Madeleine said.
Jon sat across from the two women, trying to work out if there was anything that he could do. He could hear the tone in Karyn’s voice changing. To him it sounded as though she was becoming more and more angry with Madeleine because of what she was telling her. He knew it was not Madeleine’s fault that Karyn had ended up in the position that she was in. It was no one's fault; she had simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He decided to try to stop the two of them from coming to blows, which he was sure was not too far away.
“Not that it is going to happen, but if it does, what would happen to Karyn if she can’t leave at the next Pause?” he asked.
“It’s not going to happen, Jon. I will be leaving with you,” Karyn answered him.
“I am just getting all of the details so we can try and work something out, Karyn,” Jon told her.
Madeleine could see what he was trying to do and answered him.
“I am not sure, but judging by what 'as 'appened so far, she will take Simone’s place 'ere. She will become a member of ze chorus, live where Simone did and so on.”
“Not gonna happen,” was Karyn’s response.
“And if I left and brought Simone back and she took 'er place back?” Jon asked.
“Things would return to 'ow zey were before, I believe,” Madeleine replied.
“What are you saying, Jon?” Karyn asked him, still sounding annoyed with him.
“As I said, I am just trying to get all the information needed to come up with some sort of plan to sort things out somehow,” Jon told his friend.
“Ok, ok, if I was to be stuck here—not that it’s going to happen—what would I do? It’s not like I can dance the same way she could. So someone would notice that I wasn’t her,” Karyn said, letting her anger fade a little.
“Did anyone notice earlier when you were on ze stage?” Madeleine asked her.
“I don’t think so, but I was following the others. I couldn’t get away with that for too long,” Karyn said.
“I think you might manage it if we found you a teacher, someone in ze chorus who could 'elp you with ze dancing. We could blame it on your accident earlier,” Madeleine said.
“Who?” Karyn asked, having one dancer—or was that kisser? —in mind.
Jon sat back and breathed a little easier as, instead of shouting at each other, they were now working on options. He looked down at the piece of paper that he had been scribbling notes on earlier from what Madeleine had told him, which now included the discussion from moments ago. Not that he wanted to admit it, but Madeleine might be right, and Karyn might have to stay in Paris for a little while.
He focused back on what the women were saying.
“That might explain it,” he heard Karyn say.
“Let’s just hope we are wrong and you will be able to leave with me. I don’t think that Paris in the 1950s is ready for Karyn Black,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Jon,” Karyn said with a smile on her face.
The joke had done what he wanted; it had made her smile.
