Madeleine was on her way back to her office after speaking to Colette. She found herself going back over the conversation the two of them had just finished.
“Il faut que tu fasses comprendre à Julien que tu n’éprouves pas les mêmes sentiments pour lui que lui pour toi, Colette.” (“You have to make Julien understand that you do not feel the same way about him as he does about you, Colette.”) Madeleine had said to her.
“J’ai essayé, madame, mais il ne semble pas m’entendre quand je le lui dis.” (“I have tried, Madam, but he does not seem to hear me when I tell him.”) Colette replied.
“Alors, essaie encore, ou l’un de vous deux risque de ne plus travailler ici lorsque Henri l’apprendra.” (“Then try again, or one of you may no longer be working here once Henri finds out.”) Madeleine told her.
“Oui, madame.” (“Yes, Madam.”) a shocked Colette replied as Madeleine left the dressing room.
Perhaps I was a little hard on her, Madeleine thought as she walked back towards her office. Maybe it was because of the situation with Karyn and Jon. Somehow, she had to get that stubborn young woman to accept that she might end up being stuck here for a while. Perhaps Karyn would not be in this situation if she had watched where she was going earlier.
No, that was unfair. When Karyn and Jon had arrived, the theatre had been in the middle of a Pause. They had no idea that everything was about to start moving again. So no, it was not her fault.
In all the years she had worked at the Théâtre de la Rue des Roses—or, more accurately, since she had become aware of the Pauses—she had never seen anything like this. Simone had left through one of the doors during the last Pause while a visitor, Karyn, had been paused on stage with the rest of the chorus. Somehow, the rest of the theatre now accepted Karyn as one of their own.
It was the strangest thing Madeleine had ever seen. If she had gotten around to reading more of the journals, perhaps the answer was in there somewhere. It had to be, she thought as she opened her office door.
Jon raised his head when Madeleine opened the door and walked in. Karyn had been sitting there for the last five minutes and had not spoken to him in all that time.
She might be coming around to the thought that she could have to spend some time in 1950s France. Not that Jon wanted her to. He had spent those five minutes looking over the notes he had written down while Karyn had gone to clear her head, hoping he could find something in them.
He really wished he still had the stone. After all the problems that thing had gotten them into, he was sure he could have used it to get them out of this one.
That was not an option anymore. If he had known that this sort of thing was going to happen, he would have held on to it.
Jon turned towards Madeleine now that she had returned. Maybe she had come up with a way of fixing things.
“Did you get everything fixed?” he asked. Not that he was really worried about whatever she had gone to do. He was asking more out of kindness—and perhaps in the hope that she would tell him she had come up with an idea to help his friend.
“Yes, just a young man who 'as decided zat one of ze dancers is 'is one true love and will not listen when 'e is told otherwise,” she replied.
“Oh,” was the only thing Jon could think of saying as he looked at the notes in front of him.
“Now, have you come up with a plan for us both to get back home?” Karyn asked.
“Not yet,” Madeleine replied, her French accent clearly audible in the two English words.
“There must be a way,” Jon said out loud.
“We don’t have long to find one, Jon. It’s nearly quarter to ten, and we have no idea what to do to stop me being stuck here,” Karyn said.
“Don’t give up yet, Karyn. We still have eighteen minutes to come up with something,” Jon replied, mustering as much of a smile as he could and trying not to let his worries show on his face.
