homeless marguerites - Part 5

Joanne had seen similar scenes so often in the past that she was able to right away figure out what had been going on when the three of them broke into the old cottage. Yet there was something pretty weird about what she was witnessing. Annie was clearly scared with no doubt. Yet the way she stood there wrapped in the blanket with ripped cloths and her back to the wall, she seemed to be taking it way better than Julien.
Julien was curled up in a corner on the floor, shaking and murmuring words which no one could even hear clearly. When Annie was taken care of, they went to him calling his name several time and to their surprise, his reaction was more like an epileptical attack with the difference that he also started screaming like he was being tormented.
Though Joanne did not want to have any pity or sympathy for any guy who would ever commit anything similar, Julien seemed to really need help, it seemed as if Annie had raped him while he was unable to fulfill his plan. On the other hand, everyone knew how to help Annie get over it but no one knew how Julien was to be helped. In fact, no one, even Joanne, had a clue of what had really scared Annie.
Julien’s father had died long ago for they new, and his mother shortly before they had got to know him. He was the only child and had no specific friends, whom he could be trusted with or who would know much about his health or any specific diseases he might have had. This left them clearly only one person, and that was his aunt. All they knew was that none of his mother’s relatives lived in Paris, but he had mentioned several time to be staying at her aunt’s for the weekends, and that was the only one from his father’s side they knew.
Madame Manceau was a gentle and nice lady living with her husband, since their children had already all left. Joanne felt really sorry for her when her friendly smile suddenly left her well aged face when she saw Julien like that at 5 o’clock that morning. Joanne had convinced the guys that Julien might need specific medical care of which they were unaware for the symptoms he showed were far too strange for the family doctor to recognize what was going on with him. So instead of heading to the hospital they preferred to disturb his aunt who might have at least known which doctor was to be consulted. Joanne had voluntarily taken up the responsibility to fetch the old lady to the castle, for Julien was not to be moved to anywhere before better information was in hand.
They were still in the cottage. Bill had taken Annie away with him and was taking good care of her; he had already proved himself trustworthy to Joanne in all way and she was not concerned about Annie at the moment. The fact was that, she preferred she had been. She could not easily get along with her worries for Julien; she had not gone for Madame Manceau just for Francisco asked her to do, she was as worried and anxious as Francisco was, yet none of them really dared to express; it was not right to be worried about the guy who had intended to rape Annie and would have done so if it had not been for him dropping sick like this. But Joanne knew there was something much wronger about the whole story than her worries and Franciscos’.
Francisco greeted Madame Manceau briefly and led her to the bed, where Julien was lying with obvious medical aid constructions – for none of the three cared much to find out what those really were – all around. Joanne took a hold of Francisco’s arm while Madame Manceau bent over Julien whispering his name with in a sweet loving tone. She kept calling Julien for more times without having any answer or reaction again, then he got another attack much worse than the one before. She started humming something like a song to her nephew, a song which neither Joanne nor Francisco knew yet it calmed Julien down almost like a miracle. Only a few tranquilizers could work so quickly, thought Joanne wondered.
Joanne found Madame Manceau such a nice lady when she caressed Julien’s hair with tears in her eyes, that she felt so sorry for having to disturb her, that she decided she was not going to mention anything about what Julien had been about to do when this happened to him. She also convinced Francisco that this was not to be told unless they found it real necessary for his treatment. And for the great deal of understanding between the two of them, Francisco agreed without any further questioning.
Then Julien kind of answered to her calls with moving his head a little towards her; yet Joanne could bet she heard her whisper another name this time. When she intended to tell Francisco what she suspected, he asked her to leave the cottage with him. Looking at Madame Manceau smiling in thankfulness, they left and closed the door behind.
“Mais t’as entendu q’elle…” Joanne wanted to protest when Francisco interrupted “Ils ont besoin des moments à eux.”
“Mais qu’est-ce qui…” Joanne wanted to somehow warn him when he took her in his arm – Joanne really did not want to get distracted at the time but out there in the deem light coming from the cottage and the sky getting prepared for the sun to rise, looking at him so closely and so directly in the eyes she thought that the stories were all true, that he was really handsome – and told her: “Nous savons les deux qu’il y a des chose de grande importance qui sont restés en secret, mais c’est pas le temps cherie. Nous l’aurons, le temps à tout découvrire; nous l’aurons.”
And so she only watched in silence when Madame Manceau openned the door asking Francisco to call a certain doctor Girardin.