Piano Bar Car, Chalons-sur-Marne, 21:45
This sophisticate carriage contains a long bar staffed by a bartender at one end and it opens its doors at 10AM to allow entrance to the Dining Car if need be although it doesn't serve alcohol until midday at which point the bar remains open and staffed until midnight wherein guests can mingle, listen to music, dance, and drink either on stools at the bar or on long couches upholstered in brown that face each other over the central aisle with a polished mahogany coffee table between them and a set of lamps on tables between each couch to provide additional lighting on top of the dim overhead lighting if need be. The couches are quite comfortable and the room is always nicely warm. Oftentimes this carriage is filled with the heady scent of cigarette smoke and ashtrays are plentiful on each table.
The train begins to gather speed as it leaves the station at Chalons-sur-Marne. The station platform seems dark and cold outside as though France itself were trapped in a cool and foreboding Autumn. A bartender works his magic at the bar which stands on one side of the car (closest to the door to the Lounge Car), with a pianist playing piano at the other end of the car alongside a gap about as wide as it is long which is used as an impromptu dance floor on occasion by those enjoying the bar.
Farooqi Al-Rassam has a seat on a couch not far from the pianist though he seems to only have eyes for the bartender.
Nora and
George Rimwald share a couch and are in eager discussions about the glories of fascism with
Durante and
Erminia Pontarelli though
Durante seems to be watching
Magdalena Bartenstein (who visibly holds no similarity in appearance to him) with an almost fatherly interest.
George Rimwald mentions, at one point, that the children are only so annoying because they are being left in the company of a black kid. He doesn't seem to notice that the little black girl is the shy and best behaved one.
Four children play on and around the dance floor.
Harriet and
Henry Roby dance the foxtrot with clumsy abandon while
Magdelena Bartenstein claps and giggles with an almost over eager desire to be happy.
Nafy Hijazi, the youngest of them whose skin is close to the literal colour of black while the two dancing siblings have the pallor of England, is quietly standing beside
Magdalena, chewing her thumbnail and smiling shyly. Unable to get on the dance floor herself though clearly part of her wishes to join the others.
Kliment Rukov, a handsome man with a Russian accent, sits on a bar stool and talks in good English to
Sulamen Hijazi, about the colour bar in America and how nasty American fascists can be.
Sulamen Hijazi, however, points out that while he didn't get the chance to speak with the American cowboy who had boarded the train, the man had looked at him as a human being. He can't say the same about
George Rimwald who seems to regard no one as human until they admit to sharing his views. However,
George does seem to have a special hostility to his gaze.
Minoo Hijazi and
Waleed Hijazi are discussing something in an African language. They hold hands and seem to be having a sweet moment, occasionally smiling over at
Nafy.
Johannes Sprech sits at the bar on a stool, sipping a glass of expensive champagne and idly watching those around him.
PRESENT: George Rimwald, Nora Rimwald, Farooqi Al-Rassam, Durante Pontarelli, Erminia Pontarelli, Harriet Roby, Henry Roby, Magdelena Bartenstein, Kliment Rukov, Sulamen Hijazi, Waleed Hijazi, Johannes Sprech, Minoo Hijazi and Nafy Hijazi
