Play@YSDC

After finishing their meal and clearing up, Pierre, Daniel, and Fabrice make their way back to Pointe Pierre to work on the boat and prepare it for fishing tomorrow. Florence suspects they might also pay a visit to The Sharktooth or one of the other bars by the waterfront. Lusette remains behind with the girls.

Reluctantly Marise allows herself to be dragged down to the doctor's office by Florence, she seems at least a little mollified when Laurent offers to walk them both there.

------

The doctor's surgery, the only one in town, is a largely unpainted wooden building with steps climbing up to the open air waiting room at the front. There's a simple hand painted sign that reads 'Dr Louis Clermont, General Physician'. Entering the waiting room it is empty except for a plump middle aged woman with a cheerful smile, Simone Valcin, the receptionist.

"It's going to be all right, Marise," says Laurent, smiling at her. "The doctor will help."

"Bon apremidi, Simone," Florence says. "Is Dr Clairmont busy? Ma Marise is having some troubles."

Simone looks concernedly at Marise then back to Florence, 'Not busy at all.' She gets up and opens the inner door to Dr Clermont's office, shouting in 'Marise Lavigne is here, Doctor.'

Without waiting for a reply she says to Florence 'Go right in, please.'

Laurent stands to go with them but one sharp look from Simone and he sits back down.

-----



At his desk sits Dr Louis Clermont. A tall and distinguished man in his sixties. He motions Florence and Marise to sit down in the simple wooden chairs opposite the desk. 'How is my favourite patient?' he asks Marise.

Laurent can hear what's being said in the consulting room pretty clearly through the half closed door

Laurent takes a seat near the inner door from which he can hear well. He picks up a magazine and looks through it while he listens.

"She has been having headaches and blackouts," Florence says.

Marise didn't say blackouts, but it's one way she might not remember things she's done without presuming her to be a liar. Florence wants to see how Marise responds before elaborating.

Marise looks askance at her mother but doesn't immediately disagree with her, just sits stiffly in the chair. Instead she says 'I have been having headaches, and they're getting worse, I have them most of the time now.'

Dr Clermont looks at her with concern, 'You are not the only one to be having such experiences recently. And these blackouts...'

'...I'm not blacking out really, just losing track of time.'

'Do you go anywhere in particular?'

Marise purses her lips but eventually answers, 'Anse Douce.'

'And what do you do there?'

'Nothing, just look at the sea.'

-----

On one wall Laurent can see a framed certificate hanging. It's written in French and appears to be a medical degree from Paris in the name of Louis Clermont, dated 1913.

"We've... found clothing there, all bundled into one place," Florence says. "Different people's, all together, including Marise's. But then it makes me concerned when she does not remember meeting anyone..." [Despite having called Marise a liar earlier, in front of a stranger, Florence prefers to express it as if Marise is being honest]

'Nobody goes there!' spits Marise, petulantly.

Clermont narrows his eyes and looks closely at Marise, his expression oddly avian, like an owl. He sighs, leaning back in his swivel chair and clasping his hands behind his head. He points at the picture on the wall behind him. In the middle of an otherwise blank expanse of varnished wood hangs a large hand-painted map of the Caribbean, including the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. 'Une patient préféré, a favourite patient of mine painted this because, dans ses mots, my office was depressingly drab and needed cheering up.'

'You were right, and it does cheer up my office. You were always the brightest girl in the Ecole Dame Marie, so vibrante, so enjouée.'

Although clearly a fluent Creole speaker, Clermont speaks in a slightly affected way, quite formal and using a lot of words from French.

He pauses for an uncomfortable minute then says, 'Marise, did you know that your teacher, Mademoiselle André, she rents my old place, the one down that little side road by the school. We get talking sometimes. She's told me about how you've changed recently, she says your grades have been falling off, and you've become indifférente.'

He turns to Florence and says, 'I don't know what's going on down in Anse Douce, but I'd say it is being used by some people in a way it shouldn't be.' He waves one hand in the air, 'Tu sais comment à Paris... He pauses and looks her up and down. 'Well no, no you wouldn't would you. But à Paris the ideas of Monsieur Freud have had some influence. He talks of the connection between le corps et l'esprit, the physical and the mental. I suspect there is some connection between Marise's physical symptoms and her emotional difficulties.'

Looking back to Marise he looks her straight in the eye and addresses her directly, 'Marice, are you pregnant by any chance?'

The response is clearly not what he was expecting, Marise stiffens, suck in a breath, then shoots to her feet, swaying like a sapling in a high wind, glaring daggers at the old man, eyes on fire with fury. For a moment she took on the cast of a wild animal, baring her teeth in a snarl while backing towards the door. She whirls around, wrenches open the door and storms out, slamming it behind her.

Florence is left with an ashen faced Louis Clermont.

-----

Laurent sees Marise storm out of the doctor's office and watches her stomp down the steps, stopping at the bottom and collapsing onto the bottom step to sit with her head in her hands.

Laurent follows Marise downstairs, sitting next to her in the hopes that he can comfort her.

Marise glares at Laurent as he sits beside her, then turns away. She looks as if she's crying but there are no tears.

Florence gives Dr Clermont a stricken look - but not an angry one - and rushes after her daughter. Seeing with Laurent, she pauses, watching them both before she reveals her presence.

"I want to help you, Marise," says Laurent. "What can I do?"

Marise looks up at Laurent, her eyes are burning like emeralds. He can see a little of the girl she used to be. She seems to be studying his face, there's a hesitancy in hers, 'Laurent, I don't know what's happening to me. I don't think anyone can help.' For a second he sees her eyes well up, as if she's about to cry, they look like the sea. Then she stands and strides off, back towards the direction of the Lavigne's house.

"Shall we follow her?" Laurent asks Florence.

Florence is definitely chasing after Marise.

Laurent and Florence hurry after Marise but before they've got very far they see Pierre and Fabrice running up from the direction of Pointe Pierre. Marise stands there dully, waiting for them to catch up.

Fabrice is out of breath but Pierre is able to pant, 'Is Dr Clermont in? There's someone hurt, down at the beach, Mrs Langer, she says the Ti Maman sank.'

"He is, I'll go get him!" calls Laurent, already running back to the doctor's office.

Florence stays with Marise. "Was he right, my darling?" she asks, barely registering what Fabrice has said.

Marise just looks in confusion at Florence, 'Right about what?'

-----

Laurent quickly returns with the aged Dr Clermont struggling some distance behind. Fabrice has managed to catch his breath and explains that Lulio Bazile, the captain of a cargo ship out of Cap Matelot has arrived in Pointe Pierre with Elizabeth Langer. He claims to have found her out in the sea between Cap Matelot and Ile du Vent.

"What condition is she in?" asks Laurent.

Florence takes Marise a little further away from the men. "Are you pregnant?" she asks, doing her best to keep any trace of anger out of her voice.

At Florence's question she sees that look of defiance again, defiance mixed with disgust as Marise rolls her eyes and says nothing.

-----

Fabrice gives a little shrug to Laurent, 'Bof, nearly drowned he says. And half crazy. Go on, see for yourself.'

-----

While Fabrice waits for Florence and Marise, Pierre leads the old doctor ahead of them, down to Pointe Pierre.

Laurent hurries to catch up to Pierre and the doctor, going with them to Pointe Pierre.

"Then what is happening with you?" Florence says, doing her level best not to snap. "I barely recognise you any more."

‘I barely recognise myself anymore’ whispers Marise, and then she stands and strides off once more, but this time after Laurent and Pierre.

-----

Laurent catches up with Pierre and Dr Clermont and they rush down to the jetty at Pointe Pierre as fast as the elderly physician can walk. There’s quite a scene at the pier where Lulio Bazile’s cargo boat, the Celeste, is tied up. There are crates and boxes scattered across the deck of the rickety looking vessel. A younger man remains onboard, aimlessly fussing about the cargo, a look of fright on his face. On the wooden landing is the aged figure of Bazile himself, a leathery, wizened man several years older than the doctor. He is surrounded by a crowd of people who Lieutenant Etienne is trying to keep at bay, the telédiol, the St Joe rumour-mill working as quickly as ever to spread the word that something is happening. At Bazile's feet someone is lying across the wooden slats, wrapped in a ragged blanket, and tended to by another person. In the blanket Laurent can see it is a young white woman, around her mid-twenties, skin pale and blue tinged, another white woman, a bit older, maybe in her thirties, crouches by her side, rubbing her arms which are deathly white and covered in goose bumps.



Once Dr Clermont arrives, he greets the other woman as ‘Nurse Palmer’ and sets about examining the woman in blankets who he refers to as ‘Elizabeth’, presumably Elizabeth Langer. In French, Lt Etienne says to Pierre and Fabrice, ‘Good work getting the doctor so quickly, I can’t get anything sensible out of her.’ Captain Bazile looks unperturbed and rolls his eyes, in Creole he says ‘Fished her out the bay, on the way back from the Ile du Vent. Half swimming, half floating, and close to drowning I’d say. Raving she was, out of her mind, drunk I’d say. Screaming that the boat, the Ti Maman, that it went down with all three others gone, including her husband. Didn’t see no sign of it, sea was calm as a washtub.’

"Could something have made a hole in the boat?" asks Laurent. "Maybe it struck something that was underwater."

'Water's deep out in the bay, there's nothing to hit' says Bazile, who seems pretty unconvinced by the woman.

'Well that's as maybe, I need to look into this,' says Lt Etienne coldly. 'Where's the Ti Maman and George Benson? And where's her husband?'

"She said the Ti Maman sank," says Laurent, peering out to sea. "If it didn't, it has to be somewhere else."

'We brought back Mr Benson this morning,' says Fabrice. 'He left the Ti Maman in Cap Matelot with some politicians to take for a joy ride.' 'And Mr Langer,' chimes in Pierre, 'And his wife...'

Frowning, Lt Etienne asks, 'So you saw Elizabeth Langer in the Ti Maman this morning?' Pierre nods.

"Do the Americans have any vessels equipped with sonar near the island?" asks Laurent. "If a ship sank, that will find it."

Etienne looks disgusted at the mention of the Americans. Some kind of conflict can be seen working its way across his face as he eventually spits out, 'Mon Dieu, I will see if I can put in a call to the American base on St Albin.'

Laurent understands that not everyone thinks as highly of the Americans as he does, but he holds his peace on the subject, as Etienne has agreed to enlist their aid.

Lt Etienne heads off to the army post to put a call in to his superiors and hopefully the Americans.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Langer seems to have perked up a bit and Dr Clermont has her sitting up. Old Man Samuel has brought her down a hot cup of coffee and she's cradling it in her hands, swathed in several blankets. Her plump and clammy skin looks almost blue-grey from her time in the water, the dregs of her makeup greasy and pealing, a dull look, little low set ears, and a small mouth on an otherwise pretty young face with sad hazel eyes.

OOC:   No sign of SunlessNick so we might as well press on

"is there anything I can do to help?" asks Laurent.

SunlessNick was supposed to return in early January and was unable to access this site while away. I found out because I got a PM on Yog-Sothoth.com in late December, but I haven't seen SunlessNick there either since then.

Dr Clermont shakes his head but Elizabeth Langer fixes her gaze on Laurent. She speaks French haltingly, in the stilted old fashioned manner of the Europeans. She intersperses it with some other language, it sounds a bit like English but it isn't. 'You have to help him, find Jan. Oh mijn arme man. You must go back there and find all of them. They're still out there.'

"We'll look for them," says Laurent, who thinks the other language could be Dutch. "Is Jan your husband?"

'Ja, Jan Langer, my husband, and Felix Abry and his wife Jeanette. And the man in the water. They're all missing. We moeten terug voor ze. There was some kind of whirlpool. The boat, it was sucked under.'

Bazile rolls his eyes, mimes a circular motion with his index finger, and whistles.

"Who is the man in the water?" asks Laurent.

'That's when it all started' says Elizabeth. 'I saw him first. Felix said it looked like a fish but it was a man. A white man, swimming. He was naked. Right out there in the middle of the bay.'

Bazile scoffs, 'What would anyone be doing swimming out in the bay? If they fell out of a boat they could have just got back in - the water was smooth as glass today.'

'Well he was!' says Elizabeth, petulantly. 'We tried to come up beside him but then, something was happening in the water. It was like an eye, slowly opening, the water was swirling around it, spinning, a massive whirlpool I think. He was, he was sucked down, he looked at me, he was terrified, he screamed, it was horrible, and then, then he just vanished.' Mrs Langer looks even more shaken now she's recounted the story of the swimmer. But Captain Bazile rolls his eyes again and mimes a drinking motion.

Elizabeth colours red and her face hardens. 'I was not drunk!' she shouts. Dr Clermont gives her a sceptical look. 'I didn't have one drink, not even a beer. I was afraid of getting seasick again, last time I ruined it for everyone.'

If she had been drinking Laurent can't smell it anymore. Just the damp and salt of the seawater.

"It sounds like the sirèn," says Laurent, "but those are only supposed to be women."

Dr Clermont laughs at Laurent. 'The sirèn? Don't be silly boy. You've been talking to old Pierre haven't you? Don't pay him any heed. When I left for Paris, Pierre Labas was already an old alcoholic, talking a lot of nonsense and dressing it up as Vodou. When I came back to Dame Marie, well, there was only one thing that hadn't changed, and that was Pierre.'

"Oui, I've been talking to him," says Laurent. "He has been here longer than anyone else, probably."

Pierre has been here for as long as anyone can remember. And he's the only one left from old Dame Marie, well apart from me' says Clermont.

'But that doesn't make him wise. It just makes him old.'

"What happened to old Dame Marie?" asks Laurent.

'What happened to old Dame Marie? I'd have thought that was the first thing Pierre would have told you about' Clermont says with a grim laugh.

'I wasn't here myself, I was still in Paris in 1928, I settled there after the war. Built up my private practice. It wasn't easy for a man like me but I showed them I was as good as any of them...'

'Anyway, where was I? Yes, I came back later, but the only one who remembers what happened is old Pierre. They say there was a great hurricane, came in suddenly off the sea and destroyed the town. No survivors, aucun de ma famille, mes parents, mes frères et sœurs, all gone. Ils n'ont même pas trouvé les corps.'

'Only one who made it through was Pierre Labas, when people arrived from Cap Matelot and Port Roche they found the village smashed into splinters and old Pierre just sitting there on the beach babbling about Agoué and Lasirenn. Il n'avait pas beaucoup de sens before that storm but even less since.'

'Well, they rebuilt Dame Marie again in the end, a good site for fishing. And eventually I came back. I don't know why. To see it for myself I suppose. People from Cap Matelot and the surroundings had come and built houses. But it wasn't the same place. But then where else was I going to go?'

"Do you know how Pierre survived?" asks Laurent.

"I've been to those caves," says Laurent. "Found a bunch of clothing in a pit in one of them."

Clermont smiles, 'Well a lot of things have happened in those caves over the years.'

"Like what?" asks Laurent.

Looking a bit wistful, Clermont answers, 'Ah, you know, parties, illicit rendezvous, les liaisons dangereuses. It may be hard for you to believe but I wasn't always an old man.'

Laurent can't help but grin. "Do you know who still does it these days?" he asks.

Returning Laurent's grin, Clermont says, 'I think you'd know better than me nowadays, young man. Lt Etienne says he thinks a few of you youngsters might come and smoke a little marijuana there, and I'm sure young lovers still use it for some seclusion.'

"Well, I don't do that sort of thing myself," says Laurent.

'I'm sure you don't, I'm sure you don't' laughs Clermont.

"Did Pierre Labas, when he was younger?" asks Laurent.

'There's no one alive who knew Pierre when he was young, so your guess is as good as mine' says Clermont, frowning slightly. 'I'm the only other person left from old Dame Marie and he was already an old man when I was young. Or at least, well, he seemed old to me. I don't think I ever realised what getting old would really mean' he sighs.

"Is Marise okay?" asks Laurent.

While Laurent has been talking with Dr Clermont, Florence and Marise have arrived at the scene. The girl sits at the end of the pier, all sullen and brooding. Florence has joined her husband in the throng around Elizabeth Langer.

Responding to Laurent, Florence says, 'Li anfòm, as well as can be expected,' shaking her head sadly.

-----

‘Well, it seems like Mrs Langer is in good hands. I've got things to do.’ With that, Captain Bazile climbs back on board his boat and begins to make preparations to leave, the young man starts the engine and it coughs clouds of black smoke into the air.

'Stop! Stop!,' comes a shout, and Lt Etienne runs down to the pier. 'I've got orders to go and search the bay. We don't have an Armée boat in Dame Marie. The nearest is in Porte Roche. Someone needs to take me out.' He directs this at Lulio Bazile who throws his arms up into the air.

‘Moun fou, you want to waste my time too, Lieutenant? Anyone else want to come on a little pleasure cruise?’

This is too much for Elizabeth Langer who practically shrieks at him, 'I know you don't believe me but je moet, you must find my husband and the others!'

"I'd like to come," says Laurent. "I'll keep the motor purring like a kitten."