Short Story (in process)

Jean was completely sheltered. He did everything with his father; he went to the zoo with him, was tutored by him everyday. He lived to please his father, to have some connection to the mother whom he never knew; he knew that his father was always dreaming about her.

He disliked Celeste because she was the only one who didn’t love everything he did. He heard her muttering under her breath about how spoiled he had become, and he never understood exactly what she meant. All he knew is that she made him do all the stuff that he didn’t want to do, like practicing his math and his French when his father was busy.

Lemonnier devoted himself to spending time with his son, no matter what business changes came up. He made sure to plan outings at least three times a week, despite Celeste’s insisting that the boy’s time would be much better spent learning instead of constant pranks and playing. Yet Lemonnier insisted on spending as much time with his son as possible.

Jean loved sports, including soccer and tennis. He would play with his father all the time, with their games often dissolving into fits of laughter. Lemonnier’s friend M. Duretour often came by as well, and joined in the action. Even strict Celeste, watching from the window, couldn’t always hold back a smile watching the two men and the boy chasing each other around the field.

As Jean matured, he had become accustomed to a lot of attention. However, as a few more years went by, he began to feel the way Celeste had known he would feel eventually – restricted. He began to notice things about how his father behaved. One day he approached his father and inquired as to whether he could invite his friend to come and visit. Lemonnier was completely surprised. “My Jean,” he said. “We were going to go for a walk in the park that day! Don’t you remember?”

Jean accepted that for the day, and had a lovely time in the park. Yet he couldn’t help noticing that his father seemed to have something planned for every single time he wanted to do something on his own. When he asked if he could go and speak to some children his age while watching a tennis match in a nearby town, he was told no, and asked, “Don’t you enjoy spending time just you and me?”


*** To come: as Jean wishes for more freedom, his father finds a woman he loves as much as his first wife, and begins to ignore Jean. Having received his freedom, Jean wants his shelter back.****