In this week’s newsletter, we return to sharing chapters from our third book in The Dictionary of Curious Words series titled Through The Gate. You will learn about the more sensitive side of Pearl, and this makes her all the more lovable when combined with the frequent mess-ups that seem to follow her.
Knowing that her own dreams were coming to an end so that Gracie and Nate’s dreams could begin was what filled Pearl with uncertainty especially when she had to leave her friend Monsieur Henri behind. (After Pearl lost her best friend Blanche in Volume Two, she thought that The Bottle Cap Lady might be her new best friend. When that didn’t happen, she was very hopeful that Monsieur Henri would be her new—and more permanent—best friend.) Pearl had one last request of Monsieur Henri.
Monsieur Henri never knew and Pearl never told him that when she was growing up, she was a failure. Gracie tried all she knew to do to help her learn to dance ballet. Even though Blanche did quite well with Gracie’s tutoring, Pearl’s dancing always seemed to be wild and high-spirited like the Can-Can that she loved to so much in the Moulin Rouge. It was a place that definitely felt like “home” to Pearl as long as she was close to her best friend, Monsieur Henri.
It took a good number of nights at the Moulin Rouge for Pearl to earn enough art supplies for Emily to use. Each night, Pearl’s friend, the Laughing Gull would come along and deliver the art supplies back to Le Maison Rose where they had set up a little studio for Emily in the garret that Madame Judithe let them use.
Pearl was eager to have enough art supplies for Emily to start drawing again. Then one day when the Laughing Gull arrived, he said, “Emily has as many art things stored away at Le Maison Rose as she had back in the garage at home.”
Pearl was overjoyed to hear this. She gave her new friend Monsieur Henri her thanks, and he gave her one last very large sheet of drawing paper and said, “Perle, mon très cher, you have been so kind to me, and I will always be a friend to you.
“I must admit to you that I destroyed all of my drawings and paintings that I made of you. It is not because I didn’t like them. They were actually some of my favorites because they filled my heart with your joy the way you do.
“But I know about people. They are as crippled in their hearts on the inside as I am in my legs on the outside.
“In the world of people, you would be treated almost exactly like me—maybe worse. They would see your unique talent and seek to profit from it, leaving you with nothing. That must never happen.
“Je t’adore, Perle. Je t’adore,” he said, and then bent over to give her a kiss on the top of her head.
“You have seen me not as a cripple or a freak or a monster, but as what I truly am on the inside, and you have given me your friendship. The only name you have ever called me is ‘Friend.’ You have never asked anything of me for yourself, only what a friend has needed to rescue you and take you back to a wondrous place you call ‘Home.’ Au revoir, Pearl. Au revoir.”
“Monsieur Henri, could I ask one small favor before I go?” asked Pearl.
“Bien sur!” he said.
“I would like to dance one more can-can with all of the ladies showing their petticoats. My fluff feathers really do look like petticoats, don’t they?”
“I will speak to someone, and they will make it happen for you.”
It was the most marvelous can-can dance that anyone at Le Moulin Rouge had ever seen, and there was Pearl, right in the middle of it all, surrounded by adoring fans, and one particular fan who she truly adored, Monsieur Henri. Although she was eager to get back and share these adventures with the others, she did not want that moment—her special moment—to end.
And then Pearl thought of Nate and how he adored her too. He had never seen her performing at Le Moulin Rouge, only on the simple stage he had made for her in their own backyard because he adored Pearl too.
Suddenly all that Pearl wanted was to be back on that stage where she could be held by Nate while he stoked her beautiful white feathers. She wanted to tell him that everything was going to be fine for him, and that she would do anything she possibly could to help him mend his broken, little-boy self.
Pearl had a gift. It was not a gift that could make her a Living Treasure gift because it wasn’t one like those that Gracie and Emily possessed. Unlike Pearl, the gift she hatched with was quiet and unassuming.
She saw that Nate was broken, but he wouldn’t ask for help. She saw that if anyone were to give him a dime, he would try to repay it with a dollar because that is how much their small gift of a dime meant to him.
She remembered how Nate’s Wren and the songbirds had told of how he had been abandoned with only Teddy and a cardboard suitcase and then how his grandparents had left him alone in their garden home, just like Blanche had left her.
She saw that his heart was heavy from pretending to have a family made of chickens who would never be called a family by anyone else.
She saw how he felt like he could never be a good, normal boy in the same way that she could never be a good, normal chicken. Their only choice was to toughen up and continue on.
She saw all of these realities in herself in a similar way, and she knew that if it was fine for Nate to be like he is and still be loved, then it must be fine for her to be like she is and still be loved too. If he could be imperfect and continue on, then she could too. She would not try to fix him, she would only work at continuing on beside him.
This empathy and spirit to prevail are gifts that Pearl has, and other animals do too. The source of these gifts is uncertain, but they are very good gift.
We end today with a chapter that picks up on those bird calls that have happened in Montmartre from time to time, and this next action will lead us into the next major change in the plot line for Pearl and the other chickens.
Outside at the corner where she would meet up with The Laughing Gull, Pearl wiped a few tears from her eyes while she held Monsieur Henri’s handkerchief that was filled with coins. He had told her they were for extra expenses if the travelers needed anything, and if not, they might be useful so that they could see each other again, just as the French word “revoir” means.
Then suddenly, Pearl felt herself being lifted up and being placed inside a wood and wire cage and then lifted up onto the top if a horse-drawn carriage, the kind that Monsieur Henri often rode inside.
She wondered why her friend would have done this to her, and as she was imagining possible reasons and thinking of possible questions, she heard a scampering up side of the carriage. Just as it started to move, she saw the grinning face of The Sewer Rat peering at her.
“I see you have what belongs to me. Give me the handkerchief and the coins inside of it, and I will let you out.”
“That is most surely a lie,” said Pearl. “I know better than to believe anything you say to me. I will not perform for your circus here in Paris or back home.”
“But you love Paris, and you will love meeting the Master’s special pet, The White Peacock who can do marvelous things. What is more, you may even see your new friend, Monsieur Henri. Did you know that he loves the circus?
“He has done many drawings of circus performers, and I dare say that you are likely his most favorite of all. You are the embodiment of hilarity and glamour, and in Professor Assipiter’s Circus, you will provide the element of squalor that he so appreciated as a rebellion against his aristocratic upbringing.”
Pearl felt the carriage lean over and move downward by the weight of it’s passenger getting inside.
“For now, I must join The Master and give him a report on your safety and security here in your cage,” said The Sewer Rat before scurrying down.
Pearl looked around for any sign of her friend, The Laughing Gull. Seeing none, she thought to call out to him, but she feared that might make her situation worse.
It was then that she heard the lightest of feet landing on the top of her cage. The feet belonged to a Magpie who whispered to her, “Do not be afraid. I’m here to rescue you and help you get to La Maison de La Bibliothèque Vivante. Our Principalis Bibliothecarius has summoned you.”
At least Pearl’s captivity was short, but what will happen when she meets The Principalis Bibliothecarius? Will it be like what would happen back home with the Chief Local Librarian who did not seem to be on anyone’s side but her own?
Until Next Time
If you have any comments—good or bad—please share them on Substack or you can also reach me directly at John.Spiers@yahoo.com. We are looking forward to sharing with your exactly what happens next when Pearl meets The Principalis Bibliothecarius. (Yes, that is another usage of Latin which has crept into the official titles and proceedings of The Living Library.)
Our Best Advice for the Days Ahead: Remember that you may be imperfect, but you can continue on. There are people and pets who you can connect with who will help you mend and continue on!
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Pearl, Blanche, Emily, and Amelia
"They are as crippled in the hearts on the inside as I am in my legs on the outside." That kind of heart "disease" is still prevalent.
You bringing up the Sewer Rat in Paris reminded me of my current reading of a serialization of "Les Miserables" here on Substack. Victor Hugo spent several of the later chapters of the book explaining how the sewer system in Paris evolved and worked before he felt he could go on with telling the actual story. I doubt most modern readers could put up with that.