Pearl loves her costumes and her hats. She always has, and likely always will. It’s what makes her such an excellent performer. But even those can’t replace what a chicken truly believes about beauty, and as you’ll see today, “It’s all about the feathers!”
“Here is my plan,” Pearl said to the pigeons who were guiding her along the sidewalks of Paris, “If it is as famous and spectacular as you’ve told me, I am going to the Moulin Rouge. There, I should be able to earn a few coins that I can use to buy art supplies for Emily to use so we can get back home.”
Then, after additional thought, she added, “If we are going to be performing in the Palais Garnier or anywhere else, I think I should definitely get my feathers ready and looking their best before going on the stage.
“A fancy place like the Palais Garnier where The Paris Opera Ballet performs surely has someone special to do that, but a place like Le Moulin Rouge probably makes everyone do it all for themselves!”
The pigeons all nodded in agreement. “We know just the place for you to visit, and it’s just around the corner.”
As they rounded the corner, they saw a Mute Swan, one of the most beautiful birds frequently seen in Paris.
“Go on,” said the leader of the pigeons. “Tell her what you want her to do for you and how you want her to make you look. She can do almost anything you want with your feathers. She is what we call ‘une esthéticienne’ in the language of the French people. It’s what you would call a ‘beautician’ who makes someone look beautiful where you come from.”
Pearl took a deep breath. It might have seemed like she was afraid of knowing what to say because she had never been to the salon of an artist of beauty before. However, she was afraid of not having the right appearance when her feathers were all made to look even more beautiful to go with her plans.
The Mute Swan whispered to Pearl, “You can trust me completely, no one will ever know that you have been to anyone like me to help you look your best before you go on stage. My beak will not breathe a word of your beauty preparations to anyone,” she reassured Pearl. “My ability to keep a secret is part of the reason why Mute Swans make the best beauticians—we are excellent keepers of secrets.
“These days, a girl has to have secrets when it comes to looking beautiful! Not only The field is fiercely competitive—but so is the river! And I have to tell you that white feathers like yours and mine are already the most beautiful of all feathers to have, and therefore require special attention! I will treat yours as if they were my own!”
“Thank you so much,” said Pearl. “I am going to the Moulin Rouge, but I don’t know what kind of place it is. I will need my feathers to look as if I go there all the time. I’ve also heard it can be a bit wild and free, so whatever you imagine that might be good for my feathers so that I fit right in with the other chickens there should be exceptionally perfect.”
“My dear friend, I do need to let you know that there are no chickens who are dancers at the Moulin Rouge.”
“What! No chickens dancers! That is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard! Well, if there are none, then I will be the first!”
“With my help,” whispered The Mute Swan, “Paris will adore you! Instant celebrity will be yours as long as you can dance as well as you say you do!”
Chapters featuring Pearl are always my favorite to write and to read. She always steals the scene as well as my heart no matter what type of adventure she gets herself into. I always hope our readers will be as eager to find out what will happen with Pearl as I am while I am writing.
Later as Pearl stood in the line to go into the Moulin Rouge, she could hear the music coming from inside, and it was so exciting that her feet could not keep still for even a moment.
Of all those waiting in line to enter, Pearl was the only one who was a chicken, and she was beginning to feel doubtful that she would be allowed in.
Just then a man behind her leaned towards her and asked, “Madame, do you have an escort to accompany you this evening?”
Pearl turned around and looked up, but not very far up because the man behind her was not particularly tall, and she felt an immediate connection to him.
With all of the other men towering over him, he did indeed have the appearance of being an outcast. Pearl knew exactly how that felt, but she also saw that he had a most appealing and amusingly handsome smile.
“Non, Monsieur,” she replied. “My name is Pearl, and I’m new here.”
“You are indeed new here. I come here quite often, and I can say with certainty, that I’ve never noticed you before. You are definitely someone I would remember.”
“I will take that as a compliment, Monsieur. But you do look familiar to me,” said Pearl. “We used one of your posters as the backdrop for my comedy show.”
“Ah, so you are a performer!” the man said. “A performer of la comédie!”
“Oui,” said Pearl, feeling more comfortable speaking French rather than English. “Ah, and you must surely be Monsieur Henri!” she said. “No one draws or paints dazzling white petticoats like you do!”
“Then you, dear one, shall be my guest this evening at my table with the best view of everything,” he said as they entered the main room.
“What I really would like, Monsieur Henri, would be a job as a dancer here. You see, we desperately need coins to buy some art supplies.”
“Sweet little, Pearl, I will pay you to dance if you will allow me to draw you dancing. I’ve never seen a model as lovely as you or a dancer as talented, even though you were just passing the time while waiting to enter Le Moulin Rouge. Do you see the dancer performing now? That is my good friend Madame Jane Avril. Would you join her and let me draw the two of you dancing together?”
“For drawing paper and some pastels?”
“Bien sûr!” he said.
Pearl watched Jane carefully and studied how she moved and gestured, and then in no time at all, she was dancing beside her, matching her steps and movements.
It felt quite a bit like when she had been dancing back home, and she could not help but call out to the audience, “Allons les bananes! Let’s go bananas!”
She liked dancing for her new friend with the exceedingly long name—Comte Monsieur Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa. For a moment, she thought it might be to her benefit to have such a long name as well, and then she realized that simply “Perle” in French and even “Pearl” in English gave such a grand stage presence, that she would maintain her fame with just her one single name.
One final pleasurable moment for you before we close out this newsletter. Spend a moment watching this clip from the 1952 film titled Moulin Rouge for a look at the type of dancing Pearl would have performed, and the type of drawing that her friend Monsieur Henri would have created. Is it any wonder that she felt right at home there in that time and place?
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 our cast of characters (made of chickens, songbirds, and their friends) encounter Professor Accipiter and his White Peacock!
Our Best Advice for the Days Ahead: Be sure to take some time to sing a little and dance a little. Let the joy of creating enrich your heart!
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Pearl, Blanche, Emily, and Amelia
I had a feeling Toulouse Lautrec was going to show up eventually...