Today Pegman took us to Versailles. What a beautifully opulent choice.
Twelve-year-old Giselle sits on the floor, skirts tucked neatly between her knees, silently thinking, dreaming, really.
Tonight this hall will be filled with flirtation and wine. Men and women alike will display themselves in dresses or jackets and pants tailored in pink, gold or baby-blue silk. Their faces and wigs powdered, eyebrows darkened with charcoal and cheeks stained cinnabar-red they will slip handkerchiefs from lacey sleeves while keeping feathered fans ready to cover smiling lips as their wide-open eyes beg for more. More wine, more food, more trysts upstairs or down, no one cares. All they desire is more, more and more.
Who pays for it all? Why the king himself. For he relishes everything and always expects more.
But who really pays? People like our Giselle conceived on such a night. She rises, picks up her mop, looks down the long hall and begins her never-ending task.
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Up From the Ashes 
Great story, Alicia. I’m so glad you covered the question of ‘who pays?’ You really led me up the garden path by having Giselle daydream. I thought she was anticipating being a guest in future, so your final paragraph was a definite surprise!
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Thank you, Penny. I’m glad the story worked. Could you check something for me? James wrote, “As an aside, your HTML comments are showing and I suspect the InLinkz.com script isn’t operating correctly.” Did you see anything wonky? Thanks for checking.
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The html prompts show on my screen too, and there’s no way of returning to the Inlinkz page from your post. Doesn’t really matter, I think.
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Thanks so much for checking.
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Very well done. As an aside, your HTML comments are showing and I suspect the InLinkz.com script isn’t operating correctly.
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Thanks, James. It looks odd on my phone but on my blog it looks o.k. I’ll check into it.
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Wonderful story. I too expected Giselle was a guest. Love how the meaning of the whole story is changed with the reveal.
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Thank you. What a time that was! Rich definitely vs poor. And the decadence. I would love to have been a fly on the wall.
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that was great story! i really liked your way of writting ! appreciation from india !
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Wow! Thanks so much for stopping by and showing appreciation.
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Wonderful story with a lot of modern implications. Well done.
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Thank you.
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If any society showed the division between rich and poor, pre revolutionary France did. As your beautifully touching story tells, it was a real case of haves and have nots. I studied the Frondes when I was at university (a French civil war pre Revolution) and was appalled to learn that nobility and clergy (the richest people) were exempt from taxation, with the working man alone carrying this incresingly onerous burden. And the aristocracy were surprised they had their heads cut off.
Wonderfully told Lish
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Ha! I always enjoy watching films about that era, the costumes the decadence, then I think of “the other half” and it loses its glimmer. Thanks for reading and commenting, Lynn.
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Yes, the poor had it really tough. No wondered when they did taste power they went mad with it
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Great story, and social commentary therein. Who pays for the affluence, indeed.
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Thanks, Jelli. Someone always needs to pay. Yes?
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Sadly so.
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powerful ending – surprised me – and likely very true – a young 12 year old cleaning and then I also felt the social commentary – as Jelli noted:
esp. this:
“All they desire is more, more and more.”
hm
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Thanks so much for reading and commenting. Happy Holidays.
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Happy holidays to you too –
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Hey Lish. Hope you’re okay this cold and frost morning? The sad tone of this story is at odds with the glitz and glamour. I sense the narrator wants to be a part of the more more more but would spread that more to more people like her. A poignant tale. I enjoyed the style. I could read more more more of this style. 😉
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Ah, thanks, Kelvin. I used this style a while ago on Friday Fictioneers. Thanks for the vote for more more more of it! Happy Holidays.
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Dear Lish,
So much story here. The beautiful descriptions and Giselle’s musings lulled me into complacency. The last lines hit me like her wet mop. Well written, my dear.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you. I lost track of time looking up what the powders, rouges, and wigs were made of in those times and found out many ladies died from lead poisoning used in the rouge. Man, the price of beauty. Cheers! Lish
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You’ve created a beautifully detailed scene in her mind, then brought us back to the harsh reality of the majority of people. Nice!
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Thank you, Ali.
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Great story. Daydreams are the only escape from the grim reality for the downtrodden!
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Sad but true! Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Excellent. Love the way the story goes from the outer world of what’s happening to Giselle’s inner thoughts. Brilliantly written.
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Thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment. Very much appreciated. Alicia
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