[ He could respond with things like, I thought you might need company. Or, I missed you. Both would be true, but both would also be dodging the elephant in the room. The picture from last night, the seedy view in the seedy room, a place where Jean Louis shouldn't be, professionally or privately.
The thing is, Claude doesn't dodge elephants. Claude lifts them. Sends them back to Africa or India, where they belong.
So, he takes Jean Louis' offered coffee, the one that means, thank you, and holds it in one hand while reaching into his jacket's front pocket with the other, extracting the little brass goose he'd picked out of his fairy tale collection back home on the way out the door. He's been collecting them since Jean Louis' birthday, he's got eight already, this one was the most fitting for the occasion. Claude stealing geese the night prior. Jean Louis serving him goose now. What a wild goose chase.
He smiles and holds it out on a flat palm. It's not a big one like the witch. ]
Let me trade you.
[ Then, he does the elephant-lifting, because one of them has to address what went the other way last night. After the goose chasing and Claude's displacement in the Bois. Frowning back at Jean Louis' slightly narrowed eyes, he tilts his head to one side and licks his lips, nervously. ]
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The thing is, Claude doesn't dodge elephants. Claude lifts them. Sends them back to Africa or India, where they belong.
So, he takes Jean Louis' offered coffee, the one that means, thank you, and holds it in one hand while reaching into his jacket's front pocket with the other, extracting the little brass goose he'd picked out of his fairy tale collection back home on the way out the door. He's been collecting them since Jean Louis' birthday, he's got eight already, this one was the most fitting for the occasion. Claude stealing geese the night prior. Jean Louis serving him goose now. What a wild goose chase.
He smiles and holds it out on a flat palm. It's not a big one like the witch. ]
Let me trade you.
[ Then, he does the elephant-lifting, because one of them has to address what went the other way last night. After the goose chasing and Claude's displacement in the Bois. Frowning back at Jean Louis' slightly narrowed eyes, he tilts his head to one side and licks his lips, nervously. ]
I was worried about you, Jean Louis.