Maria asked the flight attendant if she can stopover Paris and book her ticket to Brazil on the

next day. Yes Madam. All you have to do is find a room where you can leave your luggage and enjoy the City of Lights. Maria, indeed, decided to stay for a day in Paris determined to forget everything about Ralf and their last night of multiple orgasms. Aboard the taxi with a French-speaking chauffer, she passed Rue de Babylone and saw high above the trees the bell tower of the famous La Chapelle Notre Dame de la Mdaille Miraculeuse. She suddenly remembered the man who willingly waits for her in Brazil who gave her the Medal of the Lady. The man once said that she should visit the Ladys chapel and pray for protection. S'il vous plat tournez gauche la chapelle de la Dame des Grces. she instructed the driver to turn left to the chapel. Oui, madame Merci, signore The taxi then swerved its way to the chapel. As she passed by the grassy sod towards the piazza-like entrance of the chapel stood a sculpture of the Resurrected Christ. From where shes standing, streaks of light that tangent the rose de plafond can be seen. Below it was the enshrined grotto of the Lady of the Graces. As she walked down the aisle, the smell of paraffin blending with the freshness of the morning filled her nostrils as the choir by the chancel sang the offertory hymn. She then kneeled herself in a nearby pew and made the sign of the cross. Mother, please help me forget everything about him and Geneva. She kneeled there for more minutes admiring the faint light of the clerestory as reflected by the morning sun. How she wished to stay there longer to decide and plan her homecoming. The serenity and peaceful aura of the place was irresistibly comforting. Realizing the cost of her rented car, she stood up and looked for the l'eau bnite, made the sign of the cross and left. N'importe quel htel proximit? she asked the chauffer for she needed a place for her heavy suitcases. Nous avons le Htel Le Placide, madamme. The chauffer answered.

Okey. Lets go. That afternoon, Maria visited the Louvre Museum, Basilique du Sacr Coeur and many other places not because she loved to but because she assessed herself as to her surviving without the thought of Ralf and everything about her stay in Geneva.. The places shed go made her lonelier. Decided,she went to a travel agency and booked her ticket Brazil-bound. She rented a cab on her way back to the hotel and passed by Pont Alexandre III viewing the colourful riverbanks reflecting the magnificent Eiffel Tower. Indeed, Paris is the City of Lights, she thought wondering how such lights be different from the light Ralf saw in her. Shes sound asleep that night out of fatigue. Six in the morning the next day, shes already in the airport. As shes signing a paper, a man asked if he can borrow her pen. Looking up, Maria handed her pen and noticed that the man had a pen by her pocket. Then to meet her, were familiar deep-set eyes. The man looked at her too as if theyve met somewhere. Memories of their childhood rushed through. They both feel the same childhood feelings. Then she remembered. And he remembered it too. The last time theyd met was in Brazil. They were on their way to school. The boy who once asked Maria for a pencil was the very same man who asked for her pen that very day. The flight back home will never be like her flight from Geneva to Paris.