The Diamond Dog Chronicles
Mariclaire: Touched By The Hand Of Baz
Chapter 4 Part 1
~ By Magenta ~
::: BANG! :::
Mariclaire could see another lighting flash outside of her bedroom window, and all the windowpanes in the house were rattling along with the rolling thunder. She huddled under the bed covers, her nose and eyes peeking from above.
‘Great, another sleepless night!’ she thought.
Mariclaire didn’t mind the sound of the rain falling, that she actually found quite peaceful, it was just all the other loud noises and flashes that scared her to death. She clutched onto her pillow, imagining that it was the strong and protective male lead from her latest movie obsession. She would be okay with him...if only he were really there.
::: BANG! :::
This time Mariclaire yelped, and pulled the pillow over her head. Something had been flung against the window, causing the sound to echo throughout the house.
She heard a whooshing noise come from behind her curtains, and thought the window must have been broken.
‘Great, that’s just great! Now I suppose I have to get out of bed and see what the hell is going on out there!’ she thought.
Turning on the bedside lamp, she flung the covers back and went to the window. Sure enough, she noticed they were blowing with the wind, which could only mean one thing...the window was indeed broken. She pulled back the curtains to survey the damage before she would go and tell her parents, because even though this was one of those ‘acts of God’ surely she would get the blame. Mariclaire separated the curtains and was engulfed by a bright light.
When she came to, Mariclaire was still encased by this bright globe of light. However, she was no longer standing at her bedroom window, but found herself in a huge mansion like place, and what’s more, not only was she no longer standing at her bedroom window...she was no longer standing!
Mariclaire stumbled, but fortunately a convenient ramification to the loss of gravity, was the inability to fall ass first to the ground. She righted herself and then turned at the sound of a soft cackling chuckle she heard coming from behind her. What she was confronted with astounded her...it was like nothing she had ever seen before.
“Oh, my, God!” she voiced.
“Yes...but you can call me Baz” he said smiling.
Mariclaire tried to leave, but she wasn’t sure how one floated properly.
‘You’d think after years of watching Superman, I would have learnt something!’ she berated herself.
“It’s a bit tricky at first isn’t it? ” Baz said amused by her clumsy actions, and obviously reminiscing, “But you’d better be careful or...” he trailed off as he saw Mariclaire scream and suddenly lift six feet in the air and head toward the high ceiling.
He shook his head and then called out to her, “Mariclaire, get down!”
“I CAN’T!” she wailed back, finally managing to halt her movements.
Baz sighed, “Fine stay there, I’ll come to you” and with that he floated upwards to join Mariclaire on the ceiling.
Mariclaire was overwhelmed by the experience, but composed herself enough to ask him a question, in hope of making some sense out of what was going on.
“So you’re...you’re really, God?” she asked, with some disbelief.
“Not exactly what you were expecting darling?” Baz said sarcastically.
“Uh, no, I guess not. I mean I’ve always thought, you know the whole toga and beard thing was kinda mandatory,” she said finishing with a giggle.
“Oh, hey I have a toga,” he said winking, “it’s just not the best thing for when you’re floating around the place...a bit drafty if you get what I mean” he said motioning his eyes to his lower region.
Embarrassed, Mariclaire responded, “Um, yeah. So, is there a reason why I’m here with you...oh my God!” Mariclaire said forming a realization and Baz just looked at her expecting to be addressed, due to the use of his formal name.
“I’m not...dead am I?” she asked worriedly.
Baz laughed, “No, nooo. I was just a little bored, and when one of my helpers became sick, I needed someone who could take on their latest case, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to have a little fun!” he said.
“Helpers? Case?” Mariclaire said becoming more confused by the moment.
If this guy really was God, Mariclaire was a little amused that so many people worshipped a seemingly regular guy...and a kinda eccentric one at that.
“Yes, yes. You see, I’m in charge of a lot of stuff up here, and you can’t expect me to do it all myself, so I have these helpers that kinda give me a hand. You know, keep the universe in order, right the wrongs, spur love...and hate, create destiny ...just stuff like that.”
“Oh, ‘just stuff like that’” Mariclaire said sarcastically, “What do you mean create destiny? Don’t we create our own fate?” she questioned.
Baz laughed, “I WISH! Let me tell you it would be a lot easier that way, and would take a lot off of my plate and conscience to boot! Anywaaaay, this is why I need you...” he started.
“But why me?” Mariclaire probed.
“Oh for heavens sake would you let me finish one sentence girl and then ask the questions!” Baz exclaimed.
Mariclaire was a little taken aback and floated quietly now waiting for him to continue.
“...Thankyou,” Baz said in response, “sooo, I need you because my Green Faerie is out of work for a while...she accidentally got trapped inside a bottle of absinthe; was there a day before she was released...I guess that’s the down side to being invisible most of the time. Anyway, she’s getting her stomach pumped, so I’m sending you in as her replacement” he said with a grin.
“ME!? No, no way! ...I can’t, I mean what about school, or my family??”
“They won’t even notice you’ve gone,” he said
“HEY, I know I’ve had to miss a lot of school lately, and I hide out in my room away from my parents, but I think they’re gonna notice when I’m not there in the morning.” Mariclaire said becoming worried about her own fate.
“No, they won’t notice, because as soon as you have completed the job I’ll send you back to the exact same moment that I took you” Baz explained.
“Ooh, well I guess that makes sense.” she replied. “But why did you pick me and where on earth am I going?” Mariclaire spurted.
“Like I said, I was bored, and I’ve been watching you the last year or so and noticed you were also bored with your present situation. I thought you’d appreciate the chance to help me out. I know you’re the right person for the job because you believe in truth...well some of the time, beauty, freedom and most of all we both know you believe in love. So that is why you are going to Paris...Montmartre to be more specific, and my dear the question should not really be where, but ‘when?’ ” he said with a sly smile.
“Ugh, do I really want to know?” Mariclaire said dreading his response.
“Look, it’s all in here,” Baz said materialising a folder and handing it to Mariclaire, “This will fill you in on everything you need to know. So what do you say?” he asked.
“Do I even have a choice?” she responded wearily.
“No, not really,” Baz replied nonchalantly, “Well, it was real nice meeting you but I’m late for a Tai-chi class” Baz said floating to the stairwell.
“But how do I get there?!” Mariclaire asked, one of the millions of questions in her mind.
“Just read the file!” he called from the top of the stairwell, “Oh, and I almost forgot, a little added incentive...you can’t go home until the job’s done...and properly done!” he finished and with that vanished out of sight.
“Oh my, uh...Baz” Mariclaire said to herself.
She sighed and opened the file.
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