The Count had been very kind to me

And had put his small castle at my disposal

I had not written since the accident

Which so shattered me that I was unable to write

He strongly believed in me and had published

The Vulture and the Ferryman

Which was very popular

As was Lou le Monstre my second book

My third book which I had not named was mostly in pieces

As I had been since the accident

My second wife Lou and my daughter from my first marriage

Who we had never named were both staying with me

We had been joined by the Count’s daughter

Who was also named Lou and acted unofficially as my secretary

But she was more of a hindrance as she fancied herself as a poet

I had read her work and it showed great promise

She was also a talented artist

But sadly she was aware of all of these extraordinary talents

Which spoilt her as she could be very unpleasant

I considered the best way to filter this was to ignore her

Which to a great extent worked as she did not care for this

In her eyes I was a great writer (which I am not)

I am a successful writer but not great one

After a while I noticed that she was spending more time

With my wife and daughter which I welcomed

As it gave me the time I needed to write again

The words were there but they were in no real order

Quite frequently Lou Lou and Lou would walk down to the river

To swim and sunbathe as the weather was always hot

I was invited but I did not accept noting that I needed to write

There were other reasons as I knew that if I began to laze

That I would most probably never surface from my traumas

My wife was beautiful and my daughter was beautiful

Whereas the Count’s daughter had a certain Germanic charm

I felt that she harboured a jealousy as whilst pleasant to look at

She did not have the Mediterranean looks of Lou and Lou

Even at their worst they were so casually beautiful

Whereas Lou in my view had boyish looks

Her hair was quite short

And as she was quite tall and erect

This did nothing to dispel

The masculinity that she tried to hide

I also noticed that her behaviours were casual

One might even call them seductive

But apart from being a decent person

(my first wife left me for another love)

I was still thinking of my dearest friend

Who had died tragically in the accident

I had been driving the car

In a way her teases made me angry

As they trivialised my recent history

And insulted my wife and daughter

That is why my visits to the river were rare

As like my wife and daughter she would go topless

But hers was a forced exposure that went unnoticed

By everyone but me it was seductive and she knew it

I wondered if God was punishing me for my carelessness

That led to the car leaving the road

But God is not a cruel God

I had been careless

But it had not been deliberate

In certain ways I thought God was testing me

Lou was the serpent in our midst

Her talents had attracted me

And she knew that

Which was dangerous

I had not disclosed it

But I was writing again

Slowly but surely

It might I imagined be a passing perfume

So I had no reason for excitement

But deep down I was happy

I loved my wife

I loved my daughter

And I was writing again

The title of my third novel

I had decided was to be called

Le Serpent

I was writing a live account

Of my time at the castle

And the seductions that I was facing

I hoped that if I ever finished the book

That I might make peace with myself

And more importantly God