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