Watercolor – 7,28 x 11,02 inch – Unique work

Le Touquet, on the seafront, on a beautiful July afternoon.

The sky is unusually blue. The sea is almost worryingly calm. The wind has deserted the surroundings. Which is rather strange for the region. Regardless, Grace decided to go down town to casually wander the pedestrian streets. When the tourist season is finally over and the city regains some of its privacy, the young American likes to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, the silence sometimes even at certain hours of the day. She has her favorite traders, her favorite comings and goings, her little things that fill her heart with memories.

She progresses step by step, her hair free, her hands in her pockets to make herself look good. Gradually, her steps become faster, more jerky, more nervous. She is scared. Why ? For a few meters now, a few streets, she has felt a presence behind her back. She tricked into making an unexpected stop in front of a clothing store window. She immediately saw his reflection. A man, not very young, tall, a raincoat, odd for the season, and a cane.

She looks in her purse frantically for her cell phone. It can’t be found… She must have left it in the hall. It happens all the time. But right now, she is desperate. She turns right, left, redoes the window trick. He is still there. No way she can get rid of him, obviously. A few more futile attempts and then as she couldn’t take it any longer, she walks into a store, any store, the first one at hand. A chocolate factory!

As she waits patiently for her turn, the intruder makes a noticed entrance right behind her. He surreptitiously approaches her back. She can feel his alcoholic breath invade her senses. She then turns sharply, staring at him with all the hatred she is capable of and never knew she had in her. Disappointed, he looks away for a few seconds to better fix her then. He gives her an evil and perverse smile revealing a more than doubtful dentition. All the ingredients for ultimate disgust are there. Grace looks desperately at the saleswoman who catches the discomfort at once. She whispers a few words to the cashier, who disappears. The police sirens then sound, a few minutes later, an eternity.