THE RED CARNATION
The fourth in my Reincarnation Series:
Another Time
Written by Veronica Jane Williams
DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns Voyager, Sandrine's, the Delta Flyer, Romulan Ale. I wrote the story, with the necessary acknowledgement to follow:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: "The Red Carnation" was based on the 1940 classic film, "The Shop Around the Corner" which starred Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Remakes had been done over the years. You may perhaps recognise the latest film based on the original story.
RATING: G
Eugen: Oygen. (the -g- as in go.)
THE RED CARNATION
The year 1937 was not a very good year for Tomas Eugen Bartok, who worked as the senior sales clerk in a small, but exclusive department store in the heart of the city of Budapest. That was the year Beline Tamasy came to work as a shop assistant and made his life a misery.
His boss, Zoltan Kedrova, had given him the order not to appoint any new staff. But when the out of work, hungry and very determined Beline, on her way out of the store sold a box of cigars to an old lady, telling her she could use the box to store her jewelry, it was a done thing. Beline got appointed. And so started the constant stream of bickering between two very hot-headed young people, each determined to best the other in an argument.
Beline Tamasy was a small, petit, very attractive young woman, her skin darker than the average Hungarian, with her hair almost black, and finally complemented by a pair of fiery black eyes.
"I got it from my gypsy grandmother, what's it to you?" she taunted him one day as he was doing a round of inspection on the floor. That was when he asked her where she got her bad temper from.
Tomas was not a bad looking man. Young for his position as senior clerk, he was tall, blonde, blue-eyed, almost the complete opposite of Beline. Not the average Hungarian either.
"It's a throwback to my Nordic ancestry," he admitted unwillingly to her, when she asked him pointedly why he didn't resemble his mother. "And what's that to you," he sniped, becoming increasingly temperamental whenever he was in her company.
But in a strange way, he actually tolerated her. She kept his life as a sales assistant, albeit the senior one, decidedly from becoming boring.
"Miss Tamasy," Tomas said one day, "I see you are not in the lingerie department, where I stationed you. Who put you in Shoes?"
"I did myself, Mr Bartok. It's far more interesting there."
"Miss Tamasy, I would appreciate it if you could follow my orders. And for heaven's sake, what is that you're wearing? Didn't I tell you female staff are not allowed to wear pants?"
"Now there, Mr Bartok, I'm no gypsy. I don't go for that awful gypsy dresses. National costumes they are."
"Miss Tamasy!"
"It's the new style, wearing these trousers Mr Bartok. It comes all the way from London, Paris and New York! You should encourage in this store!"
"I don't care much for New York, Miss Tamasy."
"Mr Bartok, do you ever have a heart?" she asked him one day, after yet another heated debate between the two of them.
"Miss Tamasy, I don't suppose you have one?" he bristled, everytime she opened her mouth. Then his blue eyes would flash with suppressed anger. She was just a sprite of a girl, who could make him so angry.
************
My dear Lady of Box 233,
Tomas wrote that evening to his penfriend.
I trust you are keeping well, as always. You must know that your letters cheer me up, especially when I read them after a hard day at work. I still don't know your name, but we agreed on that. You are as real as if you were standing right here in front of me. I think, I am falling in love with you. Do you think that is strange? Let me know soon.
Yours
Heart of Darkness
Dear Mr Heart of Darkness
Beline wrote in her reply:
I do not think it strange. When you tell me you are lonely, I understand how you must feel, because I feel that loneliness too. And even if I don't know what you look like, I feel like I've known you forever. I am falling in love with you. Is that so strange?
Yours
Lady of Box 23
*************
It was another bad day at work for Tomas Eugen Bartok. Miss Tamasy once again at the root of his ire.
"Miss Tamasy," he said with an imperious air, which made her again bristle, "you are a very shallow young person."
He was referring to her constant chattering with fellow staff, and he gleaned it to be very flighty. He saw her as flighty, not as a person with great depth.
"You should leave me alone, Mr Bartok. You know nothing about me."
"You young people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth."
Miss Tamasy looked at Mr Bartok, bristled once again for speaking so haughtily to her, thinking to cut her boss down to some size. This time, she did not care if she lost her work, life was becoming impossible working with him. So she said:
"Well, I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface Mr Bartok. Because I know exactly what I'd find: Instead of a heart, instead of a soul, instead of an intellect, I'd find a cigarette lighter, and even that doesn't work." After he had called her in, because he found her smoking, another rule she broke.
And Mr Bartok looked at her, wishing he could just fire her. But she was a valuable worker who, for all her flightiness, appeared to have a good approach to encouraging people to spend their money there.
**************
That night:
My dear Lady of Box 233
How are you today? I need to be close to you, if you know what I mean. Only you seem to understand me. Your heart is kind, you speak with such comfort whenever I complain that I had a bad day at work, or feel really lonely, sitting here in my apartment. How is your reading of Anna Karennina progressing? It sounds like a very beautiful love story.
Yours
Heart of Darkness
My Dear Mr Heart of Darkness
It makes me feel very good that you think I comfort you through my letters. I know you have a kind heart as well. I am sorry that you have so many bad days at your work. I hope that my letter will cheer you up once again. Anna Karennina is coming along fine. I do so love reading. Poor Anna. She loves another man. And she cannot see her son anymore.
Yours
Lady of Box 233
************
Now in this department store, called Paderevsky's, Tomas' boss had a very attractive wife. And all the male workers at Paderevsky's ogled Mrs Kedrova. She quite enjoyed all this attention she was getting. After all, Mr Kedrova was far too busy making money to pay much of anything to his wife. Still, that did not prevent him from being very jealous as soon as he suspected any man looking too much at his wife.
Tomas had no time really for ogling any female. Miss Tamasy was enough to put him off looking at females in the way Mr Kedrova spoke of. He was too much in love himself with his own Lady of Box 233, even if he never met her. And didn't know what she looked like.
If only Miss Tamasy didn't make him lose his temper everytime she came within thirty inches of him. He sighed. He was not really the superficial kind of man she accused him of. Imagine! Accusing him of not having a heart and soul. His Lady of Box 233 would know. She knows all about his heart and his soul and his intellect. It was Miss Tamasy who was so empty-headed, he thought.
He could never bring himself to call her Beline, although he privately thought the name too beautiful for a girl like her. It did not suit her nature, he mused. Beline - it sounded musical, beauteous, like a lot of goodness of soul. No, she did not deserve that beautiful name. For that, Miss Tamasy was far too temperamental, far too explosive, far too...
And Miss Tamasy, when she thought of her boss, thought he really did not deserve to have such beautiful eyes, or that kind smile that lights up his face whenever he spoke to the other shop assistants, just not with her. He never smiled at her. But that was okay. She imagined her own Mr Heart of Darkness, with just such a smile, he was so kindhearted. Not her boss. He was forever at her to change this, change that. She felt one day like throwing a beautiful vase she was trying to sell to a young man, right at her boss, so tempted she was after he shouted at her again. No, she'd be better off with her Mr Heart of Darkness.
**************
My dear Lady of Box 233 Tomas wrote that night:
I miss you. I love you very much. I know that now. I am too lonely. Will you marry me?
Yours
Mr Heart of Darkness
My Dear Mr Heart of Darkness Beline wrote two days later:
I love you just as much, my Mr Heart of Darkness. I cannot imagine my life without you. Just like poor Anna. She could not live without her Count Vronsky. Of course I will marry you. The answer is yes!
Yours
Lady of Box 233
My dear Lady of Box 233:
You have made me the happiest man in Budapest. My darling, I swear I will make you happy. Just as you have made me very happy by accepting my proposal. I think that it is time now that we met each other, don't you think? After all, we are going to get married! Here is what I propose: We will meet at the coffee shop in Zendor Street, right next to Paderevsky's, on Tuesday at 5PM.
How will you know me? That is simple: I will wear a red carnation in my lapel. Let me know how I will know you.
Yours ever lovingly
Mr Heart of Darkness
Dear Mr Heart of Darkness
I am so excited! I love you so much! I will carry my book, Anna Karennina, with me, and put a red carnation as my bookmark in it. That is how you will know your Lady of Box 233. I can't wait for Tuesday! Love you!
Yours just as lovingly
Lady of Box 233
Tuesday. Tomas Bartok was in consultation with a colleague, Bela Kopic, when he was interrupted by Beline Tamasy. He sighed. What now, he thought.
"I'd like to know, Mr Bartok, if I can get the afternoon off." She looked at him with an air of defiance, and all he could say was:
"Very well, Miss Tamasy. But don't make a habit of it, do you hear?"
"Loud and clear, Mr Bartok," she said with a triumphant smile.If only he could smile to lighten up his face a bit.
Tomas looked at the retreating figure of Beline, who seemed taken with some nervous excitement. Probably to meet her boyfriend, he thought. Well, at five, he was going to meet his Lady of Box 233, his girlfriend. He was excited, he had his red carnation at home. He had already arranged to go home at lunch time to fetch his flower, then go back to work and from there, wonder of wonder, go to see his Lady. He was excited, and couldn't wait.
He had just returned from home, carrying his carnation, when he was summoned to his boss' office. Who duly accused him of having an affair with his wife, and sacked him. A month before Christmas. Tomas Eugen Bartok was shattered. Tonight he was going to ask his Lady formally to marry him. He never even gave poor Mrs Kedrova a first look, much less a second. He could not understand this. Why? Why was this happening to him, he agonised as he prepared to leave the premises, with an irate Zoltan Kedrova spouting obscenities at him. He felt a coldness in the region of his heart. He was unemployed. He had no work, now. How could he ask his Lady to marry him now? he thought with great pain. He could not go to her empty handed. He was man enough to feel that he wanted to be the provider, and look after his wife. His heart contracted with pain.
He was still holding the red carnation in his hand. How, my lady of Box 233, can I hope to support you if I don't have work? he asked himself as he took the red carnation and in a fit of anger crushed the flower into tiny fragments that drifted slowly to the floor of his office. It was symbolic, he thought, that the hopes and dreams of a life with his great love, also lay shattered on the floor.
He decided nonetheless to go to the coffee shop. Sans flower. He wanted to see his Lady one last time. He smiled without mirth. He would see her for the first time and the last time.
He walked into the coffee shop and went to sit at a table in the corner where he would have a good vantage point of who entered. He knew she had to carry a copy of Anna Karennina, with the flower as bookmark.
How much more irate and disappointed could he be when two tables away from where he sat, he saw Miss Tamasy. She of the beautiful name and terrible temper.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Waiting for your boyfriend?"
"What's it to you, Mr Bartok with no heart?"
"I was only asking, no need to get uptight, you know."
"Me? Uptight? Look who's talking! Just because you don't have any girlfriend or beloved, doesn't mean I can't have anyone." And she gave him defiant stare, her dark eyes challenging him to further argument.
"You probably have some unworthy boyfriend who will dump you, you're so nasty."
"That's not true!" she almost shouted. "My fiancé is the kindest man. You could never hope to be like him. He has a heart and soul; he is warm and kind, and he has an intellect!" she almost shouted at him.
That was when Tomas saw the copy of Anna Karennina, with the red carnation sticking out from its pages. He gave a sort gasp, unable to stifle his utter surprise.
Beline is his Lady of Box 233? Beline? Tomas realised two things in that instant it took him to register that the young woman was distraught that her friend had not turned up yet.
He knew in that instant why they fought so much. That it was because he was drawn to her. That because of his feelings for a young lady who was good and kind, he just could not see any other person that way. In a blinding flash of insight, he saw beneath the surface of Beline Tamasy. The inner truth. She was all his Lady of Box 233 was. And the second thing that struck him, following on the heels of the first: now, more than ever, how could he identify himself to her and ask her to marry him? Him, with no work, no prospects? Yet, in his very bones, he loved Beline Tamasy. He saw that now.
With a dejected droop of his shoulders he left the coffee shop, knowing that Beline was his Lady, but that she didn't know that he, Tomas Eugen Bartok was her Mr Heart of Darkness.
***************
Beline, when she returned to work the following morning, it was with a heavy heart. Her fiancé whom she loved so much that she felt like dying, jilted her. He never showed up. The other shocking thing she learned upon entering the premises, was that Mr Bartok had been fired by Mr Kedrova. He had an affair with Mr Kedrova's wife. And although she didn't like Mr Bartok much to begin with, she refused to believe that. She could see Mrs Kedrova made eyes at Bela Kopic. Mr Kedrova must be blind as a bat not to see that. She did feel sorry for Mr Bartok, however, because he did not deserve to be sacked.
But in the following weeks, her heart grew sadder and sadder. It was winter, and because she was so listless, had no resistance when she became ill. She could not seem to get any better. She pined for her lost love. She did not know who he was, in real life, and did not know where he really lived. She had no more tears left, after she had cried her heart out night after night the first weeks. Then she became apathetic, listless, unable to fight her illness. She was told to stay in bed, by her new boss, Mr Kopic, who told her she could return to work anytime, she was such a good worker. She wondered idly what had happened to Mr Bartok. But Beline did not get better. She was dying, it seemed. Tended only by the aged caretaker of the apartment block she lived in. Because she had no immediate family.
It was two days before Christmas. The store was not doing too well, and Mr Kedrova caught his wife in the arms of Bela Kopic. He realised at once that he had fired the wrong man. He should have known instinctively that Tomas Eugen Bartok, trusted employee, had no interest in his wife. Why, the man, he realised now with hindsight, had eyes only for Miss Tamasy. Who was desperately ill. And not expected to make it through this winter.
"So, Tomas, with my profoundest apologies, I reappoint you to your former position, with a promotion to managing director in the new year."
"Thank you, Mr Kedrova," Tomas said, his heart so much lighter.
"It's Zoltan now, Tomas. Let's not stand on ceremony," Zoltan said, a much relieved man himself after his wife left him, and ran off with his chief clerk.
"Good riddance. She was spending all my hard earned money," he told Tomas. "And I know you will get Paderevsky's on its feet again."
Tomas, much relief showing in his very blue eyes, ran his hand through his hair and asked Zoltan:
"I don't see Miss Tamasy on the premises. Has she resigned?"
That was when Zoltan apprised Tomas of Miss Tamasy's illness and that she was not fighting it or had not the will to do so.
"Rumour had it her boyfriend jilted her on the eve of their marriage," Zoltan said conversationally, sublimely unaware how the news was affecting Tomas, whose heart gave a lurch of such despair, he was sure Zoltan must have noticed.
"Excuse me, Zoltan, since it is almost 5PM, there's something I must do..."
**************
The caretaker led Tomas up the first flight of stairs, to the first door leading off a long corridor.
"This is where she lives, Mr Bartok. You may go inside."
Tomas' heart was racing. She still did not know he was her Mr Heart of Darkness. So he had a red carnation his pocket. He entered the apartment, and walked to the first door that led off the lounge. He knocked. He heard her speak in a feeble voice.
He opened the door. Saw her recline against a heap of pillows. Looking very ill.
"Good evening."
Her eyes opened. She looked into the bluest pair of eyes. He smiled. At her! She wondered what he was doing here.
"You..."
"Yes, Beline. It's me."
"What do you want?" she asked, a little ungraciously.
"I've heard that you were ill, Beline."
"What's it to you?" she asked softly, for the first time with a note of pleasure in her voice, pleased that he came to visit a sick colleague.
"I've come to ask you to marry me, Beline." He looked at her with his incredibly blue eyes, and his wonderful smile she never thought she would see.
There was surprise in her eyes. He came to sit down on the bed, facing her, and his face quite close to her.
"How can you want - " but before she could continue, he put his fingers to her lips.
Then Tomas took the red carnation from his pocket, together with a batch of letters neatly tied in a ribbon. He held it out to her. She took the carnation, looked at her own handwriting on the letters.
Tomas looked at Beline and watched the play of emotions on her face. Then his heart contracted as he saw hot tears rolling down her cheeks. On to the letters, smudging the ink, on her fingers. Tears that would not stop. He felt his own tears.
She looked at him, her eyes filled with love. He was her wonderful Mr Heart of Darkness, and he did have heart and soul. She raised her hand to touch his face, her fingers going over his eyes, his cheeks, stroking his hair, resting finally on his lips. He closed his eyes at her touch.
"I love you, Beline," he said softly.
The letters and flower sailed from her slackened fingers on to the floor as she hurled herself into his waiting arms. Her weakened and fragile body shaking like a leaf, sobbing. Only then, she looked at him again, feeling oh, so safe and cosseted in his arms that were embracing her as if he would never let her go.
"I love you, Tomas. With my whole life."
He hugged her tightly. His arms going right round her thin body, one hand cupping the back of her head, holding her close, so close, her face in his neck. He had found his love, his life at last.
And she, her Heart of Darkness turned into her heart of love, of life, of light.
THE END
POST TENEBRAS LUX (After darkness, light)
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