This Strange Eventful History

Chloe and Oliver arrive in Toulon. Barbara and François are already there. Gaston is dying, and his new housekeeper (Fatima), Denise, and a hired nurse attend to him. Barbara has seen death before. Both her parents are deceased, and she knows that it’s a long and bitter march to the end. She would rather be elsewhere, and she would rather that her life be different, but she knows that thinking about the choices she could have made is a waste of time. She recalls how foolish she was as a young woman. She fell in love with François because for her he evoked a foreign mystique. She didn’t realize at the time that he was just a man and that their life together would be entirely lacking in mystery. They have long been unhappy together. For years she assumed that they would eventually divorce, but one day she realized that their destiny was together. She tolerated his secret drinking, misery, and fits of anger, and he tolerated her almost complete lack of love and affection for him. She still occasionally finds moments of joy in their union, though. One day, they all take a break from sitting by Gaston’s bedside and go for a walk around town.