Jean Valjean PIERRE
It was our 50th wedding anniversary. My wife and I had closed the Inn to have a romantic and wonderful dinner. Our Inn is called Le Maison which means the house in English. Well we were enjoying our lovely evening when we heard the door knock. “BAM, BAM” Who might it be? I thought. I opened the door and saw a mysterious man standing at our door step. He looked disheveled and smelled nasty. As I opened the door, he yelled: “Sir, Sir, please help me, I need a place to stay! I can pay, I am not asking for charity but no one in D… would let me in”. Before I had a chance to make up an excuse not to let him in, my wife called out: “of course, please come in; there is plenty of food and a spare room”. Immediately, negative thoughts raced through my head. I even thought my wife had gone completely mad, allowing a complete stranger to share our food and our home. I walked towards her and whispered: “are you insane?” My wife was the noblest of all people. She trusted people blindly. She answered: “My dear, he is a poor soul wandering the streets; God led him to us and it’s our duty to help him. God will reward us somehow, someday”. She moved me aside and greeted the stranger as if she knew him. The strange man had a broken leg, so I helped him in and sat him on the sofa. With hardly any strength left he whispered: “I will pay you; I have francs…” “Do not worry about it just now, you are hurt and I bet you are hungry as well”, said my wife. I served him some soup and asked my wife to accompany me to the kitchen. Once out of the stranger’s sight, I said: “My dear Amelia, I know you are a charitable woman, and I love you for it. After he finishes supper, he has to leave. There is something about this man that has me puzzled”. She responded calmly: “Pierre God protects those who help others, don’t be scared; let’s help him; which is the Christian thing to do”.
“Please eat all you want, we have plenty more” she said. I could not help but to stare at him with my dark black eyes. I wanted him to look into my eyes, but he would not look back. After a brief moment of silence, I asked: “So… who are you?” Amelia instructed me to turn down the bed in room #336. Since I love my wife and her heart of gold, I decided to do what she had asked. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my heart and sat on the bed. I was not having a heart attack, I remembered: “I know this man, I have seen him before. Oh My God, the stranger is Jean Valjean. I ran to the kitchen and yelled “Amelia gets away from that man, he is John Valjean! Get out now I yelled to the man. You are a thief and I do not want you in my house!” “Sir, I understand your reaction, but please allow me to explain… the man began to cough up blood and began to tremble uncontrollably. Amelia and I took him to room 336. What were we supposed to do? We are hiding a criminal!
I tried to explain to Amelia that this man had committed a crime for which he had gone to jail. “We do not know if he is dangerous, if he has escaped prison, and worst of all, he is hurt. What will people think if they find out”, I asked in a harsh and loud voice. “I don’t care who he is, or what he has done. We have got to help, Responded Amelia. She continued saying: “Pierre
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