Duffel bag

The three American girls strut down the old coble stone alley, trying to interpret the French street names. One right and a left after two blocks and the girls figure they had found the club that was recommended to them by the twenty something year old bell boy at their hotel. Just seventeen hours earlier the four girls were preparing to leave for their Euro trip that their parents had planned as a surprise for the newly high school graduates. After a near unbearably long flight, Jessica, Sarah, and Laurel had used their level 5/6 French skills to get themselves through the airport, into a cab and finally to their hotel lobby. It took less then an hour for the soon to be college freshmen to fall asleep into the two queen size beds. At 8 o clock France time, Laurel had gotten all the girls up and ready for a crazy night to kick off their Euro trip extravaganza. Once the tight dresses where on, the heels strapped and the hair curled, the girls left their room and headed east toward the central city.

“Oh my God, you guys, I’m so excited,” squealed Sarah.

“I can’t believe were in freakin Paris right now,” added Jessica.

“We are about to have so much fun” Sarah said as she and the other girls linked arms and leaned into each other.

“To be honest, I can’t wait for the hot European boys!” said Laurel in her high pitched southern California voice. With those final words, the girls reached the club and found a place in line. It took less then twenty minutes for them to enter the club and find their way to the bar. After five tequila shots and a martini, the girls had settled into a nice buzz and headed to the dance floor. The three stayed together in a little huddle and the more they danced the more they felt the effect of the alcohol. After a couple of songs and group snap shots, Laurel had broken off to talk to a guy that she had been dancing with.

Erik was tall with dark brown short wavy hair. He had a broad chest, striking cheek bones and interesting blue grey eyes. They pushed through the barrier of people and stood against a tall two person stool like table. Just as Laurel was leaving the rest of the pack, she looked back and got an approving wink from Jessica while mouthing “Good catch! Don’t leave without me.” A rush of excitement filled Laurel’s intoxicated body as she giggled and swayed to the obnoxiously loud repetitive music. She couldn’t believe she was in France for the first time and already on a good streak in the male department.

 “So how long are you going to be in town?” Erik said in his heavy French accent. Laurel could hardly hear him over the booming techno music that filled the over populated club Le Bleu.

“Me and my friends are going to be here till Thursday. Then were going to Amsterdam.” As Laurel leaned forward to reply to this handsome stranger’s question, she felt him lightly place his hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the bar.

“Want a drink? I’m paying.”

“I’ll take a couple of shots; you know what they say Jose is a girl’s best friend!” Laurel let Erik guide her by the hand to the bar, but after about three steps she felt herself lean to the left and vision become a bit blurry.

“Maybe I’ll just have one” Laurel said, hoping that Erik could hear her but knowing that she was probably just talking to herself.

The blue and red lights in the club become more vibrant as the two squeezed through the sweat soaked crowd. Her tight cotton spandex dress had become quite moist and she had drunk enough that her five inch black stilettos no longer sent pains through the balls of her feet. 

After a couple of unneeded drinks, Laurel continued to let her European fling guide her through the club, past the main room and into the little nook just outside of the bathrooms. Erik leaned against a tall stucco pillar and with one flick of the arm, twirled Laurel into his chest. As he placed his other hand on the back of her head, Laurel tilted her chin up slightly letting his lips gently brush against hers. Laurel was no longer aware of her surroundings.  The music, the lights, the people--they all seemed to disappear as the couple grasped onto each other, separating their lips for less than a second at a time to catch a breath of fresh air.

Their connection was broken as Erik slid his lips off of hers and across her cheek. In a slow quiet voice he asked, “Do you want to go somewhere else? My apartment is just around the corner.”

Laurel nods yes as she tries to get his lips to meet hers. Forgetting she had arrived with her friends, Laurel didn’t hesitate to follow Erik through the hectic crowd for one last time and out the main entrance. Once outside, the two latched onto each other’s bodies again and the lip locking continued. Every so often the two intoxicated youngsters would make their way into the middle of the street and forced to detach from one another because of a driver’s blinding headlights and the angry beeping of the car’s horn.

As Laurel stumbled her way back onto the uneven pavement, a huge cathedral caught her eye. Candles flickered behind the multicolored images in the windows. The exterior architecture was so complex the strain on the eyes became painful. An off white thick marble arch bordered the heavy mahogany wooden doors. A stone figure of the Virgin Mary sat illuminated at the top of the church, arms stretched out and face tilted upward to the sky.

“Hey Beautiful, this way!” Laurels awe turned to giggles as her attention went back to Erik.

The two finally made it up the narrow stairway and into Erik’s apartment. They were too consumed in each other to turn on any lights. In between kisses Laurel tried to catch a glimpse of every room that she and Erik stumbled through before they got to the bedroom. A street light brightened the room just enough so that Laurel could maneuver through the piles of clothes and duffel bags that were sprawled across the hard wood floor. After Erik flung his shirt off and threw it to the floor, he gracefully placed Laurel in the middle of the bed and scooted his way on top of her. One kiss. Two kisses. Three kisses and Laurel was out.

As Laurel laid passed out on the bed, Erik rolls over her motionless body and grabs his cell phone off of the make shift table on the left side of the bed. After scrolling through his phone book, Erik dials a long distance number and waits for the ring.

“Jacque?” asks Erik.

“Oui”

“It’s Erik. Things are getting real hot around here. The cops have been around for the last week and Jacob’s guys have already been questioned. Word is they leaked about the body parts and dropped our names.”

“Shit. What are you going to do?” asks Jacque on the receiving end.

Erik slowly turns to stare at Laurels merely lifeless body and says “I’ve got a plan. We’re going to be out of money for this round but I figure after tonight the heat will be off us and we’ll be good for when the next shipment comes in. This body smuggling stuff is getting pretty intense but Ill call you when were in the clear.”

With that Erik hangs up the phone, throws it to the end of the bed, slips on a shirt and tries to shove Laurels body to the edge of the bed.

 “Madame, levez-vous, laisse vont, se réveillent! (Get up, let’s go, wake up)” Laurel awoke to someone’s firm grasp holding both of her arms behind her. Her eyes felt heavy and were extremely sensitive to the bright lights in the room. Her head felt throbbing and she felt as if she were going to throw up at any moment.

“Madame, get up. That is an order,” said a deep voice from behind her. As Laurel turned her head to see the voice’s face, she realizes that she is face down on a church pew. Desperately trying to piece together the events of the night before and figure out how she ended up in this cathedral; Laurel turns to see three French police officers surrounding her. One wrapping hand cuffs around her wrist, while the other two rummaged through a duffel bag that sat under the pew that Laurel woke up on.

“Let go of me. Whatever it is that you’re arresting me for I didn’t do it! Do you understand me? I didn’t do it.” Laurels eyes start to swell up and tear as the police officer violently yanks her off of the bench and onto her feet.

“Do you hear that?” said the first cop. “This stupid American thinks we can’t speak English. Well at least we’re smarter then to try and smuggle body parts across seas.”

Shock and confusion overwhelm Laurel as she stands over the duffel bag and sees seven glass jars filled with various appendages and thick beige colored fluid. The sight of the body parts and the nausea from the hang over caused Laurel to vomit all over the cathedral floor.

“Damn it, get her out of here,” said the police officer that handcuffed Laurel. The three cops throw Laurel into the back seat of the police car and start driving down to the main station. As Laurel sobs in the stiff back seat of the car, she tries to remember what she can about the night before. Laurel suddenly remembers a faint foul smell from Erik’s apartment. At the time she didn’t think much of it. She assumed it was just old food that was left in the sink but as she connects the duffel bags on Erik’s floor with the awful smell from the apartment she throws up again all over the back left seat. Laurel curls up into a little ball, leaning against the cold window of the car.  The thought of having gotten hot and heavy with some psycho body smuggling criminal made her itch inside her own skin.

The car stops at a red light. Laurel lifts her head up to press her hot face against the window. A man on a bicycle stops right next to the car directly in front of Laurel. She recognized the suede boots and button up dress shirt. Just as the light turned green, the man looked back and caught Laurel in a deep stare. It was Erik, it was the little shit that set up her up with this body smuggling crap. At first she tried to scream but nothing came out. She thrashed her body wildly across the back seat, desperately trying to force a noise out of her mouth.

“What the hell?” said the cop driving as he turned back to see Laurel’s body whipping around the back seat.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this” said the other cop as he pulled out a huge needle from the glove box and slammed it hard into Laurel’s thigh. Her body went numb and once again she was out.