Champagne

---

The police detective stared at me from across the table. He was quite young, but nothing special to watch. Like I had been. Not ugly, but normal. His plain mousy brown hair was cropped short and his chocolate brown eyes were framed by thick lashes. Small beads of sweat adorned his brow and his forehead was creased as if he were pondering an elusive question. He periodically swiped his handkerchief across the perspiration trickling down his neck, and then thrust it back into his pocket as if self-conscious.

The day was sweltering, and being closed in this small room wasn’t helping the problem.

"When did you last see Champagne?" he asked, eyes darting all around the cramped room, yet never resting upon me. His brown eyes did not seem to meet my hazel. Hazel. They had not always been that way... but everything was different now. Brown eyes used to sparkle from my face- but that all changed when I met Champagne.

"Saturday," I replied, vacantly, not really paying any attention. Today was Wednesday. Champagne had been missing since Sunday.

"How long have you known Champagne?" was his next question.

"Oh, I guess about three weeks…"

---

I was walking in the park silently, alone as usual. I was a college student, and that afternoon I had no class. Funny thing, isn’t it, that I wished this wasn’t the case? The professor’s wife was having a child. A life changing event for him, boredom for me, for someone with no ties, no life. Without classes to attend, what else was I to do? I wondered along aimlessly, not really paying attention to where my slow strides took me. I started when I heard a voice- a voice like none other that I had ever heard.

"Well, hello!" A girl said. She was leaning against a tall sugar maple, smiling at me. The red and orange leaves of the tree seemed like fire but you did not notice them as much when you looked at the girl.

She had flawless skin, the color of milk chocolate and she stood a good five inches taller than my 5’5" height. She was beautiful, with a voice like tinkling bells. Yet what caught you was her eyes. They gleamed a dark green, and all of a sudden, they shifted from brown to gray to violet, then coming back to the green.

I stared at the girl and I could not tear my eyes from hers. She was the most magnificent being that I had ever laid my eyes upon. I was amazed that the other people milling around had not stopped to notice her. She held out a slender hand out to me, metal bangles clanging as they collided with each other. I took her hand and she smiled at me, her eyes ever-changing in color.

"My name is Champagne. Would you like to twirl with me?" She laughed, the most wonderful sound I had ever heard. Exotic. Mystifying. Magical. Indescribably. She dropped my hand and glided under the canopy of leaves and lifted her arms over her head. With that, she began twirling. Round and round, I could not help but begin to spin with her, drawn into the vortex of her splendor.

The wind seemed to swirl around us, and the leaves of the tree danced around us in a small cyclones. It felt as if I was floating... I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was. With Champagne, anything could happen. I learned that quickly.

Champagne and I met there every day, and together we twirled under the same tree. We seldom talked, just twirled and laughed.

---

I was jerked out of my reverie when Detective Martin, as I read on his tag, cleared his throat. I smiled thinking of Champagne.

"You have not heard from this Champagne since Saturday?"

"No, I haven’t," I replied calmly, vacantly.

"Where were you the last time you saw her? What was she doing?" he inquired, furrowing his brows even further.

"Well, I last saw her at the park, under the maple. She was twirling…"

---

"Promise me that we will be friends forever, Amanda," said Champagne on that beautiful Saturday afternoon. That was one of the few times that we had ever spoken.

"I promise," I replied, smiling. Her eyes twinkled with delight and she took my hands in her own and we twirled together under the maple tree.

When I reached my dorm room that evening, I looked in my mirror and was shocked to see that my own eyes were now mirrors of Champagne’s intoxicating orbs. Grey, green, violet and brown simultaneously. Hazel is what I called them, although they were nothing of the sort. They were… well, Champagne’s. It seemed that they were her parting gift to me- what she gave me that would seal our vow to be friends forever. A vessel for me to carry a part of her with me always.

I knew I would see Champagne again, but I didn’t know when. I knew in some odd way that she was leaving, but I also felt it within my soul we would meet again, to twirl and dance under the maple tree.

---

"Twirling?" Martin asked, confused. His eyebrows were raised, skeptical, instead of furrowed. He wiped his brow with a pale blue handkerchief, the beads of sweat being absorbed immediately. It was hot in the room, but I didn’t notice any longer. Thoughts of Champagne were a cool gust of air.

"Yes, dancing. Twirling. Like we always did. Under the maple tree."

"Alright…" he said, a question in his eyes that he never asked. He met my eyes and became captivated by my gaze. He only looked away when I did. Raising himself from his leather swivel chair, he paced over to the window and opened it. A welcoming breeze entered. The wind picked up, and leaves started to dance around the window. I smiled to myself as a small red maple leaf settled itself on the windowsill.

I strained my ears and soon I faintly heard the sound of Champagne’s laughing, and my smile widened. Champagne may not be under the maple tree dancing with the spinning leaves, but she will always be in a place inside of me. As the wind continued to swirl outside, the papers on Martin’s desk began to quiver in a strange waltz with the air.

“Twirl with me, detective,” I smiled, reaching out to him, metallic bangles whispering their song.

The wind made the papers spin around the room and soon I found myself twirling, too, just like Champagne had. Under the maple tree with the fiery leaves dancing about her, laughing in her magical way.

Fin