The Chagall Legacy

Pauline must have rehearsed a thousand different scenarios in her head, of what she would say. She had been dreading this moment. He had the right to finally know the truth, and it was time to say her final goodbyes to Jackson and the rest of her friends in Sunset Valley.

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Anxiously, Pauline paced on her lawn as she waited.  Her cycle was late and earlier that week she nearly missed an apartment viewing because she was violently sick to her stomach.  She couldn’t afford the apartment anyways.

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Once upon a time, a young pharaoh was given a magical sundial on his wedding day.  This timepiece had the miraculous ability to stop time all around the item’s holder.  With this power he was able to singlehandedly end a decades-long war and usher a new era of peace and prosperity into his land.

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Jackson awoke at the crack of dawn so he wouldn’t be late for his meeting with Sanaa Madbouli. His campground had only a single toilet stall and a fire pit, and its proximity to the river attracted mosquitoes. However, Jackson felt safer staying here than with the ruffians at the employee camp.

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Jackson gazed down with fascination through the window of his chartered propeller plane.   Heat shimmered from the shifting sand dunes below, distorting the features of the landscape.  A small town was built on one side of the freshwater river that divided the island.  On the other side were scattered archaeological sites in various stages of excavation.

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Jackson’s back was to Pauline when she entered the kitchen. He was stirring a pot on the stove and humming along to the French music playing on the radio.

“Men are stupid,” she said.

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Pauline yanked the zipper outside of Jackson’s tent and poked her head inside. It was another bright and beautiful morning in Champs Les Sims.

“Get up! I refuse to be late, and these pancakes aren’t going to eat themselves,” Pauline said.

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“Let me fix that, you’re hopeless.”  Pauline straightened Jackson’s unkempt tie.

“Why do we have to dress for this again?   We have the money and the visa level.  I’m half-tempted to show up in my underwear, just to see her expression,” Jackson said.

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While Jackson was gone, Pauline tried to make constructive use of her time.  She tried to work on improving her guitar skill as best as she could, and even succeeded with recording a few of her own simple compositions.

It was for her hard to concentrate however, because her mind was very preoccupied with her upcoming dinner party with the Wolffs and the Landgraabs.

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Jackson arrived in China.  Although it was his top priority to deliver James Vaughan’s keystone to Chen, there was something he wanted to quickly take care of first. 

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“Stop!  I can’t accept this.  It’s too valuable,” Pauline said to Jackson’s back as he was setting up a brand new Sultan’s Tabernacle back home in Sunset Valley.

“Of course you can.  It only cost some ancient coins anyways,” he said, pressing the final tent peg into the grass with his shoe.

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Bright and early the next morning, Jackson made inquiries about Degare Landgraab’s house, and discovered that it had recently been put up for sale by the man’s estate.

Jackson made an appointment to see the place with the building’s realtor.  It was located at 7 Primrose Lane, distantly between the Dutiel’s house and a home for civil-servants.  There he found a three-story building, built in the manner of most homes in Champs Les Sims. It had plastered beige walls, shuttered windows, and a dynasty tiled roof.  

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 Jackson purchased their plane tickets to France.  They had a few hours to get ready before their flight, so both of them decided to take care of a few errands.

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Jackson returned home early that morning, and decided to surprise Pauline by making breakfast.  To his dismay though, it was Cyclone Sword who emerged from Pauline’s tent, dressed in his business clothes.

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Jackson looked out his airplane window at the lovely town of Champs Les Sims. With its pastoral hills, sprawling vineyards, and charming medieval cottages, it was hard to believe that this quaint village was close to Paris. Nonetheless, one could see the Eiffel Tower on the horizon on the other side of the river.

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