The Place of Honeymoons

The story opens backstage at a grand opera, where Courtlandt watches the final aria with a tight, unyielding posture. The soprano's voice drifts into his mind like a distant Burmese gong, pulling him into a flash of exotic temples and candlelit devotion. As the curtain falls and the audience spills into the night, he steps out alone, the echo of horns still ringing in his ears.

He wanders the illuminated boulevards of Paris, lighting a cigar more for the habit of clarity than for craving. The city’s rows of lamps and the distant silhouette of the Louvre mirror his own search for a straight line through a maze of indecision. Though he once entertained dreams of becoming an artist, adulthood has left him with a mix of lingering ambition and the weight of past missteps. The quiet of the night offers no answers, but hints at a restless journey that may finally set his course.