Fakes

Taylor looked up from her drawing pad for the umpteenth time. She’d never really liked family gatherings‘. Having to sit and talk to all kinds of aunts and uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins that for most of the year she never spoke to her. Or for that matter noticed her. But this year was special, her Great-grandmother’s ninetieth birthday. Taylor being the artist in the family had been asked, or is that told? That she would be drawing Great-grandma Yvette.

 

Most of the family were out in the back yard, enjoying the barbeque that her Dad was cooking up. The sun was beating down and the aroma of cooking food drifted into the house. In fact, the only ones indoors were Taylor, Great-grandma Yvette and Taylor’s older brother Josh.

 

“This is so unfair.” said Josh, his chin resting in his hand as he watched the TV. “I could be out with the guys, chatting up babes.” He looked around at his now sleeping elderly relative.

 

“Look on the bright side Josh. You could be listening to Uncle Mike’s fishing stories.” Taylor said as she erased a few errant marks on her picture. Josh looked ready to shoot his sister with a barbed comment as a couple of their smaller cousins raced noisily by. Both looking at their Great-grandmother they let out a collected sigh, she was still asleep.

 

“Oh great, now we don’t have to listen to her stories about the war. We can see a show on them.” Just starting was yet another show about World War 2. The title proclaimed it to be stolen art, hidden history!

 

“It could be interesting, you never know.” Josh just looked pained.

 

“Taylor, you know as well as I do that we’ve heard all her stories at least a hundred times.”

 

“I guess” Looking up at her Great Grandmother Taylor couldn’t but help feel a little sorry for her. Putting down her pencil for a second or two she listened to the presenter.

 

“Most of you will know this as one of the most famous portraits in the world. It’s not, it’s a fake. But this fake has its own far more sinister and amazing tale to tell.” He said as he pulled a dust cover off a copy of the Mona Lisa. “It’s early 1941. The Nazis have a strangle hold on the city of Paris. But Paris is more than just a city of people. It’s a city of some of the greatest art treasures in the world. Its art is the very heart of that great city.”

 

They could now see archive footage of the Nazi’s taking all kinds of art. Taylor knew that they had taken so much that it was still turning up now.

 

“But one picture, the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci. Managed to escape their grasp. Kept hidden by the resistance it never fell into their hands. Not that is until April 23^rd 1942.”

 

The scene then shifted to a Parisian apartment. A beautiful girl was standing next to a Nazi officer.

 

“Are you sure it’s here?” he asked her.

 

“Yes, its here.” The girl said as she stepped forwards and whipping a cover off a package to reveal the Mona Lisa. “I assume that the agreed amount is still on offer?”

 

In one swift movement he took her by the throat. “I think you will find, the price has gone down. I assume that allowing you to keep life will be sufficient?” Her eyes filled with fear and shock, all she could do was nod.

 

“Excellent, the Fatherland will be very pleased with your kind donation.” As he spoke several soldiers came in. They quickly covered the painting and took it away. As they left the room the scene froze.

 

Both Taylor and Josh were now entranced.

 

The presenter now walked into the room, the scene still frozen. “We now know that the picture that was taken on that fate full day, was this one.” He said as he walked back over to the picture. “The real Mona Lisa, remained hidden until the end of the war. Kept safe by the fake that was given to the Nazis‘. But now we must ask. Did Simone Babineaux know she was giving a fake to the Nazis‘? Did she help to hide a masterpiece? Was she just an unlucky collaborator given a fake to throw the Nazis off the trail.”

 

As he spoke a picture come up onto the screen. A line of women stood. At one end a girl sat on a seat, her hair was falling down as her head was shaved. Then it started to zoom in to the girl sitting here.

 

“Oh wow Taylor. You sold a fake to the Nazis‘!” They both looked in amazement. The girl sitting on the chair was a dead ringer for her.

 

Just then the scene switched back to the room. “We had our resident expert examine the picture. He told us that the picture is of excellent quality. If it had come up today, we would be hard pressed to tell it from the original. But who painted it? Where did it come from? Where did Mademoiselle Babineaux get it from? We do know who ever kept the original hidden is not telling. All they will say is that the resistance kept the heart of Paris safe. And that alone is all the thanks they need.”

 

“Hay Taylor, Josh, foods ready. Bring Great-grandma will you.” Their Dad called. Josh moved with customary speed, darting out into the yard. Taylor stood and turned to her Great-grandmother. Her eyes were now open. Gleaming as she’d never seen them do before. Then a soft voice she spoke. Her strong Parisian accent softened by sixty five years of living in the States.

 

“It took me ages to get the smile right.”