Read Tiare in Bloom for Free Online
Authors: Célestine Vaite
microphone, and less than a week later, he got a job at Radio Tefana. Mama Angelina reminds her son, presently doing
his I’m-getting-bored expression, of how she dreamed of him packing his suitcase days before he moved out to live in this
apartment without a view.
“And last night,” she continues sadly, “in my dream, I saw your sister and her husband and —”
“She was yelling at him,” Ati says.
“
Non, non,
she wasn’t yelling at all, she was sitting under a tree with her husband and their eight children and they were smiling,
they looked very happy and you —”
“I was dancing with a pretty woman,” Ati chuckles.
“Not at all . . . you were crying.”
“Eh?”
“You were crying,” Mama Angelina repeats, teary now, “and there was nobody with you and you were old.” Mama Angelina takes
her son’s hand. “Ati, maybe it’s fun what you’re doing now, one woman, another woman, lots of women, but who is going to look
after you when you get old?”
“Myself!” Ati takes his hand away.
“How come you can’t stay with a woman for more than two weeks?”
“Mama, it’s not your onions.”
“And what about your political career?”
“What about it?” Ati snaps.
“Ati, listen to me.” Mama Angelina has her serious voice now. “We don’t vote for politicians who don’t have a wife, children.
A politician without a family can talk and promise things but nobody is going to believe him and . . . Anyway” — Mama Angelina
waves a hand in the air — “I didn’t come here to talk about your career, I came here to talk about your situation.”
“I’m very happy with my situation.”
“You’re happy now, but in a few years —” Mama Angelina sighs like she’s so stressed by her son’s situation. “Find yourself
a good woman, Ati.”
“Hum,” Ati agrees, thinking that the problem with good women is that they’re already taken.
“Do you want me to find you a good woman?” Mama Angelina asks eagerly. She insists that she knows what a man wants in a woman.
She knows because she’s lived with a man for more than thirty years.
According to Mama Angelina, the first thing a man wants in a woman is for her to be nice, but she’s got to be nice to look
at too. Not too beautiful though, otherwise he’ll be spending his time being jealous.
A good cook, but there’s no need for her to be a
cordon bleu
— when food is cooked, it’s edible. Tidy, but there’s no need for her to be a neat freak, because men are not obsessed with
tidiness as long as they can find socks and towels.
Not the kind who plays games. Men don’t like women who play games, they like women who say what they think, easy-going women,
someone you can laugh with after work and have a few drinks. A bit masculine on the surface and —
Ati gets up, meaning, Thanks for your visit. To make his message clearer, Ati kisses his mother good-bye.
Mama Angelina slowly rises and leaves. But not before telling her son that with all the women he’s had in his life none have
truly loved him because none have wanted to have his children.
“When a woman loves a man,” she says, stopping the door with her foot, “she wants his children. Hurry up, Ati. Find that woman.”
As the door closes, she adds that he’s forty-three and that soon he’s going to be infertile.
This is Ati’s story for the day, and from now on, so Ati tells Pito, he might have to start meeting women in a restaurant.
In his mind, the restaurant is a great place for a man to get intimate with a woman. You don’t get distracted like you do
(and so easily) when you’re in bed and she has you by the
couilles.
Now, Ati is not saying that a man can’t get intimate with a woman in bed (because he does), but he’s looking for something
else these days.
Ati has never invited a woman to the restaurant, he continues. To the bar,
oui,
the hotel,
oui,
his mother’s house,
oui,
his apartment,
oui,
but never to the
his I’m-getting-bored expression, of how she dreamed of him packing his suitcase days before he moved out to live in this
apartment without a view.
“And last night,” she continues sadly, “in my dream, I saw your sister and her husband and —”
“She was yelling at him,” Ati says.
“
Non, non,
she wasn’t yelling at all, she was sitting under a tree with her husband and their eight children and they were smiling,
they looked very happy and you —”
“I was dancing with a pretty woman,” Ati chuckles.
“Not at all . . . you were crying.”
“Eh?”
“You were crying,” Mama Angelina repeats, teary now, “and there was nobody with you and you were old.” Mama Angelina takes
her son’s hand. “Ati, maybe it’s fun what you’re doing now, one woman, another woman, lots of women, but who is going to look
after you when you get old?”
“Myself!” Ati takes his hand away.
“How come you can’t stay with a woman for more than two weeks?”
“Mama, it’s not your onions.”
“And what about your political career?”
“What about it?” Ati snaps.
“Ati, listen to me.” Mama Angelina has her serious voice now. “We don’t vote for politicians who don’t have a wife, children.
A politician without a family can talk and promise things but nobody is going to believe him and . . . Anyway” — Mama Angelina
waves a hand in the air — “I didn’t come here to talk about your career, I came here to talk about your situation.”
“I’m very happy with my situation.”
“You’re happy now, but in a few years —” Mama Angelina sighs like she’s so stressed by her son’s situation. “Find yourself
a good woman, Ati.”
“Hum,” Ati agrees, thinking that the problem with good women is that they’re already taken.
“Do you want me to find you a good woman?” Mama Angelina asks eagerly. She insists that she knows what a man wants in a woman.
She knows because she’s lived with a man for more than thirty years.
According to Mama Angelina, the first thing a man wants in a woman is for her to be nice, but she’s got to be nice to look
at too. Not too beautiful though, otherwise he’ll be spending his time being jealous.
A good cook, but there’s no need for her to be a
cordon bleu
— when food is cooked, it’s edible. Tidy, but there’s no need for her to be a neat freak, because men are not obsessed with
tidiness as long as they can find socks and towels.
Not the kind who plays games. Men don’t like women who play games, they like women who say what they think, easy-going women,
someone you can laugh with after work and have a few drinks. A bit masculine on the surface and —
Ati gets up, meaning, Thanks for your visit. To make his message clearer, Ati kisses his mother good-bye.
Mama Angelina slowly rises and leaves. But not before telling her son that with all the women he’s had in his life none have
truly loved him because none have wanted to have his children.
“When a woman loves a man,” she says, stopping the door with her foot, “she wants his children. Hurry up, Ati. Find that woman.”
As the door closes, she adds that he’s forty-three and that soon he’s going to be infertile.
This is Ati’s story for the day, and from now on, so Ati tells Pito, he might have to start meeting women in a restaurant.
In his mind, the restaurant is a great place for a man to get intimate with a woman. You don’t get distracted like you do
(and so easily) when you’re in bed and she has you by the
couilles.
Now, Ati is not saying that a man can’t get intimate with a woman in bed (because he does), but he’s looking for something
else these days.
Ati has never invited a woman to the restaurant, he continues. To the bar,
oui,
the hotel,
oui,
his mother’s house,
oui,
his apartment,
oui,
but never to the