Frangipani Read Online Free

to change the situation.
    Materena admits to her daughter in the womb that she’s a bit worried about being a single mother. When she smells Pito’s pillow her heart aches, it is a crucifix for her. But women are real strong creatures, she assures the baby, they can survive anything—flood, fatigue, separation, single parenthood. They’re tough.
    So her man has abandoned her and their baby son, Tamatoa, and, yes, she’s heartbroken. But it doesn’t mean she’s going to lie on the ground for days and days. It’s time to get up and march on! For some reason, Materena suddenly feels very strong. It’s like someone is whispering into her ears, “Eh, don’t worry, everything is going to be all right.”
    The previous week Materena had been prepared to go and see Pito at his work to say sorry and ask him to come home, kiss him and hold him tight. She got all dressed up. But a voice inside her head shouted, “Materena, don’t you dare do that! If Pito loves you he’ll come back. Let him show you what he really feels for you.” To resist the temptation Materena raked the leaves, she needed to do that, there were yellow breadfruit leaves all over the place, and no dignified Tahitian would have leaves rotting away in the garden. Leaves must be raked and then burned, which is exactly what Materena did. The smoke did her good, it was like she was burning the past, moving on. After that, she planted a tamarind tree, she marked the day, the day when she got up and walked.
    “Men . . . they’re such
cons,
” Materena goes on to her daughter. But all the same there’s no need to turn into a man hater like Auntie Antoinette.
    Even all these years after losing her man, every day Auntie Antoinette has a reason to exclaim, “Ah, men! They’re such
cons!
” If she sees a man walking in front with a woman following a few steps behind, she’ll say, “Watch that
con,
he has to walk in front, he has to show to the whole population that he’s the king, that it’s him who decides.” She never thinks that maybe the man is walking in front because his woman told him off last night. That she screamed at him that he was an idiot and that she should have listened to her mother. Maybe the man and the woman don’t even know each other.
    A man and a woman have eight children, Auntie Antoinette declares how the man is an animal, how he forced his woman and all she wanted to do was sleep. What a
con!
A man falls asleep during Mass, what a
con,
continue to live in obscurity.
    Never complain to Auntie Antoinette about your man. She’ll only say to you, “Well, it’s you who’s the idiot. What are you doing with him? What have you got in your head? Rocks?”
    Materena is determined not to turn into a man hater. She knows that not all men are
cons.
Materena certainly hopes that she and Pito will remain good friends. It’s important for the children.
    That is what she told Pito’s best friend, Ati, when he came to visit yesterday after having been away for a month in the islands. He’s the only person who knows that Pito has left (and for a question of pay). Ati was so cranky with Pito. When he visited her he said, “Materena, Pito is blind, he doesn’t know what he’s got.” Then Ati took Materena in his arms and held her tight. A bit too tight, Materena thought, and who knows what would have happened if Tamatoa hadn’t started to cry.
    Before Ati left, he told Materena that he was going to visit her again later on in the evening, but Materena told him it was better that he didn’t. She didn’t want people to start talking. She had to tell the family about Pito and everything first.
    Aue,
Materena says to her baby. She can’t keep lying to the family that Pito is looking after his sick mama. Sooner or later the relatives are going to put two and two together, smell the rat, start talking, investigate, hold meetings outside the Chinese store and whisper to one another. As soon as Materena walks past they’ll talk louder