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THE NEWS THAT PUTS EVERYONE KORDA
Patricia loves you with all her body.
It was on November 15th that I almost got married. On a whim. But not a whim that belonged to me. A whim whose owner was none other than my father. At the time, we lived on Rue Oberkampf. At a time when there weren't all those bars and restaurants. In a dilapidated building that no longer really stood upright. We lived in the attic, in two adjoining maids' rooms. There, we lived with my sister and my parents. Even if they weren't there very often, space was tight for four of us. But we loved each other so much that we knew how to hold our breath so as not to take up too much space.
We were the only family on the floor. Otherwise, it was just lonely people. But a few floors down, on the third floor to be precise, lived another family, the Pugets. The couple's children were all rather ugly. They weren't even nice to me. When we passed each other on the stairs, they snubbed me. And at school, they made fun of me in front of the others because we lived on the poor floor. My father had taught me indifference and I applied it here with relish. Which irritated them even more. We hated each other cordially. Especially with the eldest in my class, who liked to humiliate me whenever I failed a test.
However, one day, as I was coming back from a Scout weekend, my mother called me up the stairs to the third floor, where she was having tea with Madame Puget. This lady had an art gallery on rue de l'Université in the 7th arrondissement, where she exhibited pompous works devoid of talent. But since she was so well-connected, her shop was a great success. She offered my mother a job cleaning. She accepted for a rather attractive hourly rate. After that, I was utterly ashamed, as her son took advantage of the situation to point out at every break, at every meal, that my mother was his mother's maid.
When the cup was full and her face was close to mine, I gave her a docker's headbutt on her much-needed nose. After that, I was expelled from school for three days. No matter how many times I repeated that he'd had it coming, my act of violence worked against me. A few days later, while I was smoking a joint by the window, my mother unexpectedly entered the apartment. She'd finished work early, because her boss had thrown her out after I'd done that. The next day, my father came to me, since my mother didn't dare.
He told me that if I agreed, on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, to marry the Puget son, all charges against our family would be dropped. Mom would get her job back, and he would stop acting like a mop to me at school. Everyone seemed to agree that I should marry the creep.
I pretended to accept, but in the night, while everyone was asleep, satisfied with the arrangement, I packed my bundle and took off. It was out of the question for me to accept any kind of arranged marriage. I'd rather give my family life a whirl and risk having no way out, than live the life others expected of me. If you enjoyed this story, you should know that it will soon be adapted by the Coen brothers under the A24 banner. Thank you, my love.
