Fragrance (novel) [37]
Pr. Dr. Dorin Octavian Picioruș
Fragrance
(novel)
*
And I’m interested in what Niculina thinks about Nuța, what her son thinks about astrophysics, what else Adela has done with her painting, does she still paint green bathtubs on the walls or has she also moved on to the truth? Does Alexe know the multiplication tables? Is Ionela upset because she doesn’t look good in red or because her daughter is getting married tomorrow-the day after tomorrow and who knows who she’ll marry? Because, girl, I think we teach our girls a lot, way too much, and they marry only one man. Instead of knowing so much, they should just know what interests their man. But my husband, that I don’t know what else to say to him, says that’s sexism! And I ask him to tell me what sexism[1] is. And he tells me, you hear me too, that when you tailor a woman to a man’s tastes, that’s sexism. That a woman needs to learn what she wants and be who she wants, and if no man wants her, that she’s so extravagant and conceited, that’s their business. That’s how a woman should be: autonomous. And I say to him: Okay, but why couldn’t I be autonomous, meaning to satisfy my desires with whoever I want and how I want?! Why do I care about the house, and I only think about you and the girl and what we have to do in life?!! That if you’re a family, then you must be there all the way, not like this, just two or three square meters. And he tells me, the insensitive one, that the people who are present are excluding from the discussion. I mean, it’s good to have one philosophy for your wife and another for your daughter. But I tell my daughter to put all her minds into her head, all her minds, and see who she wants. And when she wants someone, she should do what her husband tells her, because that person will take her as his wife, and marriage is done like this: the man orders, the woman executes.
Because he doesn’t kill you with days, but, on the contrary: when he loves you, he only looks at you. Because if I didn’t do that, my mother-in-law wouldn’t love me so much and I wouldn’t make much money, because they would chase me away. But I did what the man said, when he was angry, I kept quiet, I understood him, when he calmed down, he came and apologized, and that’s how we got to where we are now. Because if you want it, you want it a lot, but you don’t do anything, no one holds you back and you end up completely autonomous, a stork without a nest, and you whine like a fool. But, with your head bowed to the man, you get where you need to be, that is, in his heart and you have everything, that you are the lady of the house. And people see, that they are not stupid, and him first of all. He sees you, he enjoys you, he brags about you and, when he brags, then he admires you, because he puts your work, your sweat, your running all day in the foreground.
I had prepared to read a novel and when there: a short story. It was over in a few pages, her hugging the hot stove like she had never hugged a man before. I’m reading two or three more stories, you said you were talking to Chekhov, the action was also in Bessarabia. And it’s good, it’s very good to have a country of writers in your language. And may they be more diverse and better and more capacious. So that they all fill you with the romanian language, with authenticity, with their careful way of writing, with their big, beautiful soul, rich in virtues. Because if you have to the fullest, your personages have it too. Because if you don’t see it, then who? And if not now, when will you write and enter the great world of universal literature? The chinese, meticulously, write letters that you absolutely must study. No matter the language, when you know the spelling, you feel at home. But when you get into arabic, you get into hieroglyphs. Until you get to the meanings, you need the spelling of the language. And we, since we are in a hurry, want the spelling to be similar, so that we can move on to words, to sentences and not just stay with letters. But letters, often, require study and you need to have time for such study.
[1] To be seen: https://dexonline.ro/definitie/sexism.