Breadfruit (35 page)

“You better ask him.”

“
Oui,
I’m going to ask him. But, you know, last Saturday, there was a competition between the schools of Tahiti at the Stade Pater
and Patrice won.”

“
Ah non!
”

“
Ah oui,
” says Josephine.

“What race?”

“The eight hundred meters.”

“What a champion!”

Josephine is smiling so much now that you can see all her teeth. And Materena knows that it is only a matter of seconds before
Josephine shows her yet another photograph of Patrice.

“Eh, Materena,” says Josephine, “I’m not the kind to show off, but—you know, my son, he’s in the paper. Did you see him? In
Les Nouvelles.
”

“I get
Le Journal.
”

“Well, wait a bit.” Josephine hurries to grab her pandanus bag and gets
Les Nouvelles
out. She flicks the pages. “Here—look.”

There’s the head of Josephine’s son—Materena recognizes him from the photos Josephine has shown her before. This photo in
the paper must have been taken after the race—Patrice looks all puffed out. Materena looks for about half a minute. You can’t
just glance at a photograph a mother is showing you. You have to look for about half a minute, all the while smiling.

Well, now that’s enough. Materena slowly shuts the newspaper, one more look at the photograph and one more smile—the newspaper
is closed now.

Josephine puts the newspaper back in her bag. “And what are you doing here today?”

Usually, Materena only comes to Pito’s work on Fridays, to pick up Pito’s pay envelope.

“You know Pito got nominated Employee of the Month.” Now it is Materena who is all smiles.

But Josephine is not sharing Materena’s smile. “Yes… and?”

Materena looks into Josephine’s eyes. “Josephine, do you know what I’m talking about? The Employee of the Month!”

“
Ah oui,
it’s good, eh.” Josephine forces a smile.

“Are you okay?” Materena asks, perplexed.

Josephine looks pale now. “I just don’t feel well all of a sudden. I’ll be all right soon. It’s the air-conditioning. I’m
fine now.”

“Do you think I can take a photo of that nomination?” Materena asks.

Josephine quickly looks over her shoulder and nods to Materena.

“But don’t tell Pito I was here today, okay?” Materena says. “I don’t want him to think that I didn’t believe him about his
nomination and I had to come check it with my own eyes.”

And, whispering, Materena adds, “It’s good to have a photo… in case Pito gets shoved through the door one day.”

“
Ah oui.
” Josephine is also whispering. “Well, you take the photo. I’ll go back to my work.”

Pito’s nomination form is half-hidden behind a sale notice that says:
Suzuki motorbike for sale—good condition, price negotiable.
Materena rearranges the form so that you can see it better. She takes two steps back, gets her camera out of her pandanus
bag, and immortalizes Pito’s nomination form three times.

Materena thanks Josephine and leaves the office. But, once outside the office, Materena realizes that she can take two more
photos and finish the roll of film. And so she’s back in the office for more photographing, just in case the other photos
don’t turn out clear.

There’s nobody in the front office, and Materena thinks Josephine is in the bathroom. Materena is about to shoot when she
hears Josephine in conversation with somebody. And Materena is very interested in the conversation, since she hears her name.

“. . . Pito’s wife, Materena, she just came in the office to photograph his Employee of the Month nomination and I couldn’t
tell her no, because, Materena, she’s really nice.”

“Josephine!” Materena recognizes the annoying nasal voice of the secretary of the boss, who sounds like she can’t believe
Josephine let Materena take a photo of the Employee of the Month nomination.

The secretary of the boss goes on about how the Employee of the Month nomination means nothing. That the boss only started
it because at the latest seminar he went to, they said not to give slack employees warnings, because that’s a negative approach.
Instead, they advised, give them an Employee of the Month nomination, because that’s a positive approach. The secretary of
the boss says that the Employee of the Month nomination is only supposed to make the slack employee feel special, so that
they perform better. She says, the really exemplary employees, they get a pay raise.

“I know all this.” Josephine sounds a bit annoyed. “But I couldn’t tell Materena that the Employee of the Month nomination
meant nothing.”

The secretary of the boss says that in future the Employee of the Month nomination cannot be photographed. Also, that they
have to be destroyed when the month is over because the boss doesn’t want evidence that they’ve existed.

Materena hurries to take two more photographs of Pito’s Employee of the Month nomination, then she’s out the door in a flash.

The photographs all turn out clear, you can see the words
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
, and Pito’s name right underneath it.

Materena chooses the best one and files it in the latest family album.

T
here is no
this is Materena’s, this is Pito’s
rule around their house.

Their things aren’t divided into Pito’s sofa, Pito’s TV, Materena’s land, Materena’s house, Materena’s fridge, and so on.

But the radio is special to Materena just as the ukulele is special to Pito.

Materena can practice on the ukulele anytime she feels like it. She doesn’t have to ask Pito for his permission. But it’s
very rare she practices on the ukulele, she much prefers to listen to the music on the radio—love songs, in particular.

And, with Materena’s radio, Pito can take it outside anytime he feels like listening to it, he doesn’t need to ask Materena
for her permission. Pito uses the radio a lot. He likes to listen to music when he’s drinking by himself outside, next to
the breadfruit tree. Sometimes Materena calls out to Pito to put the radio back on top of the fridge because she’s in the
mood to listen to music while she’s cooking. But she’s more likely just to ask Pito to turn up the volume and change the channel.
When Pito has had enough of listening to the music on the radio (when there’s no more beer to drink), he puts the radio back
where it belongs, on top of the fridge.

Tonight, Pito wants to take Materena’s radio to his meeting. The radio of his mate who usually supplies the radio at the meetings
is broken and Pito said to his mates that he’d bring the radio to the next meeting—which is tonight.

“Ah, we don’t even ask for permission.” Materena is a bit annoyed with Pito telling her that he’s taking her radio without
even consulting her first. She might have had plans to listen to the radio tonight.

“What, now we need to ask for permission? I never asked for permission to take the radio before.”

“
Oui,
that’s because you only took the radio outside, into the backyard, and not to your meeting place.”

“So I can’t take the radio, is that what you’re telling me?”

Materena tells Pito that there is a special program on the radio tonight, and she promised Mamie to listen to that program.
It’s about religion.

“Ah, now that I need the radio, there’s a program about religion on the radio you have to listen to.” Pito gives Materena
a suspicious look.

Materena repeats that she promised Mamie to listen to that religious program. But Materena is feeling bad and a bit sorry
for Pito. He looks disappointed.

She feels compelled to give him permission to take the radio . . .

Loana bought Materena that radio for her eighteenth birthday. Loana said, “Every woman should have a radio. It’s good to listen
to music when you’re cleaning. It’s good to listen, to listen to music, full stop.” Loana expects that radio to be in perfect
condition for another thirty years, at least. Apparently it wasn’t cheap. She bought it from the hi-fi store and not the secondhand
store.

Materena is in a real dilemma.

But she knows well what happens at the “meetings.” There’s lots of wind talk, there’s lots of drinking, and there’s a high
possibility of one of Pito’s mates spilling beer on her radio, or smashing the radio on the concrete because he got contradicted
once too often, or . . .

Anything could happen to her expensive radio.

“Come on, eh, Pito?” Materena pleads with Pito to understand her situation.

“You can keep your heap-of-rust, heap-of-shit radio,” Pito says.

In fact, he continues, he’d be embarrassed to take that ancient thing to the meeting, his friends would laugh, for certain.
In fact, as of now, Pito doesn’t want anything to do with that heap-of-rust, heap-of-shit radio and he warns Materena if he
ever gets his hi-fi system—when he gets his hi-fi system—she better never ever touch it.

“Fine with me, Pito,” Materena says.

Pito stomps out of the kitchen.

He’s gone.

And Materena thinks, Ah, he’s got a nerve.

Materena goes to have a shower. She’s a bit upset because she doesn’t like to fight with Pito, but, still, he’s got a nerve,
calling her radio a heap of rust.

She hears Pito come back, he must have forgotten something. She calls out, “Pito! You forgot something?” There’s no answer.
“Pito!” Then, just like that, the suspicion that Pito came back to take her radio crosses her mind.

Materena rushes out of the bathroom hanging on to the towel and with soap foam in her hair. There’s no radio on top of the
fridge. She rushes outside in time to catch Pito running away with her radio on his shoulder.

“Pito, my radio!”

He laughs, and disappears around a corner.

Now Materena is in a bad mood. Pito is going to get it. Yes, she’s going to blast his ears when he comes back. Her radio is
not a heap of rust. He wants to show it off to his mates. And he’s going to tell his mates that the radio is his. Materena
goes back to her shower.

And now, sitting on the sofa, she’s got Pito’s ukulele and the scissors… but she can’t bring herself to cut the strings.
Materena puts the ukulele back in the bedroom and goes back into the kitchen for something to eat and do while she waits for
Pito.

Pito comes home at about eleven o’clock, but there’s no radio.

Materena springs to her feet. “Where’s my radio!”

“Eh, calm yourself,” Pito says, “I’m going to find the
titoi
who stole your radio.”

“My radio got stolen!” Materena can’t believe what she’s hearing. Well, yes, and here’s the story, which Pito swears to be
true.

“Why do you need to swear your story is true?”

Because Pito knows Materena’s not going to believe his story.

Pito went to his meeting, and his mates were really happy he brought Materena’s radio along. One of the mates had brought
his brand-new tape of Bob Marley—the best of the best. And, thanks to Materena’s radio, the clan was able to listen to the
best of the best of Bob Marley.

After his fourth beer, Pito decided to hit the road, he wanted to sleep. It’d been a hard day at work. The mates were a bit
upset at Pito leaving early, as they were really enjoying the best of the best of Bob Marley, but when a man has to go home,
a man has to go home. But halfway to the house, Pito stopped by a tree to have a little bit of a lie-down, his legs just couldn’t
keep on walking. He put the radio under his head to make it like a pillow and rested his eyes. But he fell into a very deep
sleep, and while he was sleeping his very deep sleep, someone without a conscience took the radio from under his head and
replaced it with a brick. Pito felt nothing.

It’s only when he woke up that he found out about the replacement. At first, he thought his eyes were hallucinating. But then
he realized it was truly a brick he was seeing and not the radio.

So here he is, without the radio.

Pito’s story sounds like a whole lot of inventing to Materena. She shouts at Pito that if something else happened to her radio,
he better confess, because she doesn’t believe one word of that whole lot of inventing.

But Pito swears his story is nothing but the truth. He swears it on his grandmother’s head. Materena has to believe Pito—you
don’t swear on your beloved grandmother’s head if you’re telling a whole lot of inventing.

“I told you not to take my radio,” Materena says, “and now look. I told you.”

Materena is devastated. And at the same time relieved.

That someone, he could have been worse than a someone without a conscience who robs the sleepers, he could have been an assassin.
He could have smashed Pito’s head with the brick. Just the thought of it makes Materena shiver.

“What’s this sleeping by the side of the road like you’ve got no house?” she says.

Pito and Materena go to bed.

It takes a while for Materena to fall asleep. She thinks about her radio. She’s had it for fourteen years. She’s sure going
to miss her radio.

My poor radio, eh.

It is now three days since Materena’s radio was stolen, and here’s one in front of the Chinese store, next to a pandanus bag
and a rolled mat. Materena walks past, and into the store. She takes a shopping basket from the bench, but… she’s going
to check on that radio outside again.

That radio looked a bit too familiar.

Materena puts the basket back on the bench and goes outside. She stands about one yard away from the radio, she doesn’t want
people to think that she’s plotting to steal it.

That radio sure looks familiar.

It’s the same size as Materena’s radio. Eh, it doesn’t mean it’s her radio. There are thousands of radios like hers floating
around the island. But when you’ve been looking at something for fourteen years, you should be able to recognize it in a rapid
second. And it seems to Materena that she’s recognizing her radio.

Someone taps her on the shoulder, and Materena turns around. It’s her cousin Giselle. The cousins kiss each other on the cheeks.