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Hudson
Amy said, “The contract is written in Spanish, and he insists he would have to speak with you as well.”
I responded, “In Spanish?”
Amy replied, “You can’t blame them. We established that we’re a multilingual establishment. You do know how huge this will be for the company.”
I asked, “Have you passed it through the translators? They’ve been the ones liaising with them from the start. How come they’re now asking to speak with me?”
Amy urged, “Hudson, just talk to them. They’ve got translators will communicate whatever they’re saying to you. All these are just for formality’s sake.”
I relented, “Fine, whatever. Set up the meeting for noon.”
Amy inquired, “Are you coming into the office to have the meeting?”
I chuckled. “Lucky try. My one-week rendezvous isn’t quite over yet, sister.”
It’s already been three days since my wife’s memorial. I was getting ready to get June to school. She was completely recovered now and seemed eager to go back. Maria had packed up her lunch and brought it to me in the living room.
“Thank you, Maria,” I said.
I drove June to school and returned, settling for a cup of coffee. Madison was watching a TV series she loved. I had listened to the actions in the movie a couple of times, so I essentially knew the plot.
“This is gearing toward a happily-ever-after,” I blurted, almost unconsciously.
Madison turned to look at me. She didn’t think my eyes had been on the movie as well, mostly because I sat at the dining table with my laptop screen staring me in the face, pretending to work.
“Yeah. Don’t we all just love happy endings?” She had a broad smile on her face as she returned her eyes to the series.
“Well, maybe. That’s what we all hope for. But I just think it’s very unrealistic and cliché that virtually all movies, especially the romantic ones, follow that narrative. I mean, happy endings are cute, but in the real world, things are a lot more complex. There are a lot more tragic endings. I mean, consider the rate of divorce prevalent in society today. It’s almost become like a norm. Then there’s maternal mortality, separations, and what have you. My fear is that these movies might, in the long run, make it difficult for the upcoming generation to learn to accept that things could go wrong too—that love and relationships are hardly ever rosy until the very end. I think happily-ever-after is just a figment of our imagination—something we coined to give us goosebumps and get us feeling ecstatic and hopeful,” I explained.
Madison had her focus on me now, absorbing my idea. She let out a deep sigh as soon as I was done. “In many ways, your logic is correct. But I would like to point out a few things, too. One of which is that movies are fictional—it’s scripted. What this means is that in as much as they try to make it relatable to a great extent, it’s not exactly real. Now, I wouldn’t know if you’ve come across a vampire or a werewolf in your lifetime before. Or perhaps you’ve got one under your payroll?”
“It had better not be you,” I teased.
“And I don’t get to age? Yes, please!” She chuckled and then continued, “My point is this, though—just like we’ve never seen a physical manifestation of these creatures in the real world as we know it, it doesn’t stop us from enjoying movies solely built around that narrative, does it? I mean, I’m sure you watch a lot of those kinds of movies.”
“Thoroughly guilty.”
“So you see? I don’t think they’re trying to paint the narrative of a happily-ever-after without hiccups or challenges on the way. I think the idea is to show that when love is present, it’s easy to scale through any obstacle and come out strong. It paints the picture of happiness being a choice. So, irrespective of your flaws or mine, we could choose to love each other regardless and be happy with the fact that we get to spend a lifetime with someone whom our hearts call out to, however long or short the lifetime might be. So, it doesn’t rule out maternal mortality rates because it’s clear knowledge that death is inevitable. They do not rule out divorces—they only bring to your understanding that the option of divorce can be avoided if only we choose to see or do things differently.”
“So, in the case of abuse or infidelity, isn’t divorce justified? How can there be a happily-ever-after?”
“In the case of abuse, more often than not, the person needs help from an expert therapist. There are a lot of factors that can make people tilt to that defense mechanism as they choose to see it. But it also begs the question—all through the courting phase, how does one not realize that his or her partner is abusive or has such tendencies? It only means you weren’t paying attention well enough. On the other hand, I believe that infidelity can be addressed through proper and effective communication. Why would you want to cheat on me if you truly love me? What haven’t we been doing right? Was I unavailable and consequently left you starved of affection? We could work that out, whatever the case may be. If there isn’t a reason for infidelity and you do it with reckless abandon, then there’s a possibility that love is inexistent. And in that case, there’ll be nothing to salvage.”
I smiled at her, impressed. I had no further arguments to put up. Perhaps I did, but I felt my ego had been bruised enough for one day in a way that challenged my thought patterns.
She smirked as I gave a note of surrender.
“You may carry on with your movie now.”
We had scrambled eggs shortly after, and I played some music with my headset while waiting for my meeting. As soon as it was twelve, I took off the headset and joined the meeting. Madison was done with her movie now. I made sure to inform both she and Maria that I was having a meeting so no one interrupted abruptly or walked by my line of sight.
The translator did a good job translating on both ends, for myself and the Spanish businessmen I was on a call with. I caught a glimpse of Madison staring at me a few times. I imagined it would have been cool to have some knowledge of Spanish that I could razzle her with.
The meeting was over soon, and I shut off my laptop, glad to be free from work responsibilities once again. I called Amy right away.
“I’ve had my talk with them. Instruct Julia to send the contract to my email now so I can get it signed since it’s already been vetted.” Julia was my secretary, the newest addition to the company after the previous one moved to Australia to further her education and be with her husband permanently.
