RED: A Love Story [Featured List]

Part 1: White 18 - A shadow of doubt

On Saturday, Marisa woke up one hour earlier to study and went to school for her practice exam, an entanglement of cruel physics formulas that got her more dispirited than hopeful about her performance. When she got back home with Valentina, she immediately sensed something wrong: the TV was off. In the apartment hovered a dense silence, so dense it was like a living creature breathing within the four walls. The mother sat on the usual blue sofa- this time, reading the Bible.

"Very nice," she declared, wounded, closing the book. Her mouth, no longer used to smiling, curved downward like a waning moon in a somber sky.

"What was it?" Marisa looked around and frowned. "Did I forget the light on by any chance?"

"Don't you have something to tell me?"

The mother's brown irises sparked for a moment while she tapped her fingers on the brown Bible resting by her side. Toc, toc, toc... From the kitchen came the sudden sigh of the pressure cooker and a waft of lentils. Marisa sighed too.

"Why don't you say what the problem is at once? Did I leave a wet towel on the bed? The milk outside the fridge?" she asked.

Toc, toc, toc...

Valentina looked from one to the other. Tension crept into the room under the vigilant eye of a congregation of Czech crystal miniatures. Marisa grew impatient and crossed her arms. A dramatic pause ensued, with welling eyes and a certain calculus exaggeration when the mother raised the accusing finger at her.

"I heard that yesterday you were in the lobby making out with a man old enough to be your father. What the heck is going on, Marisa?"

Marisa eyed her, discomfited. How had the mother found out about her secret? Then it dawned on her: Ms. Rosaura! she thought, furious.

"Who told you that? Was it the gossiper neighbor from the ground floor?" Marisa pretended to be offended. "That's an exaggeration. I wasn't making out with anyone. A school mate gave me a lift and kissed me goodbye on the cheek, that's all."

"So Ms. Rosaura was exaggerating, huh?"

"For Christ sake, Mom. That woman is senile," Marisa ventured, but she could see the skepticism all over her mother's face.

"Do you think I'm stupid or what?" she vociferated, red with indignation. "What have I done to deserve this? I try to give you a good education and this is what happens. You're really a lost cause."

Valentina stepped in, assuring her it was all a misunderstanding. The mother's thin eyebrows joined in a scowl and she hissed:

"And you. You're a lost cause too!"

"Will you stop it already? I can't stand your criticism anymore." Marisa became exasperated, now as red as her mother, while Valentina paled. "What if I am involved with an older man, what's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal? I want to know who's this man you're seeing."

"It's none of your business. You're gonna drive him away like you did with Louis."

"You bet I'm gonna drive him away, mark my words."

The mother stamped on the rug flowers and rolled her hands into fists. The speech that Marisa knew by heart unfolded. The mother talked about the ex-fiancée who had cheated on her and practically abandoned her at the altar. She reviewed the stab on the back, the humiliation, the shattered heart. Moreover, there was the selfishness of men, carnality, the stench of cigar mixed with cheap perfume. How could Marisa be so naïve that she didn't realize an older man would only want to take advantage of the situation? She needed a nice boy her own age, preferably catholic.