Free Breadfruit by Célestine Vaite Page A

remembers to give you a gift. In Materena’s opinion, Pito should have accepted the colorful shirt that she
     bought him with such good intentions. He could just wear it at home if he’s so concerned about his image.
    Now, standing in front of the mirror, Materena asks herself if that colorful shirt is making her look like a
raerae.
No woman wants to be mistaken for a man.
    “
Alors?
” she says out loud. “You look like a woman or a man?”
    Later, Cousin Rita, visiting, reassures Materena. “Cousin, you have nothing to worry about. You look like a woman because
     you
are
a woman, and you are beautiful in that shirt, like in anything else you wear.”

New Bed—New Beginning
    M aterena is making the bed. It’s an old bed and it came along with Pito because Materena’s bed was single-size, meant for one
     body. Materena had never felt the desire to know the history of Pito’s bed, but Rita came to visit today and told Materena
     that she’d bought a new mattress.
    Well, it’s not really a
new
mattress Rita bought. It didn’t come from the mattress store. Rita bought it at the secondhand store. But even if it’s not
     brand-new, Rita said it looks brand-new. According to Rita, the person who owned the mattress before must have only used it
     for a week.
    In fact, it’s not really a
mattress
Rita bought. It’s more a Japanese-style bed. It’s low and a bit hard to sleep on, but Coco will get used to it. Coco says
     he misses sleeping in his old bed, but Rita likes the new bed better than she liked the old bed.
    Here’s the story.
    Rita knew Coco had had lots of women before she caught his heart, and these women had never really bothered Rita until Coco’s
     mama said to her last week, “Ah, my son, he had lots of women. They used to sneak into my son’s bedroom, those women.” Apparently
     Coco’s mama had heard the
clap-clap
noise of the high-heel shoes. These women didn’t come barefoot.
    Coco’s mama cackled and Rita cackled along. Rita’s cackle was louder. And she said to Coco’s mama, “Eh, I know all about sneaking
     into a man’s bedroom. I’ve done lots of sneaking myself. Ah, all that sneaking us women do.”
    Coco’s mama looked at Rita and Rita could tell that she didn’t believe her story about sneaking into men’s bedrooms. Everybody
     in Coco’s family knew Rita was a virgin when she met Coco. Coco had told his mama about Rita being a virgin and his mama had
     made sure to pass this information on to the coconut radio. Coco’s mama was very proud her son caught a virgin.
    She’s always talking about Rita’s virginity. One day Rita asked her, “Why are you always talking about my virginity?” And
     Coco’s mama replied, “It’s so rare, that’s why I’m always talking about your virginity.”
    Rita wishes she hadn’t been a virgin when she met Coco.
    Anyway, back to the mattress story.
    Within two days of Rita finding out about all those women sneaking into Coco’s bedroom, she developed an allergy to the mattress
     Coco got from his mother for his seventeenth birthday.
    Rita tried to fight her allergy. It’s a bit silly to be allergic to a mattress just because other women used it before you,
     it’s only a mattress and there’s a sheet on it. Rita tried to be sensible about that mattress, but it was no use. There were
     just too many women linked to that mattress.
    Rita revealed her allergy to Coco and he roared with laughter. In his opinion, it was months since another woman had slept
     on that mattress, so it was clean now. Rita’s sweat and Rita’s perfume had cleaned it.
    Yes, true, but still Rita’s allergy got worse.
    In the beginning, Rita’s allergy was a general physical discomfort like you get when the mattress is too hard or too soft,
     but within days Rita’s allergy transformed into a rash all over her body.
    Rita rubbed cream on her skin to no effect. She slept on the mat for one night (Coco commanded her to stop being ridiculous)
     and the rash