Page 53 of The Explorer
Coming over, Helmes leaned his hip against the counter and studied me with interest. “Is it true you are hiding from yourpapa?”
“Who?”
“Papameans father,” Banni said.
With an offended frown, I spoke in a firm voice. “Who said that?”
“There’ve been articles and a ton of people are talking about the two Northlanders living here. Except for the Motlanders teaching us English, we’ve never had outsiders come to live here.”
“And what are these articles saying about us?”
Helmes didn’t hesitate when he said, “That women in the Northlands are being controlled by men and forced into a life of servitude.”
My nose wrinkled. “Servitude. That’s bullshit.”
Since Banni didn’t look surprised, I reckoned that he’d heard these outrageous rumors before.
Indiana stood watching us and interjected, “Maybe it’s because you French don’t understand how marriages work. It’s not a slave contract.”
Helmes smiled. “I’m glad to hear it because truth be told, I did find it hard to believe that any woman would allow a man to decide for her. Ah, but I probably should have known it wasn’t true when I read about the absurd sex rule.”
“What sex rule?” I asked.
“Argh.” Helmes waved his hand through the air. “It was something bizarre about the Northlander women beingforcéeto have sex with only one man for the rest of her life and to beobligée… ehh… I mean obligated to have children with him and no one else.”
Indiana and I exchanged a look and then he spoke in a strong voice. “What’s absurd about that? When I marry, my woman and I will be faithful to each other and we’ll have a family.”
Helmes laughed as if he thought Indiana was joking, but when none of us joined his laughter, he stopped, and his face fell. “Oh.”
Indiana carried on. “No woman is forced. It’s a choice she makes.”
“That’s right. Besides, a marriage contract goes both ways,” I explained. “My husband won’t sleep with other women either.”
“Butwhy?Pourquoi?” Helmes looked completely baffled, as if we’d told him we’d decided to eat one specific dish for the rest of our lives.
Banni patted Helmes’s shoulder. “It makes as little sense to me as you, my friend, but from what I understand it’s a matter of tradition.”
Helmes crossed his arms. “So, it’s true then? Yourpapais forcing you to sign a contract with a man back home and you’re hiding here to avoid becoming that man’s property?”
“I’m not afraid of my father and I’ll never be some man’s property. When I marry, my husband will be a man ofmychoice.”
Uncrossing his arms, Helmes’ tone turned lighter. “At least we know that in case your husband doesn’t treat you well, you candéfendre.” He made hand movement to imitate fighting.
“Hmm. Are you suggesting that we Nmen are violent toward our women?” Indiana asked him with his brow raised.
“No, no. All I’m saying is that from what I heard, you’re bothcombattants magnifiques.”
“That’s right. They’re both great fighters.” Banni must have picked up on the annoyance in Indiana’s tone and wisely changed the subject to talk about the items we’d found and brought to the repair shop.
Helmes cracked a few jokes that made Indiana and me soften to him after his attack on our culture. One of them fell completely flat in translation from French to English, but the way Helmes was laughing at his own joke was infectious and made us laugh with him.
“Are you going to the club this week?” Banni asked him when we were wrapping up. “Indiana is fighting three men again on Thursday night.”
“Oui, I heard, but the list was full.”
“Then come with us. We’ll get you in,” Banni offered.
“Oh,oui?” Helmes lit up. “That would befantastique.”
