Frederick and Geraldine
Chapter 12 – Have a Secret

(Geraldinewas talking with Frederick.

Geraldinesaid,)

''I thinkyou need a new community to live; our marriage

Is, somehow,atypical; '' '' you're a paradox; you're afraid

Of theunknown, but these extremes are all you cherish.''

''Life onthis ship is an extreme, where we cry to God for aid.''

(Fredericksaid,)

''I know thesuffering you had endured after losing your

Fatherhindered your life, but if you want to start overcoming

Your fears,it's helpful to understand that this love can cure

Your woe; ''''I need a family and this happiness becoming

(Geraldinecontinued,)

A part of mylife; I want everything to be well done,

Andtherefore, to avoid the complications. You know me

Well as ahusband and you're more responsible than anyone

I've met inmy life; '' ''You need harmony, which helps you be

(Frederickcontinued,)

Dynamicenough to maintain a cheerful atmosphere

Around meeven in extreme situations; you have

An instinct,a sense of premonition and, my dear,

Our childwill be dreamy and pensive as you; Yahveh

(Frederickcontinued,)

Blessed thismarriage; sometimes, it's hard to live with your irony

When youargue and try to influence my final decisions

Whileexploiting my weaknesses and my love; it's funny

That I'mheedless and confused by my own new illusions.

(Frederickcontinued,)

You payattention very closely to everything that

Happensaround us; '' ''I think we were a little unlucky

Because we'vestarted this business with a few money, but

We ensuredthe protection of life though our ship broke down quickly.

(Geraldinecontinued,)

I appreciatethat you value the life and pay for

The healingof the employees instead of replacing them.

You aresensitive and good and this is why I love you more.

The childreacts when you're near him; he plays a transparent game.

(Geraldinecontinued,)

You succeedprecisely due to your dignity; your friends

Do notbetray you, but help you a lot; '' ''I like the teamwork

Made ofexperienced friends, because friendship never ends.

I didn'texperience sailing, but this issue I could burke.’’

(Geraldinesaid,)

''I think wecouldn't avoid this implacable destiny.’’

‘’You mustcease to believe in predictions and premonitions

And start toaccept the consequence and its brevity

That followsfrom your reasoning when you want high positions.''

(Frederickreplied. Geraldine said,)

''I start toget angry when someone is lying to me,

But,generally, I'm very much like Maya; '' ''You're quite

Skepticalwhile needing compelling arguments; to be

Like shemeans to accept yourself as you are without a fight.

(Frederickcontinued,)

You'redramatic and seductive because of your jealousy,

Which isunbearable because of your prejudices

That hurtme; '' ''I let my regret embrace your melancholy.

I flee fromdanger and complications; '' ''I'm not a Judas.

(RepliedFrederick.)

You don'thave the courage to change your life and you want me to

Make aneffort to change the destiny of our family.

When youhave to cope with bad situations, you prefer to go

Back to thelife you had lived though it had meant agony.

(Frederickcontinued,)

You could bea victim of an abuse or of a forced marriage.

As a wife,you should respect some unwritten laws that were

Primitiveand barbaric when your man looked to discourage.

You needthis match, but you don't know the vintage it can confer.''

(Frederickwas talking with Geraldine.

Fredericksaid,)

''My lovefor you will last forever; '' ''Our love must be strong

In thiscrowded emptiness of the wars around us.

You're adreamer; '' ''I want to secure your life from wrong

And to doeverything possible to make you be happy; thus,

(Frederickcontinued,)

I'll be surethat our child will grow up to discover his skills

And talents;'' ''He will be a successful man like you.

You're agood trader, but you take risks because you like these thrills.''

''I want tomake money to buy a galley for my crew.

(Frederickcontinued,)

Spendingless money than we make is essential to our

Financialsecurity; '' '' We have the responsibility

To providewhat is necessary for our life to grow in power.''

''To buy toomany gowns and shoes you have an ability.

(Frederickcontinued,)

You've madethis carrack be a luxury one before

Looking likea wreck; '' '' I wanted rich passengers to embark

On our ship;this way we could earn money; '' ''My dear, it's war,

But there isabsolutely nothing wrong with this spark

(Frederickcontinued,)

Of interestas long as you don’t go overboard.

Keep thisunnecessary spending to a minimum.

Thisemployee holding multiple jobs is all we can afford.

I've spentall my money on this carrack, causing pandemonium.''

(Geraldinesaid,)

''Forexample, Maya is an excellent cooker and a healer

At the sametime; '' my love for you is passionate and true.

I've marriedyou without your parents' consent; I was a reeler

While notknowing if I could have a future together with you,

(Frederickcontinued,)

But I wantedthis family; '' '' You were well aware

Of theships' condition and progress, but you weren't conscious

Of theimportance of a fire on this wooden ship; in despair,

You've spentthe money for food and fuel without my consent.

(Geraldinecontinued,)

That moneyhad been given by the passengers to embark.

Now,everything is gone; all remained is almost nothing.''

''I had tomerchandise and resist the attacks; '' ''A strong remark!

I rememberthat you sold some jewelry to buy something.''

(Frederickreplied,)

''I rememberthat I've tried to face your jealousy

Because Ilove you very much; I remember that I was

In dangerand I had to go on and face our destiny

As nothingwas happening; our hope is stuck underneath its claws

(Frederickcontinued,)

And I don’tremember if you took time out to support me

During anyrather difficult day; you think like a slave

Lackingresponsibility while you want to be

An Italianwoman; '' '' I open my heart to crave

(Geraldinecontinued,)

That theseslaves lack the ability to run their own lives

And aretherefore happy with a system where their lives are run

By others;'' '' glad to know they're happy as husbands and wives.

There willbe no slave to row on this ship under the sun.''

(Geraldinesaid,)

''Some ofyour sailors used much more freedom than I did, ''

''They werepunished for what they did wrong; '' '' This latest mistake

Could leadus to death; '' ''I was caught in a trap, God forbid! ''

''You had nosailing experience; some dreamers must be awake.

(Geraldinecontinued,)

You trustedpeople too much and verified them too little.

''These piratesfight for a freedom that does not exist

While usingall kinds of scams, while their life is a riddle,

While notbeing honest, and while hunting in the devil's mist.

(Frederickcontinued,)

The fightfor an alleged brotherhood, equality,

And freedompromoted by these pirates is different

From anyhonest fight because they don't have dignity.

They destroyits ideal sense while being indifferent.’’

(Geraldinesaid,)

''Why do yousay this? '' '' Some pirates accused me of supporting

A repressivepolicy against slavery while providing

Some groupswith weapons and they still didn't stop annoying

Me becausethey wanted to know my secrets; my suffering

(Frederickcontinued,)

Fellowscouldn't benefit from moral support; '' ''Tell me,

Some peoplelike the aunt of Ivan could live better than

It waspermissible; she had to pay bills; she wasn't free.''

''She didn'twant to be enslaved, beaten and raped by her man.

(Frederickcontinued,)

It seemedthat this situation had been abnormal for her

Until sheturned the idea upside down; she couldn't deal

With all herproblems besides running away from the star

Of the poorvoices; '' '' so contrary to her ideal

(Geraldinecontinued,)

Was thereality of Ivan's mother that she was

Ashamed tocontinue her life, although she loved Ivan

Very much;her dignity was destroyed; I suffer because

I left mymother to marry you; no friendship is better than

(Geraldinecontinued,)

Therelationship between a mother and her daughter.

This is whyI appreciate the friendship between

Francescaand Chiara; '' '' these things don't seem to matter

When Chiarais not sincere; what happened could have been foreseen.''

(Geraldinesaid,)

'' I thinkthat Chiara tries to compensate the absence

Of themissing mother; both Chiara and Carla are strong

Women andI've learned a lot from them, because, in silence,

Theysuffered for saving their husbands they wanted to belong

(Geraldinecontinued,)

Whileprotecting their children. My family must be as strong

As myparents taught me to be; '' ‘‘the women always say

They sufferin a marriage while being humble all lifelong,

But theywant to prove that, without them, their men may go astray.''

(Fargoknocked at the door and gave them a letter, which was sent by the governor toinform them that the missing gold had been found.)