SPARKS 5

We cross the Millennium Bridge. Daniel walks ahead of us; he’s so smart and curious of the world. Emily holds my hand very tight.
“You’ll like the place we’re going to. It is very big and you will feel like a princess in her castle or in her power station”
She smiles at me. We enter the Tate Modern and get to the elevator. Julie’s waiting for us at the restaurant on Level 7. The view of London is breathtaking. She has presents for the little Barlows “You don’t have to buy stuff to them; it won’t help you conquering their father’s heart. It’s in a safe-box, believe me”
“I’m not listening to you. Since I am going to be their step-mom soon I thought it would be nice to have a good start. But you are not giving good feelings. So I just fired you. You are not longer in the cast of my day-dream movie, you evil step-sister”
“Only three days ago I was your best friend ever, could I get some extra friendship credit if I tell you I met two more members of the band?”
“Really? Which ones? How are they?”
“The tall hotties, and they are human”
“Why do I even bother, why? Back to real life for a second. Have you called Peter back? He told Gordon, who told me, and I am now telling you he liked you a lot. He left 3 messages in your answering machine”
“Peter, the most boring man alive you mean?”
In the meantime the kids are chasing each other around the empty restaurant.
“He was not so bad”
“Excuse me? The day God was giving out sense of humor he was last in the queue and went back home empty handed …”
“What?”
“I said the funny thing about God ...”
“I know you; you have your ‘mumble-mumble’ look”
I pull my hair behind my ears “I have this thing in my stomach. Like butterflies. And I don’t think it is good to have living things inside your body, unless you’re pregnant of course”
She has her arm crossed, stomping her foot “I’m getting married in 5 weeks”
“…When you showed me the picture of the band, you said something about someone not longer being available… who were you talking about?”
“Who do you hope I am not talking about?”
“No one, just wondering”
“Liar liar pants on fire. Who is it? If you don’t tell me I’ll keep my big mouth shout.”
“Fine, I don’t care”
I walk to the kids and take them towards the elevator, “we need to culture up the day. We’re going to the Material Gesture section on level 3.”
Daniel pulls my dress, I lean to him and he whispers “what is a Maternal Gesture?”
“I have no clue, the word in Italian is ‘BOH!’. We’ll have to find out together”
The doors of the elevator are about to close when Julie manages to sneak in. “You win, I’ll come down with you and we’ll talk”
“If you want” *piece of cake, it is true: curiosity killed the cat*
I smile watching Daniel and Emily looking at the paintings keeping their heads upside down.
“So, Gary is married but you know that, Mark has a girlfriend and a son Elwood – and you don’t fancy short men - Howard is father of two daughters, Grace and Lola. They have different mothers; Lola’s mother is his current girlfriend. She lives in Germany I think. As far as we know Jason is single and gorgeous. Even though he’ll probably win the award for worst haircut ever!””
“Oh”
She turns her head toward me, “Is it a happy oh or a disappointed oh? Hard to tell”
“No point in lying to you, extremely, utterly, absolutely disappointed oh” I sigh
“No, no, no, he’s trouble, I know a girl who had a fling with him back in the days, the man is not your type, believe me”
“Another bump along my sad, lonely road.” I sigh “Can we talk about the weather, like any other Britons?”
As I reply she starts singing “It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...”
“You are right” I shake my shoulders and arms like runners do before a race, breathe very deep and say “right. He’s out of my system. I apologize. I lost it for a moment. I need dark chocolate now. and try to understand where all went wrong
“I know what went wrong, you need to stop falling in love with gay man”
“Julie!”
“You need to get out there and find a single, caring, possibly straight man” she pushes me toward the large window so I can look at the landscape “somewhere, inside one of those buildings there’s the man you are supposed to marry.”
“The man I was supposed to marry in San bloody Francisco with my ex-best friend!”
“That is all in the past. Focus. Do I have to remind you there’s a war out there? London is the world’s capital of single women and you’re not getting any younger either. If you don’t start looking for your man, somebody else will find him. Do you really want to live your life knowing another woman is married to your husband?”
“If the Italian government passes the bill on gay marriage there is a fat chance another man will be married to my husband. You are crazy. I fear all the abstraction in display here is playing horrible tricks to your weak mind. Aren’t you supposed to make me feel better? If you are it’s not working”
“I want you to know, it’s not over, your love life is not over”
“I’m officially depressed”
“Look at me, I’m serious. You need to keep looking”
“I want to change the subject”
“I’m allowing you a small break then. Let’s talk about the most upcoming event in Britain. My birthday is in two days”
“It’s not like I can forget about it. You left post-its everywhere, besides Gordon decided I volunteered to organize the party. You’re in very safe hands”
“You know what the perfect present would be…”
“Forget about it. I cannot ask Gary to lap dance for you”