Non fiction

Happiness

Can you imagine a six-person, three-generation family, a cat and a dog under one roof? No? Well, I can because this is my world. And this is what my family looks like: my mother - she is beautiful, she pretends that she does not work, but she has things to do; my father - a mechanic, who works on ships, he is passionate about electrical innovations; Granny - she is the mainstay of the family and a magician in the kitchen…when she is not standing in front of the easel; Granddaddy - our admirer and a professional captain on a ship, he likes to bring home many strange objects...he tells great stories; my four year old sister Matylda - she does not go to kindergarten, but she attends English classes and, thanks to that, she knows the names of the colours in English and not in Polish; and my animals: my dog, Lady - a small, black terrier, who smiles and loves to sleep in bed; and my cat, Charlie - a big gray cat, who only thinks how to get on the kitchen table and grab something to eat. And me, a normal twenty year old girl, a first-year student of English Literature.

    On a Saturday morning every normal person knows that you lie in. But in my house there is someone who wakes up before 7 o’clock…

    – Mummy I want to watch a cartoon and drink something.

    – Tell Daddy…

    – No, you turn on the television and Daddy will make me something to drink.

    A small dictator…at every time and in every place. During breakfast I took the last radish…

    – Mummy, she took my radish!

    – I will give you another one.

    – Will you get it back?

    – Yes…

    – Mummy please, do this for me…

Somebody would think that it is easy to give ground to a kid. I assure you that it is not so easy. But at least I get the chance to laugh. At her sayings when she is discovering her Americas…when snooping on Dad when he is, hmm…doing a certain action in the toilet. Dad is concentrating, but it’s really hard when Matylda is standing next to him. After a minute, she says: ‘it does not work…’ When Dad finally starts to do the certain action, Matylda says with a smile on her face: ‘Ooo! It works!’ And the whole family is happy, not that everything is OK with Dad’s body, but simply because this child is great.

    But now it is time for a phone call from my granddad. I have the permission to pick up the second earphone…

    – When I was in Israel I went to a bazaar and I admired the statuettes of Holy Mother. They were made from gold and silver…

    – For sure they were expensive.

    – Yes, even very, but I bargained and the seller dropped half the price.

    – And then what?

    – I told him, that I don’t have so much money, but I will next time, then I will buy this bijou.  

    – And what did the man say?

    – He despaired.

    – Have you remembered about Matylda?

    –Tell her that she will get a skunk, which sings in Russian. And I have dragonfly earrings for Marta. And I miss her.

    My granddad always says something that warms my heart.

    I wonder what time it is…Oh! It’s 6p.m., in a minute I will probably hear…

    – Muuuuuummy, I want to sleep!

Matylda is going to sleep. Now it’s time for me to go to my sanctuary - my room. There is nothing like Saturday. I turn on the radio, set it to my favourite radio station: now I can hear my music. ‘It’s time to go to bed’ I say to myself. I say goodnight. I am so tired, I fall asleep immediately.

Marta Wisniewska