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<strong>Buddhas</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Bikinis</strong> 38<br />
‛Now let me be straight. Your father, for all his faults, <strong>and</strong> I know every one of<br />
them, has a good heart. He wants the best for his family; for you <strong>and</strong> Maria. You have a<br />
great future, but what I don’t underst<strong>and</strong> is why you want to sabotage all that?’<br />
‛Sabotage?’<br />
‛By getting mixed up with this Japanese girl? Take my advice - marry any girl you<br />
want, as long as she’s Greek - they expect to be disappointed.’<br />
His massive h<strong>and</strong>s rested on the armrests of the chair <strong>and</strong> I admired the casualness<br />
with which he held a cigar between his fingers. He had expensive tastes, <strong>and</strong> an exquisite<br />
sense of the sophisticated as the 18-carat diamond ring on his left finger attested to.<br />
‛I wanted to marry your mother you know, but she said she didn’t love me. Thank<br />
God for her wisdom. I would have made her very unhappy.’<br />
I frowned, ‛More than she is now?’<br />
‛We would have killed each other,’ he laughed. ‛There’s only one thing worse than<br />
a smart women, <strong>and</strong> that’s a fiery one!’<br />
I couldn’t believe he was talking about the same woman who I had never seen raise<br />
her voice to anyone, except my father.<br />
He looked away, as if recollecting some fond memories, ‛The only problems in life<br />
are the ones that money can’t fix, <strong>and</strong> those problems are thorns you just learn to live with.<br />
Sex, money, power; these things mean nothing. Two things money can’t buy - love or life. I<br />
believe only in family, in blood. You are a kind boy, so do not confuse emotions with<br />
compassion or love with loyalty. Bleating, attentive flattery can dull your heart to true<br />
affection. The only reliable feeling is action. A commitment is not for an afternoon or<br />
week, but a lifetime. Do not bend to compromise. Judge no man except by what he does,<br />
for in the test of time, the sins of the many make crime a legal tender. Help only the ones<br />
who help themselves. And for those who cross us, we have to punish them to warn the<br />
future.’<br />
He sounded like Chairman Mao on crack.<br />
Uncle Bart then relit his cigar <strong>and</strong> leaned back, coughing. ‛Your father knows these<br />
things but he’s stubborn like a mule. He thinks he can save people by fixing their ills. Such<br />
naivety! People cannot change - they are either dust or diamonds. And he thinks politics<br />
was his idea.’<br />
He leaned forward in his chair <strong>and</strong> looked me right in the eye. ‛He hasn't a clue!<br />
Your father knows nothing about nothing, but he loves you. Believe me when I say this - I<br />
know he has been tough on you, but he does love you.’
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