Bimba_I miei nonni materni: Grand'mère (3 bis di 7)

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Written by Dorikri 

Grand'mère con i suoi due cugini (le maglie a righe)
Grand'mère with her two cousins

Prima di continuare con il racconto, voglio aprire la pagina dedicata a Suzon Paris e alla sua di storia.
Come già accennato nel paragrafo precedente, a Nizza, Suzon viveva in un vecchio appartamento con una vecchia madre vedova ed una vecchia zia vedova.
L'appartamento oltre che vecchio era buio, tetro, arredato con dei mobili imponenti, pesanti, in legno scuro.
Pareti ricoperte di tendaggi vecchi di anni, anzi decenni, sbiaditi, logori  e...scuri!
La madre di Suzon, Tante Lilly, aveva sposato un certo Signor Paris, sifilitico, che le trasmise la malattia. Ovviamente Suzon si ritrovò questo bel regalo e non le restava dunque che crescere, ed invecchiare, da zitella, nel vecchio termine dispregiativo di un tempo.
Inoltre questo gentiluomo si era giocato tutto ai dadi, alle carte ed ai cavalli lasciando le due donne in un appartamento vecchio, buio, tetro... e senza un soldo bucato!
Per la fortuna di madre e figlia, qualcuno venne loro in aiuto: Laure Grasset, la sorella di Edmond, padre di Grand'mère.
Laure era vedova di un Signor Rinck, stra-ricco, a cui aveva dato due figli maschi: Jacques e Jean anch'essi ...celibi!!
Lei, Laura, li aveva così ben legata a sè da non permettergli mai di incontrare o frequentare una signorina.
Tante Lilly era una sorella del Signor Rinck.
Se Suzon dovette fare vita ritirata, per i suoi cugini fu tutto diverso.
I Rinck erano birrai a Lione da diverse generazioni.
Jacques e Jean erano cugini di primo grado di Grand'mère e di conseguenza hanno sempre fatto parte della famiglia.
Da quando ricordo, Jacques e Jean erano spesso per casa dovunque abitassimo.
Inoltre Jacques, fu anche padrino di battesimo di mio fratello Bas; fin qui, mi direte, niente di così strano!
E no!!
In famiglia un elemento strano ci deve essere, e noi, in famiglia le cose le facciamo per bene!!
Tante Laure!
La Signora Rinck (zia Laure), invece, l'ho sempre solo vista a Nizza nel vecchio, buio, tetro  appartamento... I figli, alla morte del padre, consegnarono la madre alla cognata in cambio del mantenimento delle stesse.
Tante (zia) Laure non poteva essere lasciata da sola!
Stravagante era dire poco!
Se (anzi, no, quando...) la portavi al ristorante... svuotava la zuccheriera nella borsetta, se (anzi, no, quando...) andava in bagno srotolava la carta e la metteva in borsetta!
Poi però in famiglia, in bagno si usava il giornale tagliato a quadri, e la carta rubata era per... eventuali... ospiti, così come lo zucchero che lei, dalla borsetta, rovesciava nella zuccheriera!!!
Vestiva sempre di nero (era vedova) ma appena era sola in camera, metteva un disco a 78 giri sul fonografo a tromba, si spogliava di quelle vesti scure e indossando delle sottovesti coloratissime che si procurava mandando Suzon a comprarle ai grandi magazzini perchè erano a buon mercato, cantava e ballava... E non finisce qui!
Con un paio di guanciali aveva "creato" un partner che "indossava" un bellissimo borsalino, una cravatta colorata e, non so come avesse fatto, due scarpe "mafiose" nere con la fascia bianca!
lui la invitava a ballare in una casa da thè, dove il thè veniva servito usando un servizio da thè... di Suzon bambina!

Grand'mère aveva sempre sofferto per la situazione di Suzon.
Quando muore Grand'père decide che Suzon, ormai sola nell' appartamento vecchio, buio, tetro... avrebbe vissuto gli ultimi anni da gran signora.
Furono 5 anni memorabili per lei che aveva vissuto 87 anni in un appartamento vecchio, buio e tetro!!!

Da sinistra: Suzon, Grand'mère, Jacques Rinck, ?, Tante Laure, ?, jean Rinck, ?
From left: Suzon,  Grand'mère, Jacques Rinck, ?, Tante Laure, ?, jean Rinck, ?

Before continuing with Grand'mère's story, I want to open a page dedicated to Suzon Paris and her family.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Suzon lived in an old apartment in Nice with an old widowed mother and an old widowed aunt.
Not only the apartment was old, but it was also dark and gloomy, furnished with imposing heavy, dark wood furniture. 
Walls covered with curtains that were many years old, even many decades, faded, ratty, and ... dark!
Suzon's mother, Aunt Lilly,  had married a certain Mr. Paris, syphilitic, who transmitted her the disease. Obviously, Suzon was given this 'beautiful' gift and all she could do was to grow up, and to get old, as a spinster, in the old derogatory term of the past.
In addition, this gentleman was a gambler who had put everything on dice, cards, and horses, leaving the two women in an old, dark, gloomy apartment... and without a red cent!
Luckily for mother and daughter, someone came to their aid: Aunt Laure Grasset, Edmond's sister, Grand'mère's father.
Laure was the widow of an extremely wealthy Mr. Rinck, whom she had given two sons: Jacques and Jean who were also... celibate! 
She, Laura, had tied them so well that she never allowed them to meet or date any young lady.
Tante Lilly was Mr. Rinck's sister.
If Suzon had to carry out a secluded life, it was completely different for her cousins.
The Rinck's had been brewers in Lyon for several generations. 
Jacques and Jean were Grand'mère's first cousins and have therefore always been part of the family. Ever since I remember, Jacques and Jean were often at home wherever we used to live.
Besides, Jacques was also my brother Bas's godfather.
So far, you will say, nothing really strange!!!
Oh, no: in the family, there must be a strange element, and we, in the family, do things the right way! Tante Laure!
Mrs. Rinck (Aunt Laure), on the other hand, I have always seen only in Nice in the old, dark, gloomy apartment... 
The two sons, on their father's death, handed their mother over to her sister-in-law in exchange for their keep. 
Tante Laure could absolutely not be left alone! 
She was extravagant, to say the least! If (no, let's say when ...) you'd take her to a restaurant... she'd empty the sugar bowl in her handbag, if (no, when ...) she'd go to the bathroom, she'd unroll the toilet paper and put it in her handbag!
But then, at home, in the bathroom, there were newspapers cut into squares, and the stolen paper was for... eventual guests, as well as the sugar, spilled from her purse into the sugar bowl!!!
She always dressed in black (she was a widow!) but as soon as she was back in her room, she put a 78 rpm record on the horn phonograph, she got rid of those dark robes and started singing and dancing wearing colorful petticoats that she got by sending Suzon to buy them at the department stores because, there, they were cheap... 
And it doesn't end here! 
With a pair of pillows, she "created" a partner who "wore" a beautiful Borsalino, a colored tie and, I don't know how she did it, two black "mafia" shoes with a white band!
He invited her to dance in a tea house, where tea was served using a tea service... Suzon used to play with as a child!
 
Grand'mère had always suffered from Suzon's situation. 
When Grand'père past away, she decided that Suzon, now alone in the... old, dark, gloomy apartment, would live the remaining years as a real lady. 
Those have been 5 memorable years for her who had lived 87 years in an... old, dark, and gloomy apartment!!!

Algeri 1935- Da sinistra: Jean Rinck, Tante Laure, Grand'mère (che eleganza!), Grand'père, Jacqueline (mia madre) Edmond Grasset, Jacques Rinck, Louise Paulin.
Algeri 1935 - From left: Jean Rinck, Tante Laure, Grand'mère (how elegant!), Grand'père, Jacqueline (my mother) Edmond Grasset, Jacques Rinck, Louise Paulin.