Event:
"Arif MARDIN: Journey in the Music World"
October 6, 2004
@ The Marmara Manhattan Hotel

Waiting for "A"

Written & Presented by
Latife MARDIN

I spend a lot of time waiting. In fact, I believe I have spent most of my life waiting.

I am not talking of waiting for planes, or doctors or dentists. It is wating for A that I am talking about. Mind you, he’s a treat when he finally does arrive. Always smiling, always pleasant (well, almost always), never grouchy or in a sulk. Still, waiting takes its toll on me and I am not smiling, I'm not pleasant and I am grouchy.

There are times when I am mildly all the above and there are times when I am absolutely furious - almost ready to leave the man to whom I have been happily married for more than forty years.

I still have to admire the guy's technique. He has perfected the art of making me wait to a degree which I never thought possible.

For instance, when we are in a mall, I tell him that I am going to such and such a place and I assume (mistake) that he is going to be sitting in the coffee shop where I left him as he does not venture any other information. I hurry back with my purchases and he is nowhere to be seen. His answer when he finally appears is a classic. "I thought you would have guessed."

Until I married him, I thought that husbands called their wives to say that they would be late, but my darling calls me to say that he is coming. And this goes on for a few hours with thirty minute intervals. Since the invention of the mobile phone, these calls have become traffic reports.

After I have been wondering whether he is coming home for dinner, I get the call. "I'm in the cab." "Oh, yeah." "I'm at the corner of 54th. You won't believe the traffic." "Oh, really?" Two minutes later, he calls again while I am hurriedly trying to put something together for dinner. "We're on Eighth now." That's not too bad as we live on Central Park West. "Should we take Broadway?" How do I know? "Ask the driver."

He hangs up. I put two martini glasses in the freezer. Am I too hasty? Another call. "I am at 66th and Central Park West." I breathe a sigh of relief. "Great. Please, don't call again."

Another ploy which can drive me crazy and I am close to lunacy anyway is when he says, "Darling, another of those nights. We have to work late." "Okay." "You know, technical failure." Oh, did I mention that he is a record producer? "Yes. Glad you called me."

Around seven o'clock I take a leisurely bath, put a lot of cream on my face and slip into bed, my hair in curlers. Just as I am ready to fall asleep and my book is gliding out of my hands, the phone rings.

"Darling, we managed to finish early. I know you did not prepare any dinner. How would you like to go out?"

I take one look at the mirror and after a moment of silent revolt, say "Yes."

_ . _

"My Journey in the Music World" by Arif MARDIN