I am seriously wondering if all this is just Terence's effort to
get a date with me.
.......
One day she went home from playing (not a play) and found her
uncle's Land Rover in front of the house. Her mom and Mom's brother
were loading clothes and knicks knacks from their home into the
car. "Mom," she said, "are we going to stay for a long time in
Uncle's place?" She was told it's going to be a one-week stay. She
was so excited with the unexpected trip that she spent her one week
allowance on snacks from home to be enjoyed later in uncle's
place.
Few weeks later they were still not home. Sensing something was
amiss she did not ask anyone why were they staying for so long
there and why it looked like it's going to be a permanent stay.
Daddy started to visit them! He came, played with the kids, talked
with Mom and Uncle and Aunt and Grandpa but he always went home
alone. But she was still afraid to ask questions because nobody
seemed inclined to enlighten her.
One day after school she walked to her old house. She used the key
she had taken from Mom's bag and got in. There were new furnitures
inside. A neighbour later told her that her dad had rented the
place to a family and he himself lived in his mother's place. She
believed that.
Time went by. Uncle's family was feeling the effects of putting up
relatives in their place. Aunty went on weekly raids to make sure
the room she, her little sis, her mom and her granpa shared was
always tidy. And Aunty loves throwing things away. She grew to hate
this intrusion on her private belongings, she grew to hate Aunty,
but what could she do, it's not their house. So she cried but tried
to hide the tears because there were no excuse for crying, no one
could make it better.
One day, after Dad's visit, she found a piece of bill bearing an
unfamiliar address. It was as if all the pieces came together and
she realized that Dad must have remarried and *that* was why Mom
left! She thought seriously about visiting the address but Mom then
started to drop hints about Dad's whereabouts. She would told her,
"Give your Dad some chocolate. He said your little brother loves
it." "So I had a half brother." she thought. She wanted to know
more but she did not want to hurt Mom, so she fished for
information. On the way home from house-hunting she asked Mom
deliberately. "Later, when we moved to a new house, can I hang a
'Home sweet Home' plate on the door?" and Mom snapped. "Your dad
has gotten himself another wife!" The rest of the trip was
quiet.
It turned out that the new wife had been a much frequent visitor of
Dad when he was hospitalized after a working accident. He married
her maybe because she loved her more than Mom ever did. Or maybe
Dad married her because she was pregnant and how lucky he was,
their firstborn is a son. Suppose she were a boy
instead, would Dad have stayed? Suppose she felt the cracks in
their home earlier could she have mended it? Does he love her and
her young sis, did he know they were going to be separated if he
remarried? Does he love them at all or he wanted a son more?
For Mom's sake she took the news gracefully like it was an ordinary
occurence and she did not feel the hurt. After a while Dad started
to take his daughters to his house to meet The Mrs. He told
them to call her Mama. Her sis would not do that
so she kept very quiet. She herself tried to avoid the
circumstances when she had to call The Mrs. anything at all.
.......
Since I'm pretty sure I can get Terence to date me no matter what
:p, I don't feel the compulsion to win this competition. I'm glad
to say that the sis has not grown into a taciturn young lady,
instead she became smarter than her peers because she has seen
more. The girl herself is all grown up, too. She consoles herself
with the thought that Mom and Dad never really match anyway. And
she knew why they got married, too, why Mom, a Chinese, married Dad
wearing a muslim ceremonial clothes in Dad's home. They got married
eight months before her birthday.
Cheers, Terence, cheers, everyone.
