Note: Italics in dialogue within quotation marks indicates the character is speaking in Cantonese.
~~~
"Dai-Tai, come here," softly ordered her mother. She had a long weary face that made her appear forty when she was actually thirty-two years old. The heavy creases on her forehead and dark bags under her eyes revealed the years of hard labor. A black ponytail reached passed the woman's small shoulder blades, and plain clothes fitted her skinny body. Dai-Tai's mother was getting ready to leave for work, but first she had a few things to say to her daughter.
Letting the spoon the spoon slide inside the bowl of leftover congee, Dai-Tai glanced over at her mother by the kitchen counter. The girl pushed her chair back and went over to her mother. "Yes, ma?"
"I want you to stop playing with Chenglei," her mother began.
"He's a boy and a bad influence on you. You should be playing with girls instead."
Outraged by her mother's words, Dai-Tai protested,
"No, he isn't, ma! I like playing with Chenglei. He and his brother are very nice. Girls are so boring; all they do is play with dolls!"
Her mother closed her eyes with a sigh.
"I don't want you to turn into a tomboy. I want you to grow into a beautiful young woman. There's a reason why you aren't born a boy."
Tomboy? Dai-Tai had heard one of her classmates called her that once. If a tomboy meant being tough, then wasn't it better than being a sissy girl?
"But I do want to be a tomboy!" Dai-Tai whined.
"I can do so many fun things! I even beat Chenglei in a running contest and—"
"Stop it right now, Dai-Tai," her mother said sharply.
"No matter what you do, you'll always be a girl. Now, give me the key."
"The key…?"
"Yes, the key."
The tips of Dai-Tai's ears turned red. "Why? Why can't I keep it anymore?" she nearly shouted.
The woman glared at her.
"When will you stop questioning me? Just do as what your mother tells you."
Dai-Tai felt her eyes grow warm and moist. She took a step back and clutched the key necklace underneath her t-shirt. "No! I don't want to!"
"Don't make me hit you," her mother replied coldly. "Give it to me now!"
"No—"
A slap hurled toward the girl's cheek making her stumble a few steps back. Dai-Tai clutched her stinging cheek with her hand and swallowed hard. She tightly balled her other hand into a fist and dug her fingernails deep into her flesh. No, I'm not going to cry now... She wiped the mist blurring her eyes, but the tears slowly trickled down to her cheeks. Lips trembling, she cried out, "Chenglei will hate me if I'll never see him again!"
Her mother scowled irritatedly and looked away from the child.
"You're such a useless crybaby; you cry at almost everything. He'll forget about you once you stop seeing him because he'll just find others to play. Anyway, when you two grow older, you'll never talk to each other again."
Chenglei forgetting about her? More tears streamed down from her eyes and stung her red cheek. Dai-Tai felt as if her mother slapped her again.
"That's not true!" she cried. "You're wrong! You're wrong!"
Before her mother could hit her again, Dai-Tai violently flung the key necklace off her neck. It landed on the floor creating a metallic clang which made her mother wince. Dai-Tai stamped furiously toward the bedroom and slammed the door so hard that the photo frame next to the door's wall almost collapsed. Rubbing her temples on her forehead, the woman looked wistfully at the photo frame that was once a picture of Dai-Tai smiling and hugging her at a beach. She could still feel the cool sea-breeze blowing her skirt. It had been years that they had spent time together, especially since her husband left. Cringing as she thought about him, she didn't notice that she was squeezing the key after she picked it up.
~~~
Dai-Tai found that she had fallen asleep on her bed. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, and her mind recalled what had happened earlier in the morning.
She was no longer able to see Chenglei anymore. Without the key, she would not be able to return home if she decided to go outside. Sighing, the girl sat up and fetched the calico cat keychain she stole the other day. At least that wasn't taken away from her. Dai-Tai found herself smiling at the cat; it made her feel a little bit better.
But what was she going to do for the rest of the summer? September was closely approaching and thinking about going back to school made her feel gloomier. Dai-Tai hated school so much that she would never go back if it was an option.
Getting up from the bed, Dai-Tai dragged her feet toward the open window. It was a cooler today and a bit gray outside. The gray sky foreshadowed rain later in the afternoon. She observed the people underneath that were walking on the sidewalk and crossing the street. Across the street, a black car parked by a bakery store caught her attention. It wasn't just any old kind of car; it was brand new and expensive. Before Dai-Tai could squint at the driver, the car quickly drove away.
That's funny, Dai-Tai thought. She wondered if the driver spotted her spying. Her stomach suddenly started to grumble. Dai-Tai realized that she hadn't finished eating her breakfast. She found it sitting on the same position on the table. It hadn't been touched.
After finishing the cold congee, Dai-Tai gazed at the table next to the ancestral altar across the room. There was an empty woven basket that was supposed to hold pens and scrap paper. The girl's mind started to click back and forth toward a past memory. Once she and Chenglei played 'basketball' with a paper ball and a wastebasket inside his bedroom. It was one of those boring rainy days that compelled them to do something exciting.
Dai-Tai quickly returned to her bedroom. She bent down on her knees and pulled out a dusty old chocolate box underneath her bed. Of course, there weren't any chocolate left as she lifted the lid off. Inside, there were rocks from all sorts of sizes that she had collected at a beach many years ago. Dai-Tai would forgotten about it forever if it wasn't for her sudden idea.
She carried it to the living and set it on the dining table. Dai-Tai picked up a rock and stared at the empty basket across the room. Her main goal was to get it in, and if she failed the first time, she would try again and again.
Focusing on the basket, Dai-Tai hurled the rock, and it soared high toward the basket. It smacked against the white wall and hit the ground. The girl frowned and aimed another rock again. However, it landed beside the basket.
By the eighth try, Dai-Tai grew frustrated. There was no way she could get the rock in. She grabbed another rock and threw it so hard that she didn't bother focusing on her aim. The rock flew toward the ancestral altar, and the surprise hit Dai-Tai horribly. She squeezed her eyes tight hoping she was dreaming.
Above the ancestral altar, a statue of Kwan Yin rested on a white lotus throne. Golden robes clothed Her magnificent body which was as white as the moon. Her right palm extended up to halt all sound and movement, but Her pinky was missing.
Dai-Tai panicked as she frantically searched for the missing finger. Her eyes flitted around the bowl of tangerines and incense burner. A shimmering from a small red offering cup caught her attention. Floating above the rice wine was the finger.
After she fished the finger out, Dai-Tai ran toward a desk to fetch glue. It took several minutes to attach the finger without it slipping off the glue. When the finger was finally stable, Dai-Tai took a step back and examined the Goddess from afar.
Kwan Yin's oval face remained holy and gentle. There wasn't much a difference although there was a slight small crack on the palm. Dai-Tai sighed with relief and placed the glue back on the desk. While she picked up all the rocks that had missed the basket, she hoped her mother wouldn't notice the statue.
~~~
Dai-Tai's mother found her daughter sitting on the couch when she got home. Dai-Tai was sitting cross-legged with a book in her hands and seemed quite absorb in the book which made her mother question her curiously.
"Since when did you decided to be a good girl?" her mother asked with a tint of suspicion.
Dai-Tai slowly looked up from her book and continued to read.
"I thought you didn't like to read books in the summer."
"Oh," the girl finally spoke, "this book is different." Dai-Tai was rereading a book she had stolen last year from her classroom's library.
Satisfied by her daughter's answer, she headed towards the kitchen.
"I like you better this way anyway," the woman muttered. While she was washing rice in the sink, she didn't realize that Dai-Tai was standing beside her.
"Ma, let me help you cook dinner," Dai-Tai offered.
Her mother took a quick glance at her daughter. "Weren't you reading before?" she asked as she poured tap water into the rice cooker. It wasn't that she didn't want Dai-Tai to help. Dai-Tai usually helped her cook dinner when she was bored, but she thought the girl was more interested in her book instead.
Dai-Tai's eyes wandered around the room. "Well, I finished."
"Fine, get the vegetables from the refrigerator then."
While Dai-Tai helped her mother prepare supper, her mother remembered something important to tell her daughter that would interest her.
"I have a friend that owns a restaurant here," her mother said.
"They have a daughter your age that goes to school in Brooklyn."
A girl my age? Dai-Tai made a face as she dumped peels of cucumbers into the wastebin.
"She invited us to her restaurant for lunch tomorrow Sunday. Fortunately, I have the day off, so we'll be able to go. I want you to behave your best, okay?"
Dai-Tai nodded her head obediently. "What is… the girl like?" she asked pretending to be uninterested.
"Obviously nothing like you," her mother remarked sarcastically.
"I'm sure she's more well-behaved and smarter than you anyway. She gets high grades in school unlike you."
Dai-Tai rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't care. Is she also coming tomorrow?"
"Yes, my friend wants you to meet her," her mother replied.
"By the way, are you still upset about Chenglei?" She received a surprised reaction from her daughter.
Dai-Tai cocked her ears at his name. She forgot all about him after she semi-broke the statue. "No…" she mumbled. "No." As long Dai-Tai pretended to be 'good', then her mother wouldn't suspect the glued finger.
Comments (1)
See all