Bitter Sweet Harvest (4 page)

“Then should we tell Ming Kong?” asked Mei Yin. “If we do, would you do it? He listens more to you than me.” She blushed at her own cowardice; after all she was An Mei’s mother.

“Me? No! I can’t.” Nelly stopped to consider. She pulled her cardigan even tighter around her like a protective cocoon. “But if we don’t and we help her,” she continued, “it would mean deceiving him. Perhaps I should go back with her. She will have to see for herself how things are in the country and may be then she would come to her senses.”

Nelly’s voice was now little more than a whisper. Mei Yin had to bend close to hear her. She placed an arm around Nelly’s shoulder. The two women huddled together for comfort and warmth.

“We have to give her space to think and decide for herself,” Nelly concluded. “If we force her to stay on in the UK, she’ll resent it and she will be always hankering for what might have been. She has to make the decision herself. I remember how when we were young, everything was decided for us. We were told to swallow our bitterness. We cannot ask An Mei to do the same. She has an independent mind; she has been taught to think for herself. Just the other day, she told me that at her University, marks are not awarded for just regurgitating facts, but for expressing thoughts and opinions. Think! When were we ever asked for our views when we were young? If we force her, she might succumb to our pressures now because she loves us, but she will resent and might even hate us later.”

“Yes, I agree,” replied Mei Yin. She thought of her past and how she had to obey every single instruction given to her by her mother-in-law. She would not wish the same fate on her daughter. “But how will you convince Ming Kong to let you go with her? What justification can you offer him? I am sure he will want you to stay to help him set up his business. After all you are his right hand in business. And what if it backfires and she decides she’ll remain with Hussein?”

“I don’t know.”

Both women fell silent. Night drew in and the shadows lengthened over the playground; the silence of the night was broken only by the distant sound of a barking dog.

“Casey?” An Mei grasped the phone tightly. She angled her body so that her back faced the street. The phone booth reeked of cigarette smoke. Graffiti adorned the glass panes. Outside the booth, people hurried by loaded with shopping bags. There were brown paper bags, green, yellow and red ones, each advertising the shop that had supplied them. Students on bicycles weaved their way through traffic and pedestrians. “Mayhem,” Nelly had commented the other day when a young man pushed past her on a bike.

“Casey, I need your help. Would you cover for me? I am going to tell my parents that I have to meet up with you early this evening. I have to see Hussein. We have to work things out. It is his last day, he is leaving for Malaysia.”

A pause followed. An Mei fidgeted, worried that Casey might refuse. “Please,” she whispered urgently into the phone.

“Just this once,” Casey replied. “Don’t get me into trouble. Otherwise, I’ll be in trouble with your mum. Remember your mother was my mum’s best friend when they were children and I am supposed to be looking after you in Oxford. Not helping you to have secret trysts with your boyfriend.”

“Thanks a million. Will you call me at home? That way, they will be more likely to be persuaded to let me go.”

Casey laughed. “I didn’t know that you were that scheming. All right. I know how it is. Even though I have been on my own here for so long, the minute my mother comes to visit, she thinks that she has to know my every move. So out of pity, I’ll cover for you.”

“W
here is she?” Ming Kong demanded. He pushed away the array of bowls and chopsticks that had been carefully laid out before him.

Mei Yin and Nelly sat silent. They stared at the clock on the wall. Its ticking seemed obscenely loud. The clock-hand edged slowly round the dial, but there was still no sign of An Mei. They looked at the dishes in front of them, dishes that they had prepared together, their first home-cooked meal in Oxford. During their first week they had eaten nothing except takeaways and hastily made sandwiches until finally Nelly complained. Clutching her tummy, she protested against the grease and the sweetness of the food. “Sweet and sour! Everything sweet and sour! Everything with mayonnaise! We have to have something simple. Let us have something steamed,
ching-ching.
We’ll cook this evening. We will be able to now. We have almost completed the unpacking and cleaning.” So she and Mei Yin had gone to the small Chinese grocery next to the Chinese restaurant in Hythe Bridge Street to stock up with
tofu, choy sam,
lotus roots, ginger and spices. Now the dishes of
tofu
and bowls of lotus root and spare ribs soup lay cold.

Nelly got up and gathered the bowls and crockery together. “Better get these out of the way,” she said, stealing a look at Ming Kong’s face. His expression alternated: sometimes thunderous, sometimes fearful. It was nearly ten o’clock!

“She probably forgot. She has not been out with her friends for the entire week. So maybe she is just catching up,” Mei Yin consoled. Inside her, fear was brewing, a fear that was so strong she felt her stomach contracting into a tight ball. “It cannot be that An Mei has done something silly. I spoke to Casey myself,” she whispered to Nelly as they both made their way into the kitchen with the various trays and dishes. “Should we call Casey and ask her again. I called earlier and asked to speak to An Mei. She said she had already left for home.”

“You wait here. I’ll pop out to the phone booth.” Hastily, Nelly untied her apron, grabbed a jacket from the kitchen door and went out.

Mei Yin went back to the dinning room. Ming Kong was cradling his head in both hands, his elbows dug deeply into the felt lining of the tablecloth. He looked up, his eyes weary. “What is wrong with An Mei? She is not herself. Is she in trouble? She seems so out of sorts, so distant some times and so affectionate and tearful at other times.”

Mei Yin busied herself at the sideboard. Cautiously, she ventured an explanation. “She might be anxious. She wants to find a job here now that she is not going back to Kuala Lumpur. She does not want to be dependent on us, especially since our economic circumstances are not what they were. She knows that her brothers still need to go to university and there are fees to be paid.” She lifted her head to look at her husband. His head was still buried in his hands. She prayed that Ming Kong would not ask any more questions. What she said was true up to a point. An Mei had initially appeared reconciled to staying in Oxford, but she had not been herself since the day Nelly met Hussein.

An Mei stood to one side. She watched Hussein make his way to the check-in desk, wheeling his luggage on the red carpet for first-class passengers. They had been talking for hours and still nothing had been resolved. She had argued her case fervently. After days of talking with Nelly and her mother, she had reeled off all the reasons why they could not, and should not, be together. Now, close to the final moment of his departure, she was filled with doubt. “Have I made the right decision? How can I live without him?” The pain in her heart felt like a physical wound. She stared at his back. She shrugged deeper into her anorak and dipped her hands into its pockets. With a shock, she came into contact with a small booklet. Her passport! The passport that she had grabbed unthinkingly before she left home from the drawer at Hussein’s persistent urging to bring it with her. Her fingers tingled as they closed over it.

Hussein turned and looked at her beseechingly. “Come with me,” he mouthed silently. Then, almost half running, he reached her and gathered her in his arms. “Come with me, now,” he repeated urgently. She felt her resolve — to break-up with Hussein and remain with her parents — crumble. Without thinking she nodded vigorously. He caught hold of her hand and ran back to the check-in desk ignoring the indignant remarks of other passengers. “Two seats,” he said retrieving the open ticket that An Mei had so firmly pushed back into his possession two hours ago. “Two seats,” he repeated, his voice triumphant with joy.

The doorbell rang. It was still early in the morning, just 8 o’clock, but the summer sun was already a bright ball of light. Mei Yin rushed to the door. She opened it. A woman with a girl of An Mei’s age stood outside.

“Mei Yin?” the lady asked hesitantly. “Mei Yin? Is it really you? I am Siew Lin, Casey’s mother. Don’t you recognise me?”

Mei Yin did not answer. Her face crumpled in disappointment. She had hoped and prayed that by some miraculous intervention it would be An Mei coming back.

“I know we have not met each other since we were children, but we have been in touch these past few years by phone and through letters and photographs. Can’t you recognise my voice at least?” she asked the distraught Mei Yin.

Mei Yin nodded. Her eyes were so swollen that she could hardly see, her voice, so hoarse from crying that she could hardly speak. It was near midnight when she had received a call from An Mei telling her that she was boarding the plane for Kuala Lumpur with Hussein. Then a muffled sob and the line went dead. She had stood for what seemed like an eternity holding the phone until Nelly wrested it from her and made her repeat what had been said. Ming Kong had stood at the dining room doorway, hands clutching his hair, his face grey with anguish as he struggled to understand just who Hussein was. Finally he had turned and headed upstairs shouting, “I have no daughter. Don’t mention her name in this house again.” The house reverberated as he slammed the bedroom door shut.

Mei Yin moved to one side and motioned Siew Lin to come in.

“I am so sorry,” Siew Lin said embracing Mei Yin in a tight hug. She felt the tension in Mei Yin’s body; every muscle seemed to have contracted into a tight knot.

“Casey told me of her part in this terrible, terrible...” Words failed Siew Lin as she tried to calm a sudden trembling in Mei Yin’s body.

“I have tried squeezing every word out of Casey when she called me from college last night. I brought her with me to apologise to you. What a shame to see you after all these years in such circumstances. I only flew back yesterday and I have come to see you as soon as I could.”

Nelly came forward. She could see the distress on the lady’s face. “Mei Yin, you should ask your friend to come in and not just keep her standing here,” she said softly.

“Sorry, sorry to make you stand in the hallway,” said Mei Yin. “Please come in.”

“Yes, do come in. Don’t stand in the hallway,” reiterated Nelly. She had followed Mei Yin to the door in response to the sound of the doorbell. She too had hoped against all odds that it would be An Mei. She still could not believe that An Mei had left. Hiding her disappointment, she continued, “Come into the kitchen. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

“Aunty Mei Yin, I am truly sorry,” said a contrite Casey. Anxious to make amends, she followed the ladies into the kitchen. “I did not know, when I covered up for An Mei, that she was going to run away with Hussein. She told me that she only wanted some time with him to talk before he left. It did not seem so unreasonable. Please forgive me.”

“How could you do such a thing!” scolded Siew Lin. “You were supposed to look after An Mei, not lie for her.”

Turning to Mei Yin and Nelly, Siew Lin asked, “So what will you do?”

“What can we do? Ming Kong won’t let us get in touch with her. He has disowned her. We don’t even have an address or telephone number to contact. We don’t know much about Hussein. Nelly met him just once.”

“Where is Ming Kong?”

“Upstairs. He will be down any minute.”

“I am already down,” said Ming Kong coming into the kitchen. He too had come down in response to the doorbell and the murmured conversation that followed it. “And you? Who are you?”

“I’m Siew Lin, Casey’s mother.”

His face grew red, suffused with blood. Two deep ruts appeared in the area between his eyebrows, pushing the eyebrows together. “So what do you and your daughter have to say? I want to have nothing to do with either of you. If she,” he said pointing at Casey, “had not lied, we would not be in this dreadful predicament.” He found it difficult to bring himself to say An Mei’s name. He could not forgive his daughter for leaving without so much as a word when the family was already dealing with so many problems. “
Mo sum kon
. Heartless wretch! And all for a Malay boy! The very people we are fleeing from!”

Mei Yin went to her husband; she laid a hand on his arm. She could feel the rage coursing through the muscles of his arms.

“Please Ming Kong, Siew Lin was my very best friend when I was a child. Her mother sent me to school. It was her mother who introduced me to your family. Had it not been for her, I would certainly not have married you. So for that at least, please hear what she has to say.”

“Yes, yes! Do not come to hasty conclusions. We are all upset and tend to say things we do not mean and will regret afterwards,” cautioned Nelly. “I’ll get you a cup of tea, why don’t you sit down,” she said ushering him towards the kitchen table before rushing to pour out a cup of green tea for him.

Mei Yin sat down next to Ming Kong. She took his hands in hers, caressing them gently until they relaxed their tight hold. “Remember, when we were young, we too were rash in our actions. The most important thing now is for us to help An Mei, to make sure she knows that she can come back. What would cutting her off from the family achieve? Nothing! Not for her, not for us. Please reconsider. Jenny will be coming soon. Let’s see what she can do. At least through her, we’ll be able to trace An Mei’s whereabouts.”

Ming Kong looked at Mei Yin and then Nelly. Nelly nodded encouragingly. “We all make mistakes. It is still not too late to persuade her to return.”

A
n Mei stepped out of the plane into the hot blazing sun. The heat hit her with a ferocity that she had almost forgotten. She stood still for a moment on top of the mobile stairway before turning quickly to Hussein. He smiled at her, nodding at the same time towards a small group of people gathered on the sizzling tarmac. “They are here to meet me. Let’s not keep them waiting.”