Fly or Die?

fly or die

Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Meet the Parents, Part III We arrive at the restaurant around 7pm. I catch a glimpse of myself at the glass door, I look very different from 4 years ago. I'm smarter too. This time, I wear a dress. Heels. Make-up and perfume. My hair has grown to shoulder length and I've just had it layered. And they are all black. sigh My rebel days are truly gone. What is there to not like? I thought. Matt takes my hand leads me into the restaurant. I feel self-conscious, I feel stares jab at me, as if every patron is looking at me. I struggle to keep my chin up and I scan the room quickly for the target. Must be this table? No. This one? No. That one? No. Then, there they are. Matt's dad, mom and 3rd sister. Matt hugs his sis and slaps his dad on the back. He sits me next to his sister and he next to his dad. He introduces me. I smile, but I think my lips trembled. And my ears went hot. Marie, his sister, starts, "So, you work in advertising ah?" "Yeah," I nodded. Marie is 2 years older than Matt, unmarried. Living in Ipoh, managing a small business. She has nice teeth too. And his kinda lips, curvy. But unlike Matt, she is, well, large. And she has his mother's eyes - dark, large and deep set. (Shucks! If only he got them.) Marie could look stunning, but she obviously never bothered. "Wah, very glamour hoh?" "No lah, not really. Just a lot of hard work," I said and sipped the hot chinese tea to calm myself. Then Matt complains about my long hours, how he never gets to see me and tells them all the latest ads I've done. They nod politely as if they know, though I know they haven't seen them. His mom, Mrs Wong, is petite. And, a beauty in her hey days. Her grace was not inherited by Marie. Or Matt. From her eyes and the way they linger over Matt, tracing every curve of his face, I know she loves her only son to death. "You've put on a little," she says to Matt, "Look much better." "Of course lah, finally, got woman want him. Happy, sure get fat wan," Marie interrupts. I laugh. I like Marie. Mr Wong adds, "You better take good care of her, you know. Pretty girl like her, sure got a lot of guys after, you know?" Matt takes after his Dad - his height, lanky frame, thick head of hair that curls at the ends except that Mr Wong is greying. He has bi-focals, which he keeps in his right short-sleeve shirt pocket and takes it out when he wants to read the menu. "Yeah, yeah. Just like how you took care of Ma," Matt grins and winks at Mommy. She smiles and looks at me. I lower my eyes. She must think I'm so fortunate to have her son. "Your Ma had 4 men, no, 5 fellas, after her at that time," Mr Wong launches into his great love story. Mrs Wong nudges him to shut up, but to no avail. She quietly shakes her head. Matt and Marie, having heard it all their lives started their own stories, at the side. But I was fascinated. Mr Wong knows how to spin a yarn - the details, the colour, right pauses, the drama. A storyteller, which was probably why she fell for him. But the tales have gotten tired and I could see that she wasn't as charmed as before. She still smiled at all the right places but it was a reflex, no longer genuine delight. That marred the tale a little for me. I would have wanted to see them still madly in love. But maybe that only happens in paperback novels. Here I saw, respect and a load of tolerance. "Enough, Pa, can we eat?" Matt says when the food arrives, "I'm gonna lose weight if I wait anymore." He digs in. Then continues, "Ma, I don't get it, we're all so thin, but Marie - what happened ar?" "Yeah lah, yeah lah she pick me from the rubbish bin," Marie interjects. "Must have been a very, very big bin," he laughed. "You satay stick, eat-lah," she bops him on the head. I could hardly recognise Matt. He was beaming, chatting excitedly, joking, being silly, interjecting his father's remarks in Hakka. He transformed before his family. He became Ah-Boy. Pencil chewed at 1:44:00 pm //
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