Not Out of Hate. Ma Ma Lay

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СКАЧАТЬ tell your father, when he awakes,” U Saw Han went on, “that a telegram came from the firm accepting the price he asks. But it cannot be done immediately as the barges will take a week to get here.”

      “If that is so, I don’t think the deal will be feasible. It has to be transacted immediately,” said Way Way. “The next lot of paddy we will be receiving got wet, and it would not do to mix the two lots in the godown. Only when the present paddy has been removed can we put in the new stock.”

      Quite taken aback at this, U Saw Han listened with a smile. “Do you have a lot of paddy? When is it coming?” he asked, regarding her steadily.

      Way Way took a large account book out of her desk drawer and, opening it, looked at the figures and said, “A large amount. We have 3,000 baskets out of our own fields. And there will be more from all the other fields.”

      U Saw Han looked admiringly at her and at the large book and then back again at her. “Your name is Way Way, is it not?” he asked, and Way Way smiled at him and nodded. U Saw Han looked at Way Way’s smiling face and child-like manner of nodding instead of answering, and thought it very charming.

      “Way Way, don’t you attend school?” asked U Saw Han, who took a handkerchief out of his pants pocket and wiped his face.

      “Since Daddy was alone, I left school when I finished the seventh standard.”

      “Oh, then the lady I saw was not your mother …”

      “No, she is my aunt.”

      U Saw Han put his handkerchief back into his pocket and said, “Oh, I thought she was your mother. Please don’t think me nosy.” He got out some matches, lit a cigarette, and drew on it.

      “No, I don’t think that,” she said.

      He took a long draw of his cigarette, his eyelashes fluttering slightly, and asked in a serious tone, “Has your mother passed away?”

      Eyes downcast, Way Way hesitated to answer. She glanced up suddenly and saw U Saw Han’s face regarding her with a tender expression.

      “My mother is alive. She is a nun in Sagaing. It has been five years since she left. That’s the reason I’m not in school. I help my father with his work.”

      Way Way turned her face away after speaking, and U Saw Han looked at her gently and was quiet. Although outwardly quiet, inside he was in a state of upheaval. As he looked at Way Way his heart seemed suddenly to pour out its love for her in her poignant, sad existence. He sensed a dim stirring inside Way Way’s heart, a hint of a capacity for happiness.

      “Oh … when did you come in, sir?” Daw Thet’s voice asked as she emerged from the back of the house into the room. She did not come any closer to U Saw Han but talked to him from a distance.

      U Saw Han stood up and answered, “I just arrived. I am sorry to hear of U Po Thein’s ill health.” He sat down after he spoke.

      “Seems like he caught something. It just happened this morning. The doctor says not to worry.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      Daw Thet wanted to go on talking but U Saw Han had turned towards Way Way. Yet Daw Thet did say, “Don’t go yet. Have some coffee.”

      “Oh, no thank you,” said U Saw Han, “I only drink coffee in the evening. Please don’t bother.”

      Way Way had been feeling as if she ought to offer refreshment to U Saw Han. In their house it was customary to offer coffee to anyone who came to visit, regardless of the time. She now made a mental note of the one guest to whom they need not offer coffee.

      “I’ll make certain that arrangements are made for the paddy barges to be sent as soon as possible. I’m sorry to intrude on your work time, Way Way. You are very young and it is really commendable that you are such a help to your elders. I will take my leave now.” Then U Saw Han also said goodbye to Daw Thet, and left.

      Smiling a little uneasily, Way Way muffled a laugh and said to Daw Thet, who had in fact barged into the room after she could no longer restrain her desire to hear what was being said between the two, “I knew you were standing behind the screen all the time.”

      15. For three months during the Burmese rainy season (approximately May to July), Buddhist monks practice special ascetic exercises, live austerely, and do not perform ceremonies such as those of marriage. Unlike Christian Lent, this tradition does not commemorate events of the Buddha’s life, but is said to be the result of instructions given by the Buddha to his followers. In the latter half of the twentieth century increasing numbers of laypersons have shown an interest in observing this “Lenten” season in ways similar to those of monks.

      16. In polite Burmese society it is frequently considered embarrassing for a young, unmarried girl to sit tête-à-tête with a bachelor.

       4

      The morning light was shining bright and clear, and Way Way looked outside as she opened the windows. Growing in the fork of the mango tree at the front of the house, a wax orchid plant fell in a trail of flowers, its blossoms swaying like a line of dancers. It was a beautiful morning. There were pigeons in the mango tree, too, jostling and pecking each other. The mangoes, already close to full size, grew profusely in clusters. Way Way turned back to the room and saw the sunlight streaming in from the windows onto the polished wood of the new furniture and her heart filled with pleasure at the sight.

      Before leaving for Rangoon, her brother had asked what he could bring. She had said she wanted some new furniture like the set of low tables and chairs she had seen at the township officer’s house. Way Way and the servant girl Meh Aye had stayed up until midnight the night before, polishing the floors so the place would be ready when her brother arrived early the next morning. Using a mixture of kerosene and paraffin, they had polished and polished until their arms nearly dropped off.

      The marble-topped table and accompanying chairs, to be used now as a dining set, were taken into the middle room behind the screen. Way Way had decided to have their meals at a table sitting on chairs because they could be seen from the upstairs of the house next door when they sat eating around the low table on mats on the kitchen floor. She had been very uneasy at mealtimes ever since U Saw Han had moved in. Only now did she feel that she could relax and eat without fear of being observed.

      For two full days Daw Thet had sat at the sewing machine to finish the set of poplin curtains exactly like those hanging in the windows of U Saw Han’s house. When Way Way finished polishing the floor, she hung the curtains. She set her alarm clock before turning in for the night, but rose before it went off. Both she and Meh Aye came downstairs. She switched on the light, anxious to see if the floor had been done well enough, and then the two of them lifted the large cane armchair that U Po Thein usually sat in and moved it to the front end of the room. Since it did not look right there, they moved it to a corner. Not satisfied with that either, they moved it back to its original place in front of the screen that separated the middle room from the sitting room. Then, after being moved here and there, the desk and its chair were settled in a corner at the rear of the room. She decided to get rid of the old wooden settle, which she could no longer stand the sight of, and put it outside as soon as it was light enough to open the doors. Way Way then went into the middle room and took a new СКАЧАТЬ