Eat a Bowl of Tea. Louis Chu

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СКАЧАТЬ knock on the door when Maria or Evelyn or Josie would come.

      IX

      And so it came to pass that three months after Lee Gong had brought up the subject of marriage for his daughter Mei Oi, Ben Loy sailed on the President Gordon for Hong Kong and China in September, 1948.

      In addition to purchasing ship and train tickets for his son, Wah Gay had made out several foreign drafts totaling a couple of thousand dollars for Ben Loy’s trip. He realized that his son, only ten months ago discharged from the army after more than three years of service, would have no savings of his own to speak of. He was happy at the thought that his only offspring was to become a family man at last. It was an occasion looked forward to by all parents. It marked a milestone in the responsibility of family relationship. To Wah Gay and his wife Lau Shee, Ben Loy’s marriage would mark a solemn obligation dutifully discharged on the part of the parents.

      The elder Wang had feared that Ben Loy, especially after his service in the army, might have become too Americanized to be sent back to China to get married. The possibility of having a jook sing girl for a daughter-in-law had always haunted the otherwise easy-going, carefree Wang. He never thought much of these American-born Chinese girls. They are always going out and having a good time. Always new clothes, new shoes, new hats. Expensive perfumes. You needed to be a millionaire to support them. He could not bring himself to approve any marriage which would make his son a virtual slave to his own wife.

      More important than his own feelings about the matter, Wah Gay was happy for his wife, whom he had not seen since he visited the village back in 1924. He constantly entertained the desire for a brief reunion with Lau Shee. He considered it a sacred duty. But there was always a tomorrow.

      Throughout the years he had received many letters from his wife, who had given up idol worship to embrace Christianity ten years ago. She had been an active church member since. Whenever her husband sent a remittance back home, she would take out a certain amount to donate to the church, saying that her husband had so indicated. This made her feel very proud of him.

      In spite of Wah Gay’s long absence from home, Lau Shee felt no bitterness toward him. Only sympathy and understanding. Perhaps it was this quality of sympathy and understanding, as exemplified by his wife, that Wah Gay found lacking in jook sing girls, which made them objectionable as daughters-in-law.

      Lau Shee was not alone in her husbandless existence. There were hundreds and hundreds of women in Sunwei like her, whose menfolks had sailed the wide seas for the Beautiful Country and never returned. There remained, however, always the hope that someday they would come back. When pressed by his wife to return for another visit, as some of the others had done, Wah Gay gave the urgency of business as an excuse.

      Maybe next year. Maybe the year after next. And the dutiful wife waited and hoped. She faithfully went to the market place every Sunday and prayed for her husband’s return, just as she had fervently pleaded for his return home with the idols at the temples prior to her conversion to Christianity.

      Her husband’s picture, taken at Bear Mountain many years ago on an excursion, adorned the wall of the main meeting room of the church. It showed Wah Gay a happy and jovial man in a white linen suit. Now, always when he thought of this picture hanging in the market’s only church some fifteen thousand li from New York, he would chuckle. His wife had good-humoredly written him that down would come his picture if he ever failed to send money home.

      Wah Gay himself had not gone to church since he quit Miss Clark’s evening class at P.S. 23. On Sundays he had gone to the nearby First Presbyterian Church, more to learn conversational English than to practice religion.

      At that time, he was helping out at Wang Chuck Ting’s. Little did he think then that someday he would do nothing but play mah-jong and the horses. Wah Gay was not the type of man to be against anything. Because he himself did not work, that did not mean he was opposed to working. On the contrary, he believed in working, especially for young, able-bodied men. He wanted to see other people work, particularly his son Ben Loy. Young people, he said, should not be so lazy as to prevent them from working. Many times he had said to Ben Loy: “If you don’t work when you’re young, you’re going to find out that you can’t work when you’re old.”

      The fact that Ben Loy had worked steadily and not drifted, like so many other young men in a big city, brought a measure of pride and satisfaction to the father. He ventured to think that, after the marriage, Ben Loy would work that much harder because he would have a family to support. Instead of having to keep track of his son himself, he would have a daughter-in-law to take over the responsibility. A year or so after the wedding, a grandson, perhaps. Or a granddaughter? A boy first? Our Chinese people always like boys. But what if it turns out to be a girl? It would not matter. Girls are better appreciated in America than boys anyway.

      He had told Ben Loy to tell his mother that he would like to bring his bride to America with him when he returned to New York. He had hinted that, as a matter of diplomacy, he should at least discuss the matter with his mother and let her decide for him. That was the son’s filial duty.

      The father’s own private feeling, however, was that he would rather see his brand new daughter-in-law remain in China, at least for the time being. She would keep the mother-in-law company and look after her wants until, in a few years perhaps, she would pass away. Then Ben Loy could bring his wife over to the Golden Mountain.

      On the other hand, he had no desire to see his son follow his own example of leaving his wife in China permanently. He was hoping that, in the remaining years which marked the late evening of Lau Shee’s life, she might find her loneliness more bearable with a daughter-in-law to share her tribulations. And some grandchildren too. The house would be filled with tiny, sweet, innocent voices.

      During the ensuing weeks, Wah Gay and Lee Gong kept their little secret to themselves. No one at the Money Come even suspected that Ben Loy was already on his way to China, let alone to marry Lee Gong’s only daughter. It would have proved embarrassing if one of the principals undertook to cancel the wedding plans. This way no one would know. But deep in his heart Wah Gay felt it was merely a matter of his son liking the girl. It was inconceivable that any girl should find Ben Loy undesirable as a husband. Everything would go through as planned, if the prospective bridegroom approved of the girl.

      In addition to the expense money already given Ben Loy in the form of money orders and certified bank checks, Wah Gay had sent a small remittance to Sang Chong Bakery in Sands Market, owned by a cousin from the same village, for forwarding to his wife Lau Shee. In the accompanying letter he had instructed that a gold necklace at least eight tsing in weight be ordered from the local jeweler as a wedding present for the bride from the father-in-law. Ben Loy was an only son. Since there were no other sons, the gift would not set a precedent of expense which would have to be followed for each one.

      Wah Gay had suggested to his wife that she should feel free to give whatever she wanted to her future daughter-in-law. Rings, bracelets, gold coins, or even another necklace. Those who could afford it would give many gifts to their daughter-in-law. Wah Gay thought a gold necklace was sufficient. Not that his future daughter-in-law did not deserve more, but he felt that so long as he gave her something, it would satisfy the tradition of gift-giving. Anything more would be vanity. He was not a wealthy man and he did not want to pretend to be one.

      In the meantime Lee Gong had written to his wife Jung Shee, telling her that Wang Ben Loy was on the way home, that he was twenty-four years old, a very good boy, a very hard-working boy without vices.

      In New York the two old heads bided their time and played mah-jong, knowing that any day now they would become relatives.

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