The Man Who Wore His Wife's Sarong by Suchen Christine Lim

Author:Suchen Christine Lim [Lim, Suchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912049097
Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd.
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Good morning, ah, Mrs Ling.”

“Good morning, Alice. This is my new maid.”

“Oh, your new maid, ah?” The receptionist at the clinic looks at her. “What happened to the old one?”

“I had to change her,” her ma’am replies.

“To change maids, you got to pay extra or not?”

“This maid agency is very good. The employer is allowed to make two changes. No need to pay. You pay a transfer fee only at the third change.”

Her ma’am hands over a sheath of official papers across the counter.

“Glori-ah An-ton-nia Bern-na-dette San-tos,” the receptionist reads out her name in the singsong lilt of the Chinese in this clean and green city where even the trees look neat and tidy, very different from the unruly trees back home. But the sunlight is the same, the same. The sun that shines in this rich city is the same sun that shines on her barangay.

‘Glor-ri-a!” the receptionist turns to her.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her voice squeaks like one of those tiny white mice in the pet shop. The clinic is full of watchful eyes. The eyes of these strangers are scrutinising her, eyes that say she’s the stranger, not them. She keeps her head down, suddenly ashamed of her shabby blouse and faded black pants. The receptionist continues to address her in a loud voice as if that will help her to understand better.

“You, ah! You take this cup and go to the toilet. You pass urine into the cup, okay? Make sure enough urine is inside the cup, not outside; otherwise cannot do the pregnancy test. You got pee or not? If cannot pee now, you drink some water.”

The woman turns to her ma’am.

“Must always tell them to drink water. Some of them, no pee, also go inside the toilet and stay there a long time. And their employer is out here waiting and waiting, and the maid is still inside the toilet. Many people complain to me. Other patients also want to use the toilet. So now I tell all the maids. Go drink some water first.”

Her ma’am smiles and shakes her head. “I know. You’ve got to spell out every single step before they do it right.”

“Ya, lor! Glor-ri-a, you go pee now.”

Head down, she walks towards the closed door.

“Oi! Not that door! The other door! That other one!” the receptionist shouts across the crowded waiting room.

A young man rises from his seat and points her to another door. He gives her an embarrassed smile. She nods, goes in and locks the door. The words, ‘thank you’, are stuck like a fishbone in her throat. She leans over the sink, turns on the tap and cups her two hands to drink some water. It’s only when she unzips her pants and squats over the plastic cup that she lets her tears fall.

A mother since age sixteen, she’s thirty-six but looks fifty-six. This is the medical examination to decide her fate. Make sure that she’s not pregnant before they will confirm her employment. What they don’t know is that she doesn’t want to get pregnant any more.

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