Last of Her Name by Mimi Lok

Author:Mimi Lok
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781885030658
Publisher: Muae Publishing (Kaya)
Published: 2019-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Nobody looked up from their meals or their newspapers. They could not be pried from their dull serenity.

IV.

Wai Lan just happens to be passing by Sing’s house as he returns from his rounds. Leaning on the metal gate, she introduces herself as Fong’s cousin and asks if he has a letter for her. He says no, and she asks him what he’s doing for the rest of the afternoon. When he tells her he’s going fishing in the bay, she seems disappointed and announces that she’ll occupy herself somewhere else then. But there she is the next day. This time she asks him what he hopes to catch, and he says, Whatever wants to be caught. As he goes inside, he thinks she is still at the gate looking at him. The day after that she is at the gate yet again, this time as he is leaving, and she invites herself along, asking does he mind, and he says fine, as long as she doesn’t complain if she gets bored. And so she goes with him that day and the day after and the day after that.

At first she doesn’t say much as she sits in the boat with him. (Years later, unable to maintain a clear memory of her face, he will carry in his head a bright landscape of sky and trees and the wide, still bay, disturbed only by the presence of a small boat and two blurry figures sitting in it, half obscured by the sunlight). Instead she trails her fingers in the water as he sings village songs in a low, humming voice. When she does begin to talk, she asks him how he learned to tie that funny knot, and what’s the biggest fish he’s caught, and has he ever loved anyone. He tries to answer her in a way that he hopes isn’t too inviting or too dull. He can’t tell if she’s listening or not; oftentimes she’ll be leaning over the boat edge, staring into the green water, her fist under her chin.

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