Joss and Gold

Eight

Eight Enen and Che"er liked each other immediately. "So, this is the secret boyfriend," she said, poking him playfully in the ribs. "Why she's hiding you? So husband no see?" Chester laughed. "Husband see, husband don't mind. I'm just a harmless guy from the United States of America." He lifted his arms to show he had nothing to hide. She poked him again, but he wasn't ticklish. "Hal" She poked him some more. "When men sniff around, they want only one thing." Li An was painfully embarrassed. "Ellen doesn't think women and men can be friends without some hanky-panky." "That's never been my experience either." Chester bowed to Ellen, who laughed loudly and pressed a hand to her side as if she were having a stitch. "At last," he said, "a Malaysian with a sense ofhumorl" Ellen wasn't pleased Paroo was to begin teaching in Petaling Jaya in January. "You'll see," she warned moodily, "he's a troublemaker. Better watch out, Chester. Some people bring trouble wherever they go." "That's not fairl" Li An remembered Paroo's face all slack with unresisting tears at Chester's offer. "Why, Paroo is the one who suffers from other people's troubles. He is all soft. He couldn't make trouble if he tried." "That's exactly what I'm saying." Ellen moved a chair vigorously from one side of the room to the other. She glared CROSSING and shook her head when Chester offered to help. "What do you think I am, soft like Paroo?" Ellen had found a two-story house in old Petaling Jaya, where fast-growing softwood trees kept the front yard in deep shade and a constant litter of rotting leaves. Overgrown bushes bloomed with blood-red ixora. The house had an appearance of utter neglect, and the gray-green ivy trailing over the hurricane fence-an original sight in an area of pampered flowering hedges-added to its air of desolation. The rent was exorbitant , but Ellen preferred living alone, and her parents helped with expenses. Her job at Weston Allen was so-so, she said. It didn't pay as well as it should because it had three levels of pay for the same work: a high salary for the British brought over on two-year contracts, a lower salary for the Malaysian men, who were all scrambling for promotion, and the lowest pay for women like Ellen, who were hoping the company would change its policy soon. Dragging the rocker closer to the coffee table, she placed her bare feet on the glass top with a bang. "You know, Paroo's a jinx. He's empty inside. That's the kind that attracts trouble . Nature abhors a vacuum." Li An thought Henry would have approved of Ellen's words. Newton had said that. Or was it Einstein? "We know Gina was the trouble, but she would have survived if it wasn't for the vacuum." Ellen kicked at the tabletop viciously with her heel. "You'll see, he's a parasite. He needs to suck on someone, and you'll be the one, Chester." But then, one could say that Paroo would have been all right if Gina hadn't come along, Li An thought. Remembering what Henry had said about her arguing, she kept silent instead. "Isn't it true?" Ellen appealed to Li An. "Gina was just like us. We all have problems. That's life. Of course," she smiled maliciously, "Li An doesn't know yet she has problems, but we know, right, Chester?" "So why should Gina have killed herself?" Ellen's voice spun upwards. "We're strong. Gina was a strong person. It's Paroo's fault she's dead." 59 JOSS and GOLD She caught herself on the up spin of hysteria and laughed. "If only you men would leave us women alone, we'd be all right." Li An picked up the beer mug from the coffee table as Ellen's foot swept close to it. Chester leaned back on his chair as far as he could. It was Saturday afternoon and Henry was at the Goethe Institute studying German with Mrs. Schneider. He was already able to read some elementary passages. Li An had refused to take the course with him. "It will give me something to do when I'm in Germany," she...