Joss and Gold

Eight

Eight Auntie Ellen was in a bad mood. H" face wa, cro", like in the cartoons when Nancy was angry with Sluggo, and she wore a big mouth like an upside-down watermelon slice. Except Auntie Ellen's mouth got narrower and thinner, more like a scythe. It meant, Watch out! I don't care who you are, get out of my way! Li An had said she would've been promoted to schools supervisor a long time ago, ifshe didn't have such a bad temper. But Auntie Ellen only laughed. "I cannot even supervise you and Suyin! It's hard enough to take care of twenty-five teachers, how to supervise hundreds?" Suyin wouldn't talk to Auntie Ellen after she threw out her Seventeen magazines. "All rubbish! Lipstick and brassieres, boyfriends, perfume! You're too young to rot your mind with decadent values!" Suyin thought all school principals spoke like her Auntie Ellen. Bam! Bam! Bam! Why must she have a principal for an auntie? Her mother said, "She loves you. Attention is love, Suyin. She and Grandma Yeh are your closest relatives. We've got to stick together, no matter whatl" Suyin wouldn't answer. Even an aunt had no right to throw out her stuff without her permission. Auntie Ellen was always reminding her that she was only a child. But a child also had rights. And she knew secrets. She knew Auntie Ellen did not want to take her to Cafe Delon. LANDING She humphed when she took Suyin down to her car, humphed as she drove down Buona Vista Road and waited behind an empty bus that was pulling into the bus lane, and humphed as she was picking through the parking coupons. Usually she would smile victoriously when there was plenty of parking space and she found a spot under a tree. She had come straight from her Tai Chi class to drive Suyin to the cafe on Holland Road. "Just an excuse," she said, frowning as she stuck the parking coupons upright on the dashboard. "She's never had a deadline on Sunday. Why this Sunday? Hmmm!" "Why must I meet Mom's friend?" Auntie Ellen was very bad at lying. She displayed all her teeth every time she was faking. Suyin teased her, "False smile, false smile!" "Aiyah, cannot help it," Ellen said. "Like a hyena, I must laugh and bare fangs. Best thing is to be direct. But, in my job, must be DIP-PLO-MA-TICK! Look at the spelling lesson: the principal is your P-A-L. So I show teeth. Look, no bite!" She showed all her teeth this time. "Hummph!" "Is he someone important?" "We'll see." They were walking under the awning of some shops. Auntie Ellen was wearing her sunglasses and almost stumbled over a bamboo stool; she put out a hand and it just missed a stack of twig baskets. A whole raft of rolled-up pandan mats shook as she held on to the plastic cord that roped in the rattan goods-plaited elephants, hampers, doll furniture sets, trunks, plant hangers-and the shopkeeper in his white singlet came hurrying out, yelling, "Hey, hey!" Auntie Ellen pretended not to hear and kept on walking. "I haven't seen him in almost twelve years. Don't know if he is bald or not, same or not." She, of course, was ageless, or so she joked. "School principals are gold," she often boasted. "Never tarnish, always currency . In Singapore education, only gold will do. Pure merit never ages." Suyin recognized him immediately-the tall, uncomfortable -looking white man, the ang moh standing guard by the 215 JOSS and GOLD only unoccupied table in the cafe. Her mother used to like Cafe DeIon until it got popular. Now the small tables were stuffed with ang moh and their pretty girlfriends, the marble tabletops all covered with funny porcelain ashtrays shaped like bathtubs, toilet bowls, or encyclopedias, and different shaped glasses of cappuccino and Italian fizzes. She was sure it was her mother who had suggested Cafe DeIon. He was looking quite pathetic alone, holding the table for them. Suyin had already figured he was someone who knew her father. Last night, her mother had been distracted. "Auntie Ellen will be bad tempered," she warned. "Just ignore her. Say hello nicely to Chester. He's not a ghoul, no matter what Auntie Ellen...