Ride on Time

Chapter 80

They arrived at a row of houses and Vasu stopped in front of a house with two gold-coloured Toyota cars, one a Vios and the other an Avanza.
"Don't talk to them much," Devi warned Mitsuo. "Nika, Vasu, you also."
Her grandchildren and Mitsuo nodded.
"Come," Chandrika said, opening the door and getting out of the car.
The five of them stood on the driveway of the home and waited. A middle-aged Chinese woman with mid-length pin-straight hair and round glasses soon came out and waved at them. She held out a small remote and pressed a button, making the electric gates slowly swing open. Mitsuo thought that they might as well just get a regular one and open it themselves.
"Hi!" Sherry greeted them. "Mrs. Sundram! How are you?"
"Fine, fine," Devi smiled as she hugged her. "How are you? Your children all okay?"
Sherry smiled. "All good, all good." Her gaze then fell on Shree. "Nika! How are you?"
Shree smiled awkwardly. "Fine, Auntie."
Sherry's gaze suddenly fell on Mitsuo, making his eyes widen in surprise. Vasu attempted to lead him in but the Chinese woman didn't budge.
"Eh, who is this?" Sherry pointed a thumb at Mitsuo, much to his surprise.
"My friend," Shree quickly said.
"Oh!" Sherry nodded. "Hi!"
Mitsuo bowed. "Nice to meet you... Auntie."
Sherry smiled and bowed too. "How are you?" She asked in Mandarin.
"Sorry, I don't speak Chinese," Mitsuo admitted with an apologetic bow.
"Oh..." Sherry looked a little disappointed.
She still thought he was of Chinese descent. An assimilated Chinese youth who didn't even know his own language, a banana as people sometimes said.
Sherry sighed and invited the five of them in. Mitsuo nodded and followed Shree into the house along with the rest.
The first thing to be seen in the house was an altar. He respectfully pressed his hands together in prayer, just as Shree's family did as they entered the house.
Sherry invited them over to the dining hall to eat.

Eating was the most agonising part for Mitsuo. It was bad enough eating among distant relatives, now he was eating among strangers. But he thought it was still worse for Shree's family.
Sherry was practically a crowbar prying at every detail in the family's life.
She even asked Vasu if he had a girlfriend and what he got for his STPM results the last two terms!
Mitsuo was a little glad that he wasn't the subject of it.
And he was very glad that that was done with.
Sherry then invited all of them to talk in the living room. A man with slightly greying hair was sitting on one of the couches, staring at his phone. He lit up upon seeing them and smiled, putting his phone down beside him.
"Mrs. Sundram," the man greeted with a nod.
Devi chuckled and held her daughter's arm as she went to the couch and sat down beside him.
"How are you feeling?" The man asked.
Devi smiled. "Okay lah. I'm good."
"How is your diabetes?" The man asked, much to Mitsuo's surprise.
"It's okay," Devi sighed, trying to maintain her smile.
"Your blood pressure how? Okay ah?"
"Okay, okay."
"Your heart?"
"Okay."
"Your kidney?"
Mitsuo shook his head in disgust. If Sherry was bad, this guy was worse.
Luckily, Sherry came in and joined the conversation, squeezing herself between Devi and her husband. Mitsuo shuddered and pulled his book out of his bag to read, the happenings of each page getting more and more familiar.
Vasu smirked and turned to his sister, giving her a nudge before motioning towards Mitsuo. Shree chuckled and pulled her phone out.
Devi busily chatted with Sherry, talking about this and that. Vasu was a little amused, the conversation went from Sherry's estranged brother, to the story of her husband's fingers getting flattened by a falling table in China, to fatty pork chops, to other completely random things. He smothered a giggled and took his phone out too.
Mitsuo was just silently reading his book, not in the least focussed on his surroundings.
"Take some orange lah," Sherry's husband smiled, gesturing towards a stack of mandarin oranges packed in little red plastic bags.
The Indian family immediately leaned forward to help themselves. Mitsuo didn't seem to realise so Vasu gave him a light tap on the shoulder.
"Have one," Vasu handed him a red-wrapped mandarin.
Mitsuo nodded and put his book down on the coffee table before taking the orange, unpacking it before carefully peeling it with his fingers. He loved mandarin oranges and almost forgot that they were easiest available during this time.
Mitsuo happily ate his orange, careful to not make a mess on the couch or anywhere else around him. He didn't notice how Sherry's husband had reached forward to take his book.
The Collision of Two Worlds.
"This one... your book ah?" The man suddenly said.
"Mmm?" Mitsuo turned to him, confused. He spotted his precious book in the nosy man's grasp and groaned inwardly, not sure what is to come his way. But he still swallowed his mouthful of orange and nodded. "Yes."
The older man turned back to the book, regarding it with a slight frown. "You like reading Shri's books ah?"
Mitsuo nodded. "Yes, I have all three of the books written by him."
The man turned to him in surprise. "Three ah? Eh, no lah! this feller always writing in his free time. How can only three?"
"There are more published, but mostly short stories," Shree spoke up, much to Mitsuo's surprise. "I think his sister published them after his death."
"There's more?!" Mitsuo blurted out in surprise. "Where can I get them?!"
"I got see in AmCorp," the older man said, much to everyone's surprise. "They have his whole collection, I think."
Mitsuo frowned to himself. This guy was living so far away from Petaling Jaya, let alone the AmCorp Mall. He had seen like three malls on the way here but he still hung around in PJ?
"Uncle, did you know Shri Mohan?" Mitsuo asked. "Personally, I mean."
The older man smiled. "Yeah. He was my friend. We were quite close." He sighed, making a motion with his hand. "Pity that feller. Died just like that."
"I'm sorry," Mitsuo bowed slightly.
"Nah, nah, it's okay lah," the older man shook his head. "Very long time already. More than twenty years already all happened."
Mitsuo nodded silently and resumed his orange. He still kept a close eye on the Chinese man, who was flipping through the first few pages of the book. He stopped short when he spotted Misao's name on the cover.
"This one, your name ah?" The older man asked, holding the book up to show Mitsuo.
Mitsuo shook his head. "No. That's the past owner's. I got this preloved."
"From Japan ah?" The man asked again, staring at the name.
Mitsuo nodded. "Yes. From Japan. This book made its way there too, and it's pretty popular. Most of the copies have been translated to the Japanese language, but I managed to get one in English."
The older man nodded and put the book down on the table. "So you Japanese, lah?"
"Oh, that's why lah you don't know Mandarin," Sherry piped up. "Sorry lah, I didn't know."
Mitsuo nodded, hoping they wouldn't ask of him anymore. He heaved a sigh of relief when Sherry's husband placed the book back onto the table, without another word. The older man silently sat down without saying anything.
Mitsuo gladly retrieved his book and turned to the TV after packing up whatever's left of the orange into the little red bag. A funny Singaporean Chinese movie was on and he couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the funny scenes.
Sherry's children suddenly rushed down the steps and ducked beside the couch, where their parents and Devi sat, giggling and chattering softly in Chinese as they watched the movie. It seemed as if they came for that particular scene.
The Chinese couple had three children, two boys and one girl who all seemed grown up. One of the boys seemed to be the oldest, looking just like a younger version of his father, while the girl seemed to be the second, looking just like her mother. The youngest was their brother.
Mitsuo turned back to the television and watched a scene where the character, a taxi driver, gets pulled over by a cop for making an illegal u-turn. What made it funnier was the fact the policeman lectured on and on, making the taxi driver more aggravated by the second.
In the end, he gave the driver a summon, which he pronounced saman instead, and left. To the driver's dismay, the taxi broke down. So he hailed another taxi.
There too, he urged the driver to make an illegal u-turn, only to get pulled over by the same policeman who gave the same lecture.
"Your children's name what ah?" Devi suddenly asked when the comedic scene ended. "I still cannot remember."
Sherry's children looked at her with surprised eyes, but Mitsuo didn't think that it was because of the fact they still didn't remember their names. It looked more like she was at the subject of the question.
"The first one is Jonathan, the second one, Lynette, third one Giovanni," Sherry answered, pointing to them one by one.
"Your first son look exactly like his father, ah..." Devi remarked, nodding. "The girl looks like you."
"Yes, yes," Sherry nodded and proceeded to change the subject.