Ride on Time

Chapter 81

Getting out of the house was like finally coming out of a suffocating room of toxic smoke. He almost ran back to red Perodua Viva, which seemed like the only mode of escape from a life of torture. The sudden bright light at the end of an endless dark tunnel.
Mitsuo already wanted to leave, Shree and Vasu looked just as eager too, standing beside him as he leaned against the rear of the minivan.
"Aiyo, why so long..." Shree groaned. She turned to the house and saw her grandmother and Sherry laughing about something, her mother carrying a two very large bulging tote bags. As if that wasn't enough, two boxes of mandarins were resting in the car's boot.
"That's why lah," Vasu groaned as well. "So long..."
Mitsuo turned to look and saw that they were exchanging goodbyes. "I think they're done."
To his dismay, they weren't. They were still talking.
"Nope," Shree sighed. She turned to her brother. "Vasu, the key with you, right?"
"Yep," Vasu held up the keys to show her.
"Let's go sit inside," Shree chuckled. "At least can sit in air con."
As soon as they did, Chandrika and Devi exchanged their last goodbyes with Sherry and made their way to the car. To their dismay, Sherry came along, still chattering.
"Darn..." Shree sighed, shaking her head in the backseat.
"Ah okay ah," Sherry said when the two women got in at the back beside Shree. "Careful ah."
"You also," Devi waved back as she sat. "Bye."
The rest bade polite farewell and at last drove off. Everyone, including Devi, heaved a sigh of relief.
"Aiyo, that Sherry is asking such irrelevant and personal questions," Devi complained in Tamil. "But if we ask about her, she won't tell us anything."
"Awah, what lah, the husband asking what what all," Shree piped up. "Ask how are you doing not enough, asking about kidney, heart all."
"I found that very disturbing too," Mitsuo nodded in agreement. "I don't know about you guys, but I definitely can't handle people like this every Lunar New Year."
"Oh, not Chinese New Year only lah," Devi chimed in. "Diwali time also she will come, she will ask all sorts of questions."
"That sounds bad..." Mitsuo shuddered at the thought. "How do you guys even handle them?"
"I have no idea," Vasu sighed. "Only Awah does it."
"And Mom," Shree added with a snort.
"Yeah," Chandrika sighed tiredly.
"Eh, Sherry's husband says that he has retired, do you think that's true?" Devi suddenly switched back to Tamil.
"I don't know, Ma, they are capable of lying," Chandrika replied, also in Tamil.
"This isn't about me, is it?" Mitsuo asked Vasu in a low voice.
Vasu shook his head, sparing him a brief glance as he drove. "Nah."
"That's what I'm saying too," Devi agreed to her daughter's statement. "She was showing me a picture just now, when he went to China and smashed his fingers. She was showing me each person in the photo and suddenly said 'this one his boss'." She even tried to imitate her voice when saying that phrase in English.
'Okay, it's definitely not about me,' Mitsuo inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.
Devi then went on complaining about how Sherry practically pries at the family's personal stories. Mitsuo didn't blame her one bit, considering how he really did see how much she pried.
The only valuable thing he learned at the Chinese household was the fact that the Chinese give oranges to their friends as a symbol of good luck.
And there was also this hard leafy stuff he had seen Sherry hand to Devi, who put them in one of the tote bags,
"Can I ask, what's that stuff that Sherry gave to Obaasan?" Mitsuo asked. "That thing wrapped in leaves with a flat top..."
"Wrapped in leaves with a flat top?" Shree repeated confused. Then she suddenly realised what it was. "Oh! Kuih Bakul!"
"What's that?" Mitsuo asked.
"Basket... kuih," Shree sighed when she couldn't find the proper translation for kuih. "You know kuih, right? Something like snack, like Wagashi."
"So it's a sweet?" Mitsuo asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Shree nodded. "The Chinese eat it as a sign of good luck or Ong. And giving it to people also represents giving ong to others, I think. I know that giving Mandarin Oranges means that."
Mitsuo nodded understandingly. "I see... one more question. What's that we ate for dessert?"
"That's Longan and red dates," Devi said. "Like soup. Or like tea."
"Longan...?" Mitsuo repeated the name of the fruit.
"Look it up, the name's the same in English," Shree said.
Mitsuo nodded and did look it up, spelling it wrong but still ending up with the correct result. He tapped on the picture of a brown berry-like fruit and showed it to Shree. "Is it this one?"

"That's not it..." Shree snorted. "That's mata kucing, cat's eye."
"Oh..." Mitsuo frowned and retrieved his phone.
"But Longan also look like that only," Devi piped up. "Same like that."
"Oh, okay..." Mitsuo nodded. "It was good, though."
"Yeah, the best part of Sherry's cooking," Vasu added. "One of her sons go to the same school as me, and even said that. Apparently, the whole family longs for Awah's cooking every Deepavali."
Shree chuckled. "I remember the husband once called his wife an airhead."
"Masuk angin, right?" Chandrika chuckled. "Yeah, I also remember."
Mitsuo snorted to himself. "Well, at least they're generous?"
"Generous also she still ask so much question, what," Devi pointed out. "That's why we never bring the other car. She see that one means, aiyo..."
"Yeah, I think I can tell where it would go," Mitsuo nodded understandingly.

Vasu drove directly to a Buddhist shrine in Section 4. There were at least two, right next to a Hindu temple and a Baptist church.
"Alright, this is Section 4," Shree said when she got out of the car with the rest. "It's like the 'city' of Old Town, where the first market, hospital, and school of Petaling Jaya was built. It also has a Hindu temple, a few Buddhist shrines, a mosque, and two churches. This one is Baptist, the other one, the Assumption Church, is a Catholic one."
"I see..." Mitsuo nodded, taking his book out to note it down. "So Old Town is basically the oldest civilisation in Petaling Jaya?"
"Yep," Shree nodded.
"You guys wanna go to the temple or not?" Vasu sighed. "We're literally standing in the middle of the road."
Shree and Mitsuo only just realised before following the others into the Buddhist temple.

-masuk angin is actually a more offensive term for airhead or whacko lol. Masuk angin actually translates to enter air or inflated. So basically, it means that one's head or brain is full of air. Yep.