Another evening at Haji Lane
A: I was at a demonstration…
B: Oh! A demonstration!
A: No. They don’t do that in Singapore, remember? A demonstration of broadband blah blah…B: We’re like the Venice of the East.
A: Soon the gondolas will go down Orchard Road.A: I want to ask my father about…
B: Whether he sired any illegitimate children?
A: Yes, I’m sure that’ll be one of my questions. Do I have any half-Vietnamese half-siblings?B: Ok, time for the show-and-tell. This word here (from calligraphy class) means peace. It reminds me of those weird-ass tattoos you see on white people who don’t know what the Chinese characters mean. You could write “kick me” and they wouldn’t know.
A: I would love to have “kick me” in calligraphy.
B: That could be arranged.A: I’d like tattoos saying Haemophiliac Type B in the language of every country I’ve been to.
B: It depends on the educational level of the tattoo artist. I don’t think tattooists would be able to translate that. I wouldn’t know what it is in Chinese, for instance.
A: Oh I’ll get the doctors to write it down.
B: What about instructions on what to do?
A: It’ll say “flip over for instructions” and the instructions will be on the back. Or lift left leg for instructions and they’ll be on my thigh.B: I’m sure many people attend church not so much because they believe but more for the social and community opportunities. Like a ritual for a family on Sunday.
A: Our family ritual on Sundays was to visit the Original House of Pancakes…
B: Of course. It has to be Original…
A: and read the Sunday papers in silence. My mother and sister always felt offended that we didn’t talk.
B: Well, they can talk to each other.
A: Yes, we should have just placed them at the Talker’s Table.