Translated…
Grandma Cheng from next door had gone to the psychiatric department to get the medications again, she’d taken care of her husband who’d become paralyzed by stroke for over twenty years now, her body, her mind were both under great duress, she was diagnosed with depression, couldn’t sleep at night, cried endlessly during the daytime. A woman in her seventies, taking care of a man in his eighties, it’s really, heartbreaking, just thinking about that scene.
not my photograph…
Originally, grandma didn’t have a hired help, because she’s not accustomed to having an outsider living in her house, but, Grandpa Cheng cried to her, begged and pleaded, “Don’t send me into a nursing home, there’s nobody I know there!”, and so, Anya was there.
Being small-framed, with eyes black as coal, a Malaysian who smiled all the time, Anya, grandma called her, “Aya”, and, grandpa’s thick accent made her name sounded like “ouch”. Don’t matter, so long as she understood. And, with a younger woman in the house, the atmosphere got turned completely.
With Anya looking after grandpa, grandma got the chance to go to her old friends to hang out, to have some coffees, to gossip a bit, then, play a few rounds of mahjong, to exercise her mind, and, she’d gone to the salons every now and then, to the temples with all the elderly ladies, slowly, she’d gotten off, her sleep aids. There were, even more noticeable changes in Grandpa, he’d not only looked better, gotten stronger physically, he’d become, more talkative too, and he’d said he wanted to teach “Ouch” to write calligraphy too.
As for Anya, she’d gained three kilograms a month, and, life began, for these two elderly and the younger woman.
not my photo still…
Grandma loved Anya so, she’d said, “My granddaughter is Anya’s age, she has her parents who loved her, and, her laundry, the dishes, are all done by her mom, still acts like a child that needed the adults to worry, and, Aya needed to go to a distant land, to make the money, to put her younger siblings through school. She’d given me a ton of help, helped with grandpa, so, whatever she’d liked to eat, I’d bought, I’m not afraid of giving her too much to eat!” as Anya massaged Grandpa’s legs, she’d squinted her eyes and smiled on.
Grandma who didn’t like spicy, or sour foods bought the spicy and sour chili pastes of the southeastern flavors, and, she’d stuffed the pantry of Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian instant noodles, and, the fridge was packed with a ton of foreign flavored ingredients, and that, was how Anya became three kilograms heavier.
One day, mom told me to give some of her freshly made dumplings to Grandma Cheng, Anya came to the door, said that grandpa and grandma are napping. I’d found that there was a set of painting materials by the tea trays, as well as a half-done picture of a farm. I’d walked closer, there was, the green rice paddies, a small grass hut by the back of the fields, and, several tall coconut trees behind the hut swaying in the wind, a small creek close by, with the cattle drinking, a red-dressed little girl, looking up, daydreaming, as she watched the clouds. Anya pointed to the little girl, “that’s me.”, and, she was so excellent in art, that it was, as if, I can hear the water, running from the small stre4ams.
Anya showed me the drawing tools she’d received, grandpa knew she loved to draw, and asked the boss (grandpa’s son) to buy the material for her, and said, that when she’s not doing anything, she can draw. She’d left her home for many years now, she’d never thought that she would have the chance to pick up drawing again, the family treated her way too kind, as she spoke, her eyes turned red. Turned out, Grandpa didn’t teach Anya calligraphy writing, instead, allowed her to, miss her hometown in watercolor instead.
And now, there would be, “Aya!” followed by, “I’m coming!”, so well matched. And, under the old sycamore, grandpa would hold on to that small radio, as he’d bobbed his head to the music of the traditional Chinese opera, and Anya would focus on, clipping grandpa’s nails, and, carefully, trimmed the edges, the gentle breeze blew across her bangs, there was, that unspoken, enormous amount, of gentleness from her lowered, and focused eyes.
So, this, is how these elderly come, to treat the woman who was hired to help look after them as their family, because this woman was very studious, hardworking, and she’d accompanied the elderly, becoming a companion, instead of just a hired helper, and this is the kindness that we all want to see in the world…
Life, the Obstacle Course 