Sinking, not Waving

There were days. Balmy, slightly overcast, days when we parked near 99 Speedmarket and partook of char kweuy teow from the small flatbed lorry belonging to Leow Pen Sen and his wife.

Those charred rice noodles came with moist cockles, prawns and the Chinese sausage called lap cheong. The lorry parked quasi legally, without council consent but with the full approval of the visiting school children and office workers who knew where to get the best for their money.

Husband and wife worked so hard, frying rice, frying rice noodles, making sweet herb desserts with Longan. They barely had time to rest before the constant demands of customers were met. They were the finest examples of the protestant work ethic, even though they were Taoist.

The country where I rest is like that.  Some work their non-existent socks off to make an honest living, while others believe that the world should be handed to them on a plate. So the world turns. Vile words are spoken in anger. Those words resound and resonate, growing louder and more vile with the remembering. Strong branches fall beneath the onslaught of the wind and there are pieces not being picked up.

After the storm, silence. It is an uncomfortable silence, full of malevolence beneath the surface, partially caged tigers of anger. It is but the eye of the storm. It is where everything appears calm, but isn't.

Not all husbands and wives can last like the hard working, rice noodle, couple. There are pressures which rise and fall in a tempestuous sea of emotions. Her persistant past lovers constantly call, upsetting the equilibrium.  New angers arise as his frailties become all to apparent. It is the too-ness and the fro-ness, the ebb and flow of life which squeezes metaphorical blood from petrified humanity.

The desire to escape worries in a barrage of work leads to yet more worries, as those once dear are left behind, lost in the rush. Those forlorn, formerly beloved, hold out needy hands, but are swept away by the overwhelming tide. There are no life-rafts, no life-bouys, no life guard to rescue the drowing - sinking, not waving amidst the onslaught.