House of Trembling Leaves, The (27 page)

A firecracker went off in the distance. ‘‘
Gung hei! Gung hei!
'' cried Lu See, passing out mooncakes to the hungry boys and girls. ‘‘Compliments of the Teohs. Enjoy them while they are warm!'' Nearby, women from the Woo household removed round cakes from woven baskets, distributing the circular pasteboard packages to the elderly. Lu See exchanged polite nods with them.

The children danced about the village square, banging gongs and watching the sun slide beyond the horizon and oohing as the bright full moon materialized in the sky. Red paper lanterns appeared on the end of long bamboo poles – butterflies, carp and rabbits lit from within by trembling candles.

‘‘Can I play too?'' asked Mabel, hopping from foot to foot.

‘‘Of course you can,'' replied her mother.

Lu See watched the children skip along arm in arm. She smiled with pride, but jerked her head round on sensing others staring at her. And there they were: the men from the jungle, the MPAJA soldiers. Watching her like buzzards over carrion.

Each of them had similar hard-boned faces – square cheekbones, sharp jaw lines and dull-black hair. The tallest and oldest, thought Lu See, the one barking orders, with the bare chest and fat rubbery lips, he must be the leader.

Strutting with thumbs in belts, they swept around the village square, circling like buzzards. Lu See could smell the sweet scent of their clove cigarettes. She counted their weapons: two of them held
parangs
; the others all carried rifles slung across their shoulders. And then there was the boy too, the one she'd spotted only days earlier, the ten-year-old with the Japanese service pistol stuffed in his belt.

A drunken river fisherman stumbled towards Le See. His dishevelled face resembled a shipwreck with eyelids lowered at half mast. She happened to be right in his line of vision.

‘‘You!'' he yelled, spraying spittle and lurching like a boxer on the ropes. Lu See's features pulled tight. ‘‘I know you!'' She took a step backwards, but he followed. The alcohol made him daring and he was spoiling for a fight. ‘‘You are the treacherous woman who sided with Tozawa.'' Faces pivoted in their direction. The children stopped dancing and banging gongs. Laughter ceased.

The celebratory mood vanished.

‘‘You think just because you are a Teoh you are immune? We dealt with a Woo the other day. Don't think we won't do the same to you.'' The drunken fisherman, wagging his finger, was joined by the woman from the pith wood store and a barefoot goat herder.

‘‘When we had nothing to eat, she would go and buy him black market sugar!'' the woman accused. ‘‘I saw with my own eyes!''

‘‘And when she finished her work, his car would drive her to her home, like she was big city concubine!'' cited the fisherman.

The goat man began to whip up the crowd, chanting, ‘‘Japanese friend, we will find you in the end!'' His matted, stringy chin-beard swayed as he strode up to Lu See. She could smell him now, rank and stale like a wet towel in a bag. ‘‘What should we do with her?'' he bellowed. ‘‘Thought you could get away with it, eh?''

Lu See held his gaze, calmly. ‘‘Get away with what, exactly?''

‘‘Leave my daughter alone!'' cried Mother, clutching Mabel close.

The drunk hiccupped: ‘‘Tear off her clothes! Shame her!''

The goatherd pulled a pair of shearing scissors from his knapsack. ‘‘We cut the wool from goats and whores,'' he said.

Uncle Big Jowl, sucking in his stomach, tried to muscle his way in but was seized and held back by several of the villagers as others, a large boisterous group, formed a ring with Lu See at its centre. Lu See felt a woman's nailed hand reach forward to grab at her top. The cloth ripped, exposing her bare shoulder.

‘‘Let's teach her a lesson!'' yelled the drunken fisherman.

Just then James stepped forward. He pointed a hand to the moon like an Old Testament prophet. ‘‘The upright are the ones that will reside on this earth. The wicked will be cut off from the very world, and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.' Proverbs 2:21. This woman is innocent, leave her be.''

The goat herder arched his eyebrows with surprise and glared at James' clean-shaven face, taking in his pop-eyed gaze. ‘‘Who the hell are you?''

‘‘I am a lamb of Jehovah.''

‘‘Lamb?''

‘‘Yes, lamb. Baa-baa, lamb.'' James smiled a beatific smile.

Temporarily nonplussed, the goatherd fluttered his hand to shoo James away.

‘‘Happy are the mild-tempered ones, for they shall inherit the earth.'' James beamed with eye-bursting gusto. ‘‘I strongly advise you to leave my sister alone,'' he said. ‘‘She has committed no crimes. And you really ought to shave off that beard. Beards sprout from the forelock of Satan.''

‘‘Precisely!'' howled Peter from within the melee, finding his voice.

The goatherd shoved James to one side. Lunging, he snatched at a length of Lu See's hair and pushed her to the ground amongst the chicken droppings. She fought back, but the years of grappling with livestock had made the man strong. A strip of teeth and upper gum flashed as he snared another handful of her mane.

‘‘Renounce!'' he insisted. ‘‘Renounce what you did.''

She saw a glint of metal by her left eye. The jaws of his shearing scissors bit into her hair. She let out a short sharp gasp. Black clumps of hair fell to the ground like scorched wheat.

She grasped his wrist, holding him at bay. People, their expressions grim and fortress-like, made clicking sounds of encouragement. They jostled forward, eager to witness the Teoh woman being punished. She waited for someone to cry out that she was innocent, that all this was a huge mistake, but nobody did.

‘‘I've done nothing wrong.'' Her voice was small and did not sound like her own. ‘‘Get Mabel away from here,'' she heard herself say. The very thought of her daughter watching this made her chest jump and rear. She'd once read about a village in Borneo that apprehended offenders by doping a parrot, taking it to the identity parade and urging it to fly onto the shoulder of the guilty party. Usually the parrot landed on an innocent who, wrongly accused and powerless to do anything about it, was hanged or beaten with bamboo canes. Lu See's predicament felt exactly the same.

Lu See clenched her teeth. Whatever happened she was going to maintain her dignity.

Women tugged their earlobes in consternation. Men watched with the serpent stares of moneylenders. Somewhere in the background she heard Mother objecting vociferously and her brothers pleading.

A momentary stillness settled. And then a gunshot cracked the air.

Lu See looked to see the MPAJA leader with the rubbery lips by her side. Bare-chested, the tall old man aimed his firearm between the goatherd's eyes.

Lu See focused on the leader's smooth, sinewy forearm. She saw the tendons contract as he thumb-cocked the hammer of his revolver; muscles like walnuts pushed under the dark skin. She watched as he adeptly pressed the muzzle a fraction above the goatherd's eyebrows.

His sweat-shined knuckles twitched.

The goatherd's mouth opened and closed like a dying goldfish. The crowd watched transfixed. The goatherd dropped his shearing blades.

Nobody moved; it was as though the entire village had stumbled into the centre of a minefield and didn't know where to place their feet.

All of a sudden Lu See heard herself speak, surprising herself as words tumbled out of her mouth. ‘‘Please don't hurt him,'' she said. ‘‘I can see why he is angry, but please don't shoot him.''

The tall old man ran a tongue across his rubbery lips. The goatherd's eyes darted about as if for a place to run. But his legs had set with cement.

The old man's finger kissed the trigger, caressing it lightly

‘‘
Hum gaa chaan!
Open your eyes, you miserable lot of satay suckers. You see how this woman is? You accuse her of treachery yet forget how she gives out mooncakes to your children. You threaten her yet when the tables are turned she begs for mercy on your behalf.''

The MPAJA leader lowered his revolver and gave the goatherd a kick in the arse to help him on his way. Watching him scuttle off, he threw out a calloused hand, which Lu See clutched. The sky came rushing at her too quickly as he pulled her to her feet; she put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. ‘‘This woman is neither a traitor nor a colluder; she is an asset to this village,'' he added. ‘‘I expect you to treat her as so.
Sai yun tau!
Dead man's head!''

Gasping and almost rigid with shock, Lu See glared at the sea of faces. Her voice trembled. ‘‘We have all been through a terrible war,'' she said. ‘‘Some of us have suffered more than others, but let's not kid ourselves - everyone suffered at the hands of the Japanese.'' Her insides shook like a reed. ‘‘Everyone lost someone or something dear to them. We have all swum in the same water, but we are all different; we each have our own personal moral code. Mine was to do whatever I could to protect my family. I worked for Tozawa; it's true; I cooked in his kitchen. But every day felt like I was sacrificing a piece of my soul. In return he paid me a small amount of money. I never gave myself to him. I never revealed any secrets. I never passed him any of your personal information. If you think that is a crime then so be it, but I know I have done nothing wrong. I can hold my head high.''

Lu See snapped her mouth shut; she wanted to wail angrily at the crowd, wanted to wave a fist at them. But she just glared at them. The woman from the pith wood shop backed away. The drunken fisherman scratched his throat and beat a retreat to the toddy shop. Ko, the shopkeeper, stared at his feet. Gradually, with embarrassed coughs and guilty collar-tugs, the rest of the squirming throng dispersed.

Mabel rushed up and leapt into her arms. The force of her body sent Lu See back a step.

Lu See buried her face in her daughter's neck. She looked at the tall man and thanked him.

‘‘My name is Foo. My friends call me Fishlips. And this here,'' – he ran a hand through a boy's straggly hair – ‘‘this here is my grandson, Bong. His parents were taken by
Kempeitai.
They never returned.''

Lu See smiled at the boy with the Japanese service pistol stuffed in his belt; a boy with thirty-year-old eyes in the face of a ten-year-old. ‘‘Hello, Bong. This is my daughter Mabel.''

‘‘Hello,'' he replied, looking Mabel up and down. ‘‘You ever held a gun before?''

‘‘Come now, grandson, enough excitement for one day. Time we made camp.'' He spun on his heels and marched off.

As he turned into the jungle foliage Foo smiled at Lu See as if to say,
You owe me one.
And then he vanished.

Only later, having returned to the big house, when reality set in, did Lu See retreat to the back garden to throw up long pink strands of half-digested mooncake. With a violent shaking she leaned her weight on the wall to recover and realized that her mother had been right all along.

That night Lu See found Mother lying flat on her back on the billiard room floor. She had her arm flung above her head. She did not appear to be breathing.

‘‘Mother! Have you fallen? Mother!''

Her mother stirred. There was half a walnut shell over her left eye and a crudely rolled lit cigar smouldering in her ear.

‘‘What the hell–?''

‘‘All okay!'' blurted Mother, sounding anything but okay. ‘‘This is old-village acupuncture therapy. No need to panic!'' she said sounding panicky.

‘‘Why do you have a walnut on your eye?''

‘‘I soaked it in herbal tea. For treating eye disorders. And burning dried moxa leaves in ear helps circulation.''

‘‘I didn't know you had an eye disorder?''

‘‘I don't.'' She lifted a pyjamaed leg and bent it at the knee. ‘‘It's my nerves. Seeing what happened to you make them shake all over.''

Lu See wanted to tell her not to worry, but what good would that do? All her mother did these days was worry and complain.

‘‘I told you about the reprisals, but you always too stubborn. The shame of seeing you kneeling in the dirt today.'' Her hand went to her heart. ‘‘How can I hold my head up in this community now?''

‘‘It won't be for much longer. I discussed it with Uncle Big Jowl and we've decided to make the move to Kuala Lumpur.'' Lu See peeked out the window for any sign of villagers. ‘‘He will put the house and the remaining acreage up for sale. We will start a new life in the city. Maybe I can open a small restaurant or something.''

‘‘Restaurant,'' Mother said with disdain.

‘‘But there's something Uncle Big Jowl and I have to do before we leave. We have to reclaim the pipes we buried years ago and restore the church organ to its former glory. I owe it to Second-aunty Doris and Tak Ming.''

‘‘Restaurant,'' Mother repeated. ‘‘One of the most powerful families in Penang state before the war … and now? Running a chop suey house,'' she spat. ‘‘What am I going to do, wash dishes?'' Lu See pretended not to listen. ‘‘I'm sorry but I still cannot forgive your father selling our land to the Japanese. And for so cheap too! We used to have status  …'' The smoke billowed from her ear. ‘‘In one foul-bowel swoop he turned us into paupers! Paupers!''

‘‘Calm down, Mother. I thought your generation was meant to be good at hiding your feelings?''

‘‘How can I hide when your father acted like fishmonger on a hot day? Everything sell, sell, sell.''

‘‘His actions kept us alive.''

‘‘Alive? Who cares about alive? What about our social standing?''

Exasperated, Lu See made for the kitchen. She brewed herself a cup of Boh tea and leafed through the newspaper. ‘‘What's this?'' she said, reading a headline. ‘‘Mother, Uncle Big Jowl!'' she cried, racing into the living room. ‘‘Listen to this! It says here that the chairman of Hip Sing Rubber Processing Co. confessed on his deathbed that he was responsible for the 1935 dynamiting the Juru River dam. He claimed he did it in an attempt to ruin the nearby plantations and buy up land on the cheap.''