The plan was simple, and would make for much good all round. Mark would get the rest he needed and freedom from the disquieting influence of his grandmother, her mental faculties now badly deteriorating. Besides, Mark deserved a reward for having done so well in school. Boon needed a rest; indeed they all needed a rest. The six-week long tour coincided neatly with the end-of-year school vacation, and by the time they got back, the new house would almost have been ready. The tour would take them to the places that the children, ever since they were small, had been hankering to go to, because some of their classmates had been there – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Disneyland, Hawaii.
Mooi Lan with some persuasion and money might be induced to endure the old one a little longer. That wretched Ah Kum Soh, despite her irresponsible behaviour, could be asked to stay to be a companion to the old one. Even the idiot one, if Old Mother so wished, could be allowed to come and keep her company.
“I don’t want to go,” said Michael with resolution and Angela’s heart sickened, sickened at the thought of the old troubles starting all over again. She got Boon and Michelle to persuade him; it was no use. The boy remained resolutely silent, and only once said in a tone that left little for argument or persuasion, “I want to be with Grandma and Uncle Bock.”
“Thrash the boy,” Angela almost said to her husband, anger mounting, but she knew it would be of no use. It might make matters worse.
It was impossible to go off, leaving Michael in the house. In the end, Angela decided to stay behind, while Boon, Mark and Michelle went. It was a wrenching decision. It made her retire to her bathroom, to cry, in the manner of bitterly disappointed children.
“I love all my children in the same way; no one is a favourite,” she used to tell her friends, but in the privacy of her thoughts and feelings, she firmly believed this was not possible. She had tried so hard to be close to this very difficult child, but he had spurned her mother’s efforts all the way; how could she love him as much as she did Mark or Michelle? The resentment on more than one occasion had shaped itself into a wish. If only he had never been born, but it was a wish too horrifying for expression, and Angela suppressed it each time it had shaped itself.
The weeks of waiting for the return of the others were not as difficult as she had anticipated. The old one spoke less and was in her room most of the time. There was an occasion when she came out and spoke sharply to Mooi Lan, shaking her forefinger at her and calling her a snake, but Mooi Lan simply ignored her, much to Angela’s relief. Mooi Lan was at last learning how to handle the old one. Angela sent Mooi Lan home for a two-week rest; she felt the girl needed it, after the harrowing experiences of the past few months. She took leave from work, and found to her surprise that housework need not be a chore; she managed the cooking and house-cleaning superbly, helped by Aminah. The washerwoman was in tears again, having discovered the true nature of her daughter’s work. Sharifah had lied to her, had told her that she was working for a European family, at three times the wages she was getting from the last household. Angela tried her best to comfort her.
“What can you do? How can you stop her? Besides, she gives you money every month, doesn’t she? At least she thinks of her younger brothers and sisters.”
And the planning for the new house was pure pleasure. Angela had bought or borrowed from her friends stacks of glossy magazines on house decoration; she had a clear idea now what she wanted every room in the house to look like. Even the separate wing – she would spare no effort or expense to make it beautiful and comfortable, for, she told Mee Kin and Dorothy, the old one would not be there long, and it could later be converted into a comfortable den for Mark, or separate quarters for guests and entertainment.
Michael gave no trouble. He went to his grandmother’s room often; it was painful to see that another little metal cylinder on a red string had replaced the one she had thrown away, but this time, for the sake of peace, she would let things be. Such a state of affairs could not go on forever. Old Mother was now going to be 72.
The idiot one came on a few occasions and Angela had to make sure that he did not make himself a nuisance. The trophies were now in locked glass-cases; it was easy to keep the idiot relatively harmless by plying him with food for he often felt sleepy after eating and dozed off.
Michael seemed to be in a more cheerful mood. For weeks, Angela could not help thinking as she looked at her younger son: Because of you, there is no proper family holiday. You are both difficult and selfish. But the boy had passed his exams again; that ought to be balm enough.
The return of her family from the tour was one of great joy and relief to her; she wanted to see them again so badly. They looked well, happy and refreshed, especially Mark. He had grown very tall in the past few months; he was even taller than his father. In a few months he would sit for the Merit Scholarship examination. Angela never had the anxieties that other mothers suffered for their sons and daughters before examinations, for she had full confidence in him, and he had never disappointed her, not once.