COFFEE & BISCUITS

Coming back from NYC to Chicago, I was greeted in front of my apartment building by the vision of a bright orange ticket happily sun-tanning on my car’s windshield’s wiper.  And up the building, on my desk, a pile of work laughs at my face.

Still, home is actually Chicago, and coming back to my own home is strangely comforting, despite all the dreaded work and expected work. 

The first night staying on the couch in my brother’s tiny new york apartment, as my brother (and then another brother) slept on the floor, a mosquito massacued us.  Specifically, for me it was my toe.  The next morning, Mom woke up, and naturally, came to the tiny living room where we slept and just sat there trying not to make any noise (but she couldn’t help but keep bustling around the kitchen doing this and that), we told her of the mosquito.  She said (in funny Cantonese of course),

“Let this old mama dai dai dai (meaning, beat the heck out of the mosquito)!” 

That was quite funny actually, the way she said it.

But basically, the 4 days in New York was an intense family reunion.  As I watched Phantom of the Opera for the 4th time, my Dad, who had never watched a Broadway show and insisted to watch this, kept raising his thumb excitedly, especially in response to “Think of Me”, and to my horror — even hummed during “That’s All I Ask of You”.   (This is because I constantly played the Phantom score on piano in high school…they are familiar with the songs even though they have seen the show).  Two little girls sat in front of me.  They hugged each other and cried their heart out (I mean, REALLY SOBBING) when Phantom gave up Christine and told her to go. 

My brothers and I fight all the time.  For example, the night before I left, my little brother and I fought over a straightening hair iron which I thought I lost and which he found in our pile of possessions in the storage room in LA.   So the sister discovered her long lost hair straightening iron in little brother’s bag, and told little Brother that she would take it back with her to Chicago.  Brother refused.  Sister refused to let go also.  Dad became the judge.  Little brother claimed that without the hair straightening iron his front hair looks like pubic hair.  Sister claimed that without the hair straightening iron she wouldn’t be able to get a boyfriend.  Old brother sat at the sideline and watched with amusement.  Dad sided with little brother.  Mother sided with sister.  Sister won the argument after delivering a forceful analogy with regard to Dad’s boat.  Brother’s ego was injured and decided to hide his head under a blanket cover for the rest of the night.  Sister went out with Older brother to take a breather, later came back and decided to secretly placed the hair straightening iron back in little brother’s bag.  The morning after, everybody pretended nothing had happened.