In Remembrance: Tsai Gor bits and pieces

Earlier “Remembrance: Tsai Gor” was posted. For brevity then, snippets of memories by siblings could not be accommodated. Therefore this is a dedicated blog for that purpose.

What’s in here follows no preset order of age or seniority, nor time of composing. If it turns out that the details therein betray the identity amongst six siblings, so be it.

The intended purpose was for the posterity to know our Dad better.

1. Once I was returning with Dad to our Palace Mansion home. In the stairs he spotted maybe a dime or a penny and asked me to pick it up. I didn’t want to. He proceeded to giving me a tongue lashing. To date I still don’t remember if I did pick that coin up.

2. Another evening Dad took me to a street stall near Bamboo Monastery for chicken congee!

3. One mid autumn I asked Dad to make me a lantern. He took a pomelo and began to carve through it like people did to pumpkins in Halloween, with a lit candle inside. Before it was completed I got impatient and repeatedly hurried him. But mother told me not to hassle Dad because he was busy and tired.

4. In Praca de Ponte e Horta across Sun Sun Hotel, there was a circular circuit where kids rode bikes and tricycles. Once Dad took me to teach me to ride the bike. He told me to just keep pedalling while he would hold the bike at the back and kept pace with me. So I pedalled without stopping. Suddenly I saw him standing in front of me! Voilà, I just learned to ride a bike!

5. After Dad had finished his vacation in New York and Toronto, even gotten his “green card”, he flew back to Hong Kong. So we drove our old Accord cc4360 with our son, parked it at the Regal Airport Hotel across from Kai Tak, walked across the footbridge to pick him up. We were waiting at the crowded and smoky Arrival Hall until I spotted them wheeling the cart out from the restricted area. I was so excited to greet them and helped with the cart without paying attention to my son who was with me. By the time I realised my son was no longer by my side fear descended on me, worried that the only traditional lineage hope of three generations would be kidnapped to wherever. Suddenly the airport PA system asked XX’s parents approach the Lost and Found. Turned out my son remembered to approach uniformed personnel when in trouble. It was fortunate that was before 2019!

6. Whenever I was peeling an apple or pear, my children would just marvelled and looked. They thought it was so funny that the peel never broke! Actually I stole this skill from my Dad. He often used the thumb and the middle finger of the left hand to hold both ends, and used the right hand to use the knife, gradually turning the apple or pear to peel its skin off. He always ended up with a perfect unbroken peel.

7. I had very few childhood memories of Dad. But I remember that time he took us all in his car for a ride. There was a turn signal indicator that would spring out when activated. Its light was yellowish so it kind of looked like a slice of papaya!

8. My skin always had problems when I was small. Yet Dad still squeezed the pus out from the blisters for me at our store Hing Kei.

9. That summer Dad came to visit us at Toronto. He enjoyed it very much. We would take him to Sam Wo daily and he said the Char Siu was tasty and the chicken was soft, perfect for him. After the meal we would take a stroll home, just chatting about anything. It was quite cosy now that I recall it.

10. One day we took him to shop for some health equipment. He picked a cane and a waist belt. He needed the latter because the one he owned didn’t fit him snugly for he was too skinny. To his delight, the one he bought that day even came with adjustable straps. He had also wanted to buy a stool for shower but decided to give up because he couldn’t figure out a way to pack it in his luggage.

11. When it was time for him to fly back to Hong Kong, he didn’t feel good flying on his own. So I rebooked him to fly back with a friend on the same flight. And after introducing my friend to him and exchanging seat information at the airport on the day, he was greatly relieved.

12. When mother was seriously ill, I went back from Hong Kong to Macau with Aunt Yungun to see her. I was weeping when it was time to leave her to go back to Hong Kong. Dad saw it and told Aunt Yungun to make sure to take care of me and return together with me whenever mother was about to go in future.

13. One year end I had double pay from work. I gave Dad $500 but instead he asked me to hand it to mother to let her feel the delight. It’s a fact that Dad didn’t say a lot. But he actually cared a lot about his family.

14. In another year, towards year end, I heard mother asked him for money to prepare for the New Year. But he said “no money “ and rather agitatedly threw his watch on the bed, and asked mother to pawn it. Then it dawned on me how difficult our finance was, how much pressure Dad was shouldering, and how strenuous it was for mother to run the household.

15. One night Sister 3 yelled out when she was robbed at the stairways returning home from work. Dad rushed out chasing with his handgun. On reflection, it was pretty risky for if his gun were taken by the robber, it would lead to quite serious an outcome. Dad thought he was something with a gun! It was enough to sweat over.

16. Before Sister 3 moved to USA, I relied on her completely to take care of Dad. But things didn’t go as planned, and she decided to emigrate to New York. Then everyday after I got off work at 2, I first went to the central market, then took food to Dad’s flat on Tv. da Se. Only after that I then went to the Redbrick Market to get food for my home before resuming work at 6. Within just a short four hours I had to do everything. On reflection it was because I was still young at the time and could have the stamina. Gradually Dad began to tell me what he would like to eat. One of them was calf stomach chickpea stew. He would tell me if I made them at home just give him a couple of pieces. He said he couldn’t finish the entire dish anyway.

17. Later on I discussed with him about moving to live closer to me otherwise I might depart even before him! Thankfully a flat in Unit C in my same block was on the market so it was snapped up for him to move next to me.

18. Those few years of Dad living near me afforded me the opportunity to honor him. I am always absent minded but those years only I was around to do so. Therefore very often I would buy live fish for him. Since he didn’t like pork so I bought chicken, debone it and made chicken meat balls to cook with rice noodles for him. On Sundays I would take him to yum cha. I would find a restaurant that took reservations so that he needed not wait. It eventually became clear to me: older people really wasn’t too concerned about the food, if they were expensive delicacies but rather to be able to boast about children honouring and taking them out to eat.

Those while unpublished, resided in hearts.