“Oooh, Mom….what makes you think like that?”
“Your Dad never cares what he wears, and now he suddenly wants to look dandy.”
“I don’t think Dad wants to look dandy. He just wants to have a new T-shirt.”
“You don’t get the point, Pita,” Mom sights. “Remember your Uncle Tom, your Dad’s brother.”
Mom stresses the blood relation between Uncle Tom and Dad, which means Dad may have the same bad genes as my uncle.
No one notice when Uncle Tom puts more attention on his appearance. He had his shoes polished every day. He wanted his suits ironed properly, no wrinkly left. He liked to spray himself with cologne, something he had never done before. Then one day, we found out that he had a young girlfriend, only half his age and two years younger than his oldest daughter.
Mom sits dejected on the bed. With almost a cry in her voice, she says, “ I’m old now. I’m not attractive anymore. I have wrinkles on my face. There are man young girls who would like to chase after an old man like your Dad. Those girls don’t care what a man looks like, old, bad or fat. As long as he has a thick pocket of money, he is okay.”
“Mom, you just making something out of nothing,” I try to calm her down.
“I don’t care about your Dad’s money, but I cannot accept somebody sucking up his money and leaving you penniless.”
Mom is silent for a while, then she says, “You must accompany your Dad tomorrow.”
At that point, I know that there is no way I can turn down her wish.
