‘Dotty? Was that a pet name you had for your grandmother?’ Julia asked. ‘Ah Ling always called her Miss Dorothy.’
‘No; everyone called her Dotty. Always.’ Annabel frowned, confused. When had that changed? And why?
Annabel returned to the sofa and smiled at Julia. ‘Tell me about Ah Ling. From the letters, it’s obvious that she and Dotty were very close. What happened to her after Dotty left Singapore?’
Julia took a sip of tea. ‘Ah Ling said goodbye to Miss Dorothy in February 1942. It was the start of a terrible time in Singapore. The Japanese occupation lasted for three and a half years and there were brutal repercussions for anyone who opposed them. Ah Ling struggled for a while. She had no job and not much money. She shared a room with her cousin, Ah Loke, and some other girls who’d been in service and had suddenly found themselves unemployed when the Japanese invaded. Their European employers had all disappeared, you see. They either left Singapore and sailed back to their home countries, or they were rounded up and sent off to internment camps. It was an awful chapter in our country’s history.’ Julia shook her head sadly.
‘Yes of course, I remember reading about it,’ Annabel said. ‘Changi Jail, wasn’t it? A terrible place.’
A look passed between Julia and Mei. Mei started to say something quietly in Cantonese, but Julia stopped her.
Julia turned back to Annabel and continued, ‘Yes indeed. Many suffered starvation, torture and even death in that place. There was much fear in Singapore, everyone was terrified ofthe Japanese. But the human spirit is resilient and Ah Ling was strong.’ She smiled proudly at Annabel. ‘By day, she found a job working for a tailor in Chinatown. She was an excellent seamstress and she turned those skills to tailoring to help make ends meet during the occupation.’
‘But she don’t like the customers.’ Mei’s soft voice cut into Julia’s story, her face suddenly turning very serious. ‘The tailor work for Japanese, you know. Mama never like them.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘That time very bad, very bad.’
‘You said “by day”, Julia, what about by night?’ Annabel asked, intrigued.
‘Well,’ Julia said with a chuckle. ‘By night was a whole other story, and one which we are very proud to tell.’ She beamed at Annabel then took a sip of tea before she began.
‘Ah Ling’s older brother, Minghai, was killed when the Japanese invaded Hainan in 1939. He was part of a communist militia called the Hainan Independent Column and carried out missions to undermine and sabotage the Japanese. Ah Ling adored Minghai, they were very close and wrote to each other frequently. But one day, his group was ambushed by a Japanese patrol and Minghai and his collaborators were all shot dead, as a warning to the local villagers against aiding the guerrillas. Ah Ling was heartbroken.’
A look of sorrow fell over Mei’s face and she closed her eyes.
‘Good grief!’ Annabel exclaimed. ‘That’s awful, I’m so sorry.’
‘Ah Ling said it felt like a horrible case of history repeating itself when the Japanese invaded and occupied Singapore. Ah Ling hated them and she vowed to avenge her brother’s death.’
Annabel’s mouth dropped open, amazed by what she was hearing. From the letters, Ah Ling had seemed a sweet and gentle lady; this was a whole other side of her.
‘One day, while working in the tailor’s shop, a man from the MPAJA, one of the resistance movements, came to see Ah Ling. He had made enquiries about her and decided that she could be both trustworthy and useful. Chinese workers were largely overlooked by the Kempeitai, you see, and they managed to continue their business without sparking too much interest. Ah Ling became a courier, smuggling resistance materials hidden in bundles of fabric and clothing deliveries from the tailor.’
‘Wow! What a brave lady!’ Annabel said.
Julia nodded. ‘Yes, and she was incredibly successful. Despite a few hairy moments, she was never caught.’ Julia smiled at Annabel. ‘And in this way, by fighting back against the Japanese, she felt she was getting some revenge, for the sake of her brother.’
Mei, who had been listening quietly, now reached for a small box on the table beside her chair. She opened it and took out a shiny red enamel badge and a yellowing piece of paper. With arthritic fingers, she slowly unfolded the paper and read the Chinese words aloud.
Julia translated, ‘For Services to The People. It was awarded to Ah Ling by the local Chinese resistance cell. She was one of their most reliable operatives during the occupation.’
‘That’s amazing! What happened to her after the war?’
‘Well, a whole new chapter started then!’ Julia chuckled. ‘It was while working at the tailor’s shop that Ah Ling met my grandfather, Hsien Lim. He was a hawker, you know what that is?’ she asked Annabel, who nodded in reply.
‘Hsien Lim was a modest street-food seller. He ran a chicken rice cart with his brother Hsien Long, near the tailor’s shop in Chinatown where Ah Ling worked,’ Julia explained. ‘Theywere from Hainan, the same island as Ah Ling, and had come to Singapore as teenagers, like so many others, to work for a better life.’
‘Aiyoh, love at first sight lah!’ Mei continued, a smile on her face. She pointed to the sepia wedding photo in the gold frame on the sideboard. ‘But is Papa who love at first sight, not Mama! Every day ah, he greet her, say all the sweet-sweet things. He chase her for so long hor, but she always say no one. But Papa very stubborn, very steady,’ She let out a chuckle.
‘He was just a humble hawker, you see,’ Julia continued. ‘And despite his grand plans for opening a restaurant with his brother one day, he had nothing. Ah Ling enjoyed his company; he was cheerful and kind, with a big wide smile, but she wanted more out of life and felt that a lowly hawker was rather beneath her.’
‘But then ah, he open restaurant, wah, Mama so happy!’ Mei said proudly. ‘After that, then open some more! He very determined one.’ She nodded, full of pride. ‘Got big dreams, you know. In the end, give us good life.’
‘Ah Ling and Hsien Lim married and had four children; three sons, then along came Mama,’ Julia explained.
‘I remember Ah Ling mentioning her children in the letters to Dotty,’ Annabel said, smiling, ‘as well as the restaurants; what a wonderful story!’
‘My uncles run the restaurants these days,’ Julia said. ‘It’s still a family business and still very popular. But you’re not here just to find out about my grandmother, are you?’ she asked. ‘You said on the phone that you want to find out about your grandmother, Dorothy. What exactly do you want to know?’
Annabel put down her teacup and took a moment to consider her response. She took a deep breath before she began.
