MADAM SUSAN WONG PASSED AWAY in Malaysia after losing her long-battle from the-fatal leukaemia disease. Her younger-sister from Penang, Wong Fei Hong had later ‘cheated’ in Susan’s personal will – and had claimed her deceased sister’s assets and property for-herself…
… the first-thing Aunt Fei Hong did was to chase her-blind ‘adopted’ niece out-from the house in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. The 12-year-old, Maggi was sent to an orphanage…
… but close-relatives of the Wong-clan sympathised on the fate of the blind-girl… and-they wanted to do ‘something’ about the dire-situation… but they too being in the poor-bracket of middle-class folks-who could ‘not’ foster the-girl themselves…
… so, they had decided TO ‘BREAK’ THE HIDDEN 12-year-old ‘secret’ of Maggi’s origins – who was ‘adopted’ from Perth in-covert years-ago by Madam Susan Wong…
… from her birth-mother, Robin Wong.
Through a network of the Hokkien WhatsApp Groups online, they-had traced someone-who-knew ‘someone’ who-knew Robin Wong. They manage to contact-a Siobhan Wong in Perth … and sent her ‘photos’ of blind-Maggi…
Siobhan was shocked to receive the photos of the dead-ringer who looked ‘exactly’ like her goddaughter, Alicia. Siobhan went personally to the Matahari hair-salon to ‘break’ the news to Robin…
… the maternal-mother broke-down ‘after’ realising that she has an estranged daughter – who was ‘separated’ unbeknown from her after-birth. Siobhan then told her about a distant relative from Kuala Lumpur who-had disclosed the entire-story of Maggi Wong through a WhatsApp-call…
… who revealed that, the matriarch, Madam Wang came to Singapore during-when Robin was admitted-in hospital to deliver – and, she-was the mother of her-now separated-husband… who-had-expected baby-boys as her-grandchildren – who-was the one who ‘GAVE’ THE ‘OTHER’ TWIN-away because the baby-girl was born-blind. Even Albert agreed to his-mother’s decision… and the new-born was given away to a visiting-relative, Susan Wong from-Malaysia.
Now, Robin wanted TO REUNITE WITH her long-lost daughter – and made arrangements with the relevant authorities to have Maggi sent to Perth.
-O-
Later, Albert too ‘heard’ through his network-of-relatives that Maggi was ‘coming’ to Perth. He was ashamed of the talks behind his-back… that of an-old gossips re-surfing-again of – his-now separated-wife…
… who having an illicit-affair 12-years ago – with a man in Singapore that led to Robin…
… to-be pregnant with Alicia-and-Maggi…
-O-
And, as a member of the Moloch-cult, Albert had-also heard of A ‘PROPHECY’ that-in 20-years in the near-future…
… of a blind Catholic-nun who would would-be the imminent SPIRITUAL-ADVISOR to the Saviour-daughter – who would-then ‘save’ mankind during the-dark APOCALYPTIC-times of post-NUCLEAR PERTH…
-O-
The 7-Princes of Hell too HAD ATTEMPTED to kill Maggi in the real-and the Dreamworld but failed in both-occasions…
… by THE INTERVENTIONS of the All-Women-Trinity’s protector, MERCURY…
… who saved blind-Maggi when she was ‘abducted’ by CHINESE-GANGSTERS…
Then in the Dreamworld, the blind-girl-too had THE PROTECTION…
… of her ANIMAL SPIRIT-guardian – PIPER…
… who transformed into a werewolf … and fended Maggi from the KILLER FU-DOGS – the hellhounds sent by ASMODEUS…
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MOURNING THE DEATH OF her saint-Aunt, the blind-tween reminisced the sweet moments of Auntie-Susan while being raised by-for a dozen-years ago, where… the spinster was had been bosom-buddies with the-girl…
Madam-Wong was in her-mid-40s when she adopted the baby in Singapore – and bonded with her raising her as a ‘daughter-niece’…until she was diagnosed with cancer 3 years-ago…
… where Susan isolated herself from Maggi – as she does ‘not’ want the blind-child ‘sensing’ her pain of-suffering…
Before she fell sick, her Catholic Auntie-Susan – ‘had’ always-protected Maggi from her Taoist relatives who were into ancestorial-superstitions… especially her sister-from-Penang who ‘hated’ her adopted-niece and – accused that Maggi was the curse that brought the sickness into the-house…
… in a heated argument between the older-Wong sisters, Maggi learned that she was ‘adopted’ from Perth…
… when-later the blind-girl asked Susan about her ‘parent’ in Perth – the aunt felt ‘hurt’ that Maggi was ungrateful… and told that her-parent in Australia had ‘disowned’ her because she was born-blind. Instead, Maggi was brought to the Catholic-altar by her-aunt and was told that Jesus-and-Mary were her ‘replacement’ parents.
Susan ‘had’ instilled the practice to Maggi to recite her-Rosary aloud since the girl was young… who said the prayers till the day Susan died…
Maggi recalled the-day-of the funeral in Cheras Christian-cemetery where her aunt was buried – but soon after the Catholic-rituals… her aunt-from-Penang, proceeded with the Taoist funeral service with a group of loud chanting-monks…
… blind-Maggi was disorientated with the blaring funeral-musical instruments played like blow-flutes Suona, the 2-stringed Erhu Chinese-violins and enthralling-rings of the-Pengling hand-bells…
The relatives-then forced her to join the ancestorial funeral-ceremonies… and placed joss-sticks in her hand and made blind-Maggi to kowtow to a large-photograph of her dead-aunt…
… the noisy funeral-rituals followed by the burning of fake-paper-money so that the soul of Susan would have ‘wealth’ in the afterlife…
… Maggi too was forced-into the smothering money-burning-ritual…
… that had worsened her asthma…
-O-
On the 3rd day after the funeral, the blind 12-year-old girl was kicked-out into the streets with a luggage and school bag… as Auntie Wong Fei-Hong had bribed the family-lawyer to transfer her-sister’s properties into her-name…
… and everything had gone in-plan in the shady-loopholes of the corrupted justice-system of Malaysia…
… where, the hot-property house in Damansara which was-under Maggi’s name – which was sold to a besmirched local-politician, who bought the house for his-mistress…
But a kind-relative, Uncle Han-Seng took the girl ‘temporarily’ into his 2-roomed flat, until – they decided on the fate of the-now ‘cheated’ of a roof-over her-head Maggi…
Uncle Han-Seng was-the cousin to Susan-Wong whom she trusted and – he was loyal to the older-woman. Maggi too loved that uncle and his wife, Aunty Chow. Every-year during the lunar Chinese-New-Year, they would have a reunion-dinner on the-eve at Madam Wong’s…
… when she was 9, Maggi asked Susan of ‘why’ they were having Chinese New-year’s eve reunion-dinner ‘when’ they were Catholics… to which the-aunt replied that the occasion was similar to the Christian’s Thanksgiving Day…
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At the reunion-round-tabled dinner – a topic was constantly brought-up was Uncle Han-Seng’s 2 wayward drug addict teen-daughters… where they had stopped schooling, and-unemployed and lived at the flat… expecting the parents to feed-them…
For 3-years at-the-table, young-Maggi heard her aunt scolding her-cousin and his wife for keeping their degenerate children at home… who should-instead be ‘arrested’ and taken-away to a drug-rehab centre. But the passive parents had no-control of…
… the ‘Bohsia,’ where wild teenagers were colloquially known in Malaysia – stained with local gangster dragon-and-phoenix tattoos in their arms – and the 19-and-16-year-old sisters smoked in front of the parents at-home…
Uncle Han-Seng was obligated towards his-posthumous favour of temporarily fostering the homeless blind-girl… as Madam-Wong in the past had given financial-assistance to his destitute-family on many deprived situations…
… Maggi too was anxious to live in the small-flat – and sharing space as roommates with his outrageous-daughters.
-O-
Uncle Han-Seng worked as a lorry driver in a nearby fish market – where his-income was determined by the monsoon-season… but he survived as he had the means to feed his family with a daily-fish diet.
Aunty Chow was a housewife but – collected discarded plastic bottles and cardboards to sell – to make ends-meet… she occasionally worked part-time as a dishwasher in a nearby road-side noodle-stall.
The old and depleted 2-roomed flat which was in Selayang was also a self-storage space for recycled-materials with the hoarding of empty-aluminium cans and old-newspapers.
When the adult parents were away till midday… the 2 heroin-addict sisters would be in the house – fighting-and-arguing among themselves… using Hokkien vulgar-words that seem to flow like-poetry in every spoken sentence…
They bullied-and-ridiculed the blind-tween whenever they see her praying the-Rosary… by chousing ‘Amen’…
… it was the same scorned view-point of the rest of her-friends ‘too’ in the Chinese-school – who viewed Christianity as a fabricated-religion by the-Europeans with a ‘White-God’ –while there were no-Europeans in the Middle-East…
… they compared historically with local-history of the country, where Malaya was colonized by the British ‘who’ came from England, Europe and ‘not’ the Middle-East. The British left Malaya later when they gave the county their Independence to form the to-be the federation-of-Malaysia…
…but left their religion behind…
… even-when her aunt was alive, Maggi had asked Susan…
“… is Jesus a White-man…?”
“Yes-silly – he is European… an ‘ang-mo’…”
“… but, Auntie Susan… the Middle-East don’t have ‘ang-mo’ at that-time – and-my textbooks also-say that there are no-Europeans in the Middle-East… is he a tourist…?”
“Don’t trust everything they teach-you in school, Maggi – history can be ‘rewritten’…”
Maggi-too did ‘not’ argue with the older teenaged-sisters as they were talking from the majority-Chinese-stance, who were Taoists-and-Buddhists – unlike Maggi’s Catholic-Christian were the minorities in the country.
The teenagers even told the tween to forget her ‘converted’ European-centric Christian-beliefs as – there were no ‘ang-mo’ privileges in the Muslim-Malaysia country…
… but instead to-come back to her Taoist-roots – of ancestor-worshiping…
-O-
On the first night, blind-Maggi slept on the elder-daughter’s bed… while the 19-year-old slept on the floor-mattress. The next-morning was school-day, and her Mandarin-SIMY AI-woke her-up…
… the disorientated blind-Maggi who wasn’t familiar with her ‘new’ environment … accidentally stepped-on the belly of the older-teen sleeping on-the-floor…
There was an altercation soon after-that… where the blind-girl was almost physically-beaten by the older-girl – but Uncle Han-Seng intervened-and-saved her…
… despite Maggi apologizing to her – the aggressor mocked-and-ridiculed of what ‘kind’ of flawed high-tech-American gadget that the blind-girl owned… that could ‘not’ guide-Maggi – instead the useless-device should be thrown-away in the Klang-river…
… and, her 16-year-old sister cackled…
-O-
On the 2nd-night, blind-Maggi slept on the mattress on the floor – but-at past 2 AM, after their parents had soundly-slept… the 2-sisters snuck-out in the middle-of-the night to see their boyfriends… and sneaked-in back before dawn…
… the 2 addicts-then sat on the edge-of Maggi’s mattress and ‘chase-the-dragon’ – and the blind-girl wore a facemask when she slept the next-night – because the drug-fumes…
… were bad-for-her asthma-condition…
-O-
Maggi returned to the flats from school… to discover her gold-chain that her late-Auntie Susan bought on her 10th-birthday WAS ‘MISSING.’ She feared wearing the gold-chain to school as there were a lot of snatch-thieves in the streets – so, she kept it in her luggage-bag…
… which – was now-STOLEN BY the 2 drug-addict sisters…
Maggi did ‘not’ tell their-parents – as she doesn’t want ‘more’ trouble in the flat. She was grateful that the uncle-and-aunt had taken her-into their-care during her dire situation of being homeless after her auntie’s funeral…
… so, she ‘accepted’ her-loss as a cost of obligation…
-O-
Maggi could ‘not’ study in the house either – with loud Canto-pop music on the radio that the sisters played…
… as the blind-girl was ‘sensitive’ to loud-sounds…
So, she had decided to study ‘outside’ during her 5-days of school – and resolute to study in the-flats during weekends… if-that was possible…
Maggi was delighted that she was performing ‘first-chair’ in the school’s musical orchestra – her violin composition-too was selected… and she would-be performing solo during the school’s Family-Day…
… it was the tune-that stuck in her head during the last-months where the leukemic-stricken Susan Wong suffered in her isolation… which inspired Maggi to compose the melancholy tune dedicated to her-bosom buddy – calling-it ‘A Mother’s Farewell Journey’…
Although Maggi wasn’t an academic-student at her-Kuan Cheng High school… but she was prodigious in her gift-of-musical talent. Even-though music-classes were 3-times a week but she carried her violin-case every-day to school – fearing the roommate-sisters at the-flats… would ‘sell’ the instrument to ‘feed’ their heroin-addiction…
After the 2-hours of music-class practice, the loner blind-tween headed to the school’s library to do her-homework until it-shut – then, Maggi would cross-over the overhead pedestrian-bridge to go-to the Blind-association in Brickfields… and use the library over-there, where she revised her school-lessons…
… sometimes she met-up with her fellow-blind former classmates – whom Maggi was grateful for having, as they taught her ‘independence’ to travel in-trains in the city… after the family-car was sold ‘when’ Madam Wong was declared a bankrupt…
At 8 PM, Maggi would give a call to Uncle Han-Seng to notify him that she was taking a train-home. She stopped-by the 7-Eleven to grab her dinner of either a pre-packed nasi-lemak or sometimes she ate cup-noodles… where there was a hot-water dispenser at the convenient store to cook the-noodles.
The train-ride to Selayang was roughly an-hour – and her Uncle Han-Seng would be there-outside the metro-station to take her to the-flats in his old-motorcycle. Sometimes he would ‘treat’ Maggi supper of hot dim sums at a roadside stall…
… they would eat and the-uncle would ask her ‘how’ her day-was… and that bonded them especially-with Maggi – who grew-up with a spinster-aunt without a ‘FATHER-FIGURE’ in her 12-year-life…
… except for the photo-of-Jesus at the altar…
… and ‘NOT’ KNOWING ‘who’ her ‘real’ father-was in Perth.
-O-
On the weekends, Maggi ate her lunch-and-dinner her Aunt-Chow prepared at home. It was on the fortnight-night of her stay, on the 2nd Saturday, where they were all seated at the dinner table and ate a-simple meal of steamed-fish cooked in-salted beans…
… an argument broke-out when Uncle Han-Seng ‘advised’ his daughters to check-in to the drug rehab-centre – the eldest-daughter threatened her father that her-boyfriend would beat-him-up if they contacted the authorities…
… blind-Maggi was terrified when she HEARD HER-aunt pacifying the teenager armed with a kitchen-knife… as she was spewing vulgarities and was menacing to kill her-father-herself …
The tween realised that she cannot stay in the flats ‘much’ longer – with those-2 dangerous roommates…
… who might kill her-too, in-their fit-of-rage ‘under their drug-influence…
-O-
… her-Rosary prayers were answered a-few days later, where…
… help came when the school met the Chinese Chamber-of-Commerce that helped Maggi – as-Madam Susan-Wong was its ‘former’ member in the association-guild before her bankruptcy. They offered the tween a boarding-place in an orphanage-hostel for the school-going orphans…
Maggi was rapt-excited with the offer – to finally get-out of the hellish 2 roomed-flat…
Then, the next-day, another good-news came when a relative got in-touch with someone named Siobhan-Wong in Perth… who ‘knew’ Maggi’s mother…
… now, with the opportunity to go to Australia…
But Maggi was in 2 minds – and decided to stay-back in Malaysia… citing her-reasons of:
* Her parents had discarded-her and – given-her ‘away’ a-dozen years-ago
* The fact that she was Chinese-educated – and felt ‘inferior’ to the ang-mo
* Her-friends who that she could-count-on – were here to back-her
Her decision to stay in-Malaysia, was ridiculed-and-laughed at by the younger-of the addict sisters… and ‘wished’ she had the opportunity to have a new-life with a new-family in an ang-mo country. The 16-year-old told that…
… Maggi was stupid-and-blind to miss-out with the opportunity to ‘escape’… and-rather live in politically racist-country that even ‘after’ Independence still labelled the locally-born Chinese as ‘pendatang’ or immigrants…
Even Uncle Han-Seng agreed with her – saying…
… that friends come-and-go – but the bond-of family remains ‘forever’…
Finally, Maggi was convinced by her uncle…
… and decided to go to Perth…