The Howling Silence
Page 10
“Here, take them,” coaxed the man, smiling. He pulled out of his pocket a doll with yellow hair, a red dress and bright pink shoes, and held it out to Poh Kim. She did not move but continued staring at him, then the doll. He patiently waited for her obvious interest in the gift to overcome her shyness. It finally did. She stirred slightly, then stretched out her hand for the doll.
“Good girl,” said the man. Then he brought out of a paper bag a little ceramic jar filled with wooden sticks with numbers carved on them.
“Do this,” said the man, and he demonstrated the requested action by giving the jar a few vigorous shakes. He handed the jar to the child. As if aware of the obligation to return a favour, she took the jar and shook it as required. Some of the sticks fell out. The man scooped them up eagerly, noting the numbers on them, then he went away.
Soon a rumour spread through the neighbourhood, provoking so much interest that is spread through other neighbourhoods as well, accruing so much power that it brought people flocking to its source. For the man who had gone to the ghost-child to get a winning number in the four-digits lottery, had won first prize with the number and become immensely rich overnight. Neighbours gaped at his new clothes, new gold watch, new house, new mistress, half his age. At a dinner party which he gave in the town’s best restaurant to celebrate his fortune, he had revealed its source.
Ah Cheng Soh shooed away the neighbours who came flocking to her door, clutching jars, canisters, boxes, containing numbered sticks, begging to see her grand-child, trying to entice the child with gifts of toys and sweets, and the grandmother with promises of a sharing of certain wealth.
“A lucky child,” they whispered among themselves. “The ghost-child is a lucky child.”
About the Author
Catherine Lim is internationally recognised as one of the leading figures in the world of Asia fiction. The prolific writer and commentator has penned more than 20 books across various genres—short stories, novels, reflective prose, poems and satirical pieces. Many of her works are studied in local and foreign schools and universities, and have been published in various languages in several countries.
Also by Catherine Lim
Fiction
Deadline for Love
A Leap of Love
A Shadow of a Shadow of a Dream
The Catherine Lim Collection
The Bondmaid
The Teardrop Story Woman
Following the Wrong God Home
The Song of Silver Frond
Miss Seetoh in the World
Non-Fiction
Roll Out the Champagne, Singapore!
A Watershed Election: Singapore’s GE 2011
An Equal Joy