LITMIR.BIZ

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at the entrance. Her eyes looked at him but they hardly dared register what was in front of them. Way Way stood up and said, “Yes, he is. Please come in.”

      Walking softly, U Saw Han approached the desk and said, “Is he sleeping? If he is, please, there is no need to wake him up.”

      At a loss as to how to answer, Way Way said, “Daddy went upstairs earlier. I don’t know whether he is asleep. He wasn’t feeling well.”

      U Saw Han was looking straight at Way Way. According to Burmese custom it was too direct a look. “Oh, is he not well? What happened? Then, certainly, don’t wake him.” While U Saw Han awaited her reply, it seemed that his features softened into a smile.

      “He went to the godown this morning, and on his return he coughed up blood.”

      Before Way Way finished telling him the rest, his face took on an expression of alarm and he asked, “Didn’t you call the doctor?”

      “Yes, we did,” said Way Way quietly. “He was given some injections.”

      He had a natural scowling expression and Way Way thought, When one first meets him one gets the impression that he is haughty and aloof, but when one actually talks to him he is quite warm and friendly. She was beginning to change her mind about him already.

      “What did the doctor say?” he asked.

      She found it easy to respond to him directly as his questions showed interest and caring, and this encouraged her to tell him more. “The doctor said it was not tuberculosis, that it was just the body’s mechanism being overheated, like a nose bleed, and that we were not to worry.”

      U Saw Han’s face looked thoughtful as he asked, “Has he ever had this happen to him before?” Although he was pleasant and asked questions in a gentle persuasive manner, he seemed upset and regarded Way Way in a serious manner.

      Way Way looked up at him through her eyelashes and smiled, “No, never,” she said quietly, shaking her head for emphasis.

      “Well, … don’t worry too much, but on the other hand don’t be too negligent either. As to the business I came for …”

      They had been standing all this time, and before going on he looked at a chair in front of the desk and said, “May I sit down?”

      “Oh yes, please do,” said Way Way. She sat down at the same time as he did and found herself face to face with him.¹⁶ She quietly asserted her dignity by sitting in a businesslike manner and showing deference by waiting for him to speak.

      “Please tell your father, when he awakes,” U Saw Han went on, “that a telegram came from the firm accepting the price he asks. But it cannot be done immediately as the barges will take a week to get here.”

      “If that is so, I don’t think the deal will be feasible. It has to be transacted immediately,” said Way Way. “The next lot of paddy we will be receiving got wet, and it would not do to mix the two lots in the godown. Only when the present paddy has been removed can we put in the new stock.”

      Quite taken aback at this, U Saw Han listened with a smile. “Do you have a lot of paddy? When is it coming?” he asked, regarding her steadily.

      Way Way took a large account book out of her desk drawer and, opening it, looked at the figures and said, “A large amount. We have 3,000 baskets out of our own fields. And there will be more from all the other fields.”

      U Saw Han looked admiringly at her and at the large book and then back again at her. “Your name is Way Way, is it not?” he asked, and Way Way smiled at him and nodded. U Saw Han looked at Way Way’s smiling face and child-like manner of nodding instead of answering, and thought it very charming.

      “Way Way, don’t you attend school?” asked U Saw Han, who took a handkerchief out of his pants pocket and wiped his face.

      “Since Daddy was alone, I left school when I finished the seventh standard.”

      “Oh, then the lady I saw was not your mother …”

      “No, she is my aunt.”

      U Saw Han put his handkerchief back into his pocket and said, “Oh, I thought she was your mother. Please don’t think me nosy.” He got out some matches, lit a cigarette, and drew on it.

      “No, I don’t think that,” she said.

      He took a long draw of his cigarette, his eyelashes fluttering slightly, and asked in a serious tone, “Has your mother passed away?”

      Eyes downcast, Way Way hesitated to answer. She glanced up suddenly and saw U Saw Han’s face regarding her with a tender expression.

      “My mother is alive. She is a nun in Sagaing. It has been five years since she left. That’s the reason I’m not in school. I help my father with his work.”

      Way Way turned her face away after speaking, and U Saw Han looked at her gently and was quiet. Although outwardly quiet, inside he was in a state of upheaval. As he looked at Way Way his heart seemed suddenly to pour out its love for her in her poignant, sad existence. He sensed a dim stirring inside Way Way’s heart, a hint of a capacity for happiness.

      “Oh … when did you come in, sir?” Daw Thet’s voice asked as she emerged from the back of the house into the room. She did not come any closer to U Saw Han but talked to him from a distance.

      U Saw Han stood up and answered, “I just arrived. I am sorry to hear of U Po Thein’s ill health.” He sat down after he spoke.

      “Seems like he caught something. It just happened this morning. The doctor says not to worry.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      Daw Thet wanted to go on talking but U Saw Han had turned towards Way Way. Yet Daw Thet did say, “Don’t go yet. Have some coffee.”

      “Oh, no thank you,” said U Saw Han, “I only drink coffee in the evening. Please don’t bother.”

      Way Way had been feeling as if she ought to offer refreshment to U Saw Han. In their house it was customary to offer coffee to anyone who came to visit, regardless of the time. She now made a mental note of the one guest to whom they need not offer coffee.

      “I’ll make certain that arrangements are made for the paddy barges to be sent as soon as possible. I’m sorry to intrude on your work time, Way Way. You are very young and it is really commendable that you are such a help to your elders. I will take my leave now.” Then U Saw Han also said goodbye to Daw Thet, and left.

      Smiling a little uneasily, Way Way muffled a laugh and said to Daw Thet, who had in fact barged into the room after she could no longer restrain her desire to hear what was being said between the two, “I knew you were standing behind the screen all the time.”

      15. For three months during the Burmese rainy season (approximately May to July), Buddhist monks practice special ascetic exercises, live austerely, and do not perform ceremonies such as those of marriage. Unlike Christian Lent, this tradition does not commemorate events of the Buddha’s life, but is said to be the result of instructions given by the Buddha to his followers. In the latter half of the twentieth century increasing numbers of laypersons have shown an interest in observing this “Lenten” season in ways similar to those of monks.

      16. In polite Burmese society it is frequently considered embarrassing for a young, unmarried girl to sit tête-à-tête with a bachelor.

       4

      The morning light was shining bright and clear, and Way Way looked outside as she opened the windows. Growing in the fork of the mango tree at the front of the house, a wax orchid plant fell in a trail of flowers, its blossoms swaying like a line of dancers. It was a beautiful morning. There were pigeons in the mango tree, too, jostling and pecking each other. The mangoes, already

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