Conversations Over The Fence

“You know Rani. That Mrs Wong. She’s so lucky. Her husband earns a good
salary and his job is quite stable even during this times when the government is
saying things will only get worse” begin Lily.

Rani took out a bundle of wet clothes from the red bucket on the ground. She
gave it wring or two and started to lay them one neatly on the thin raffia string
that was tied from one end of the pole to the other. Water was dripping from the
blouses that she hung up. There was also a multi coloured ‘sarong’ which was
not as wet as the other clothes.

That was Maniam’s favourite.

Lily or Mrs Navaratnam as she was known to her neighbourhood, also started to
peg each of the clothes she was hanging up on her side of the fence.

“Don’t you agree Rani? asked Lily. She was speaking to Rani or also known as
Mrs Maniam.

She was Maniam’s wife of 25 years. The famous ‘one brow Maniam’.

“Yes, yes. I Suppose” gushed Rani.

“No, I’m telling you. She’s lucky. Not only that. Her son’s are all doing well in
school and I heard that one of them is even going to do Medical studies! He’s
going to be a doctor! Can you believe that? A doctor from this neighbourhood!”.

Lily/Mrs Navaratnam sounded genuinely enthusiastic. She also sounded
incredulous.

“Hmmmmph! Luck is only a small part Lily. It’s how we bring them up that counts.
You take my own Vijay. Now, that boy is a Godsend. He never fails to send
money over every month and calls to check up on us. He’s done well on his own
in the big city. It’s how you bring them up that really counts. You take my word…”
trailed off Rani/Mrs Maniam.

“You know….Rani, I agree with you on that. Vijay’s great but what does he do
anyway? You never mentioned it to me…”

“Oh, you know…” Rani stopped. She thought she heard someone call her.

“Wife! I need my Tea. Please come in and make some tea for your husband”. It
was ‘one brow Maniam’. “And any of those sweet cakes left from last month’s
deepavali?”
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