SNL 2020

Dried Persimmons

Me: (smiling at Qing) Are you sure you don't want some?

Qing: (sneering) No. But do enjoy them, why not? Even if they come from my enemy. (to his mother) Both of you.

Mama: (smiling) Is Dayu's GrandBaba BanLu really your enemy?

Qing: He called me a grandiose, depraved homosexual.

Mama: Well, did he lie? You are a grandiose, depraved homosexual.

I laughed at that.

Qing: Mama!

Mama: (smiling at me) Remember to thank your GrandBaba BanLu for the dried persimmons he sent for us.

Yes. You read that right. My GrandBaba BanLu, who hates my relationship with Qing, sent two boxes of dried persimmons for me and for Qing's mother. They are so good. Heilongjiang persimmons are among the best kind there is. And every year, GrandBaba BanLu and GrandMa make dried persimmons to be given away to family members. GrandBaba BanLu sent some to me and to Qing's mother with some barley tea to drink.

Why my GrandBaba sent Mama some dried persimmons too when she is the mother of the man GrandBaba referred to as "grandiose depraved homosexual"?

Me: (to Mama) Its because you are a devoted Buddhist and he is one too. He said having you as his mother is Qing's only redeemable quality.

Mama: What do you think about that? Am I an asset to Qing?

Me: (all smiles) All I know is that I loved him more after knowing you, Mama.

Mama: Oh Dayu ah...

Qing: (looking disgusted) Mama, don't fall for that. He is just buttering you up so he can cajole someone to agree with him and take his side.

Mama: (frowning) Are you two fighting again?

Me: (nodding) The bathroom renovation project is on the way.

Mama: Oh, is it starting already? Good. It is really ridiculous for the two of you to sleep on a condo with a bathroom missing a door.

Qing: Yes. The designer we employed and t he workers we got has a whole month to give Dayu his dream bathroom.

Mama: Workers are invading your space...where are you two staying? Surely, Dayu will not be comfortable with such a set up of strangers walking around his personal space.

I love it that Qing's mother gets all my peculiarities. This is one of them. I have never been comfortable with strangers moving around the space I deemed as mine. That's why every home constructions or renovations that requires workers/strangers spending hours in our home to fix it makes me feel...well, not that relax.

It might be weird for many but thats just me being me. I am not good with seeing people walking around the spaces that I deemed should be private to me. Thats why whenever there is a renovation going in the condo, I relocate myself somewhere else. This time, a bathroom renovation in the condo needed two designers and about five workers to make it all beautiful and fit our taste. A renovation that will take about three weeks to be fully done.

Qing and I agreed we will not stay in the condo until the bathroom renovation is finished. My nerves and OCD won't be able to withstand the constant activity around.

Qing: We will travel around while the bathroom is being renovated. For now, we are living in the apartment complex I own downtown.

Mama: The apartment complex you stole under your Baba's nose? He was interested in that piece of property too, if I remembered it correctly.