Trail of Corpses: Epilogue I
“Wake up son! Wake up,” Baba calls while yanking the sheets away from me. Half awake I start to get up wondering what the commotion’s about. I open my eyes to see my old man standing at my doorway looking down on me. Dressed in his usual maroon-colored-business-dress-shirt, he impatiently taps on the wall with his index finger. The scowl on his face almost looks like it could turn into a smile at any moment. Almost. He barks, “Move your lazy ass and hurry up getting ready. Or do you not want McDonalds?” I don’t really. But he never takes ‘no’ for an answer. It’s 9 AM Saturday morning, and the skies look as clear as ever here in Milpitas, California. I walk out of my room of our two-story in the suburbs and wander into the bathroom to wash my face. As I brush my teeth, Long-gege (big brother Long) and Meimei (little sister) wander into the loo apparently after having heard the same orders from our father. We groan to one another in acknowledgement of each other’s presence and suffering. It seems almost routine now for us to wake up early Saturday morning to go eat McDonalds with our father. He started it a few years back, apparently to get to know his children better. It was really fun and exciting at first when I was a little kid. But now that I’m 12, I find it annoying for having to wake up so early on a weekend. Regardless, I hastily get ready and head out to the Toyota 4Runner where my father sits waiting. After the four of us get into the car, Baba starts up the engine and backs out the driveway. Nobody says a word as we make our way down Montague Expressway. The awkward silence is broken only by the ticking of the signal lights or the occasional yawn from either of my siblings or me. Yawn.
We arrive at our destination shortly thereafter; a classic McDonalds bustling with customers. I find us a booth while Long-ge goes and orders the usual. As Mei and I sit, our father excitingly asks us, “Who’s hungry” while grinning like a child. Uh-huh. I suppose these mornings with us must mean a lot to him. I ought to sympathize with him, seeing as he’s working every hour my siblings and I are off enjoying school and play. However, I’ve yet to learn and comprehend that truth. All I cared to do was to remain ignorant to responsibility, to duties, to my past and future. To everything.
The food is brought over to the table and we say our thanks to Ba. Baba Xie Xie. I proceed to consume the greasy sausage, egg and biscuit sandwich. As we chomp on the fast food, we speak sparingly with phrases of “How’s it taste” and “Pass the drink“. The meal nears an end when all that’s left is a single hash brown. Despite eating a wholesome breakfast, I still hunger and apparently I wasn’t alone in that thought. Mei and I fight over to whom the property belongs to. Baba breaks up the argument telling us, “There’s plenty of food available everywhere. You shouldn’t have to fight like I once did.” Oh boy. “You don’t know how hard it was for us to get food back when our family was trying so desperately to survive.” Here we go. “Let me tell you about the time we were in real deep-”
