Trapeze

It was just not possible to weep for this Courts man. The pool of tears was simply insufficient; surplus could not be found. Certainly not with the fare day after day in the newspapers. One could only look and listen. The department where he worked couldn’t be recalled; there may have been mention of whitegoods. 2AM last night crashing through the wrought iron screen door. Bang! The inner behind him, making the glass panel rattle. CRASH. Helen down there must have started from her sleep. Ah! The Courts drunkard getting back. What time was it?… Five or six years ago there were plans to retire to Vietnam. The companion was a sweetie; not too young; nicely presented. Sing dollar could go far over there, the man said. There must be a tidy sum in his CPF. Something upended that applecart. There had been much less of the beer and ciggies back then. The pair would regularly take late brekkies over at the Haig, man proud of his lady, you could tell. Did her patience give out? Was the CPF too difficult to withdraw before he was 60? Impossible to meet the eye; loud helloes without stopping and immediately swinging onward. When Wahyu moved out he claimed his room with the balcony. No more need hang out the window. Still dyed regularly, never letting the grey through. Boyish physique retained. Whatever he was doing for emergency love there were no ladies brought back. (Even the Toyota man has desisted there.) 11AM brekkies up until recently, when his shift seemed to have altered. Coming back from the morning paper there were no more sightings on his bike. Often he fell asleep with the light on in his room. (Unexpectedly, all the chaps had accepted the turning off of the main pair of lights overnight in the anteroom.) Siblings, parents, friends—none in evidence. There had never been a brekkie companion apart from the Viet. Shocking coughs & splutters; terrible stink in the toilet. You wondered whether he could look himself in the mirror (shaving was hardly necessary for Chinese like him). Nothing for it; only watching. How much longer could he stick? Trapeze act. Easy to underestimate the inner fortitude.