Letter to Tet Fong

Lau Gai Cheong to Tsun Kei, no date. Brother-in-law.

I heard you have been successful overseas. I am very comforted by

that and I remember you in the past, from time to time you sent us

some money to maintain us. We used the money to look after our old

mother and for going to school, for marriage and for doing business.

Now I have one son and one daughter and they have to depend on me.

Unfortunately recently I have arthritis and every time I go to the

doctor, there’s no cure. So now I am working as a pedlar. The amount

I receive is little but a lot of people depend on me (too many mouths

to feed). This is not enough for my own mother, or to look after my

wife, and I don’t want to live and don’t want to die either. Plus these

disaster years we couldn’t get any loans. Within the last two or three

years I’ve given you two letters telling you about my unfortunate

situation and asking you to give me one or two hundred dollars. It’s

just to cover some of our expenses.

Unfortunately I sent the letter like a bird flew away or a fish that

swam away. One letter was returned to me and one has no received

no reply. I have been waiting for a long, long time and this is a very

sad situation. Now I wish to ask you for a little over a hundred dollars

and send it to Heavenly Station so I can do my small business again.

I may be able to make a bit of money and what I’m asking you is only

a small fraction from what you have – ‘just one piece of hair, you

won’t miss it much’. So I could at least know where my next meals

come from and you will be blessed in your next life.

(There is a year but difficult to work out.)

Doris Yau-Chong Jones translator, from Janis Wilton’s Golden Threads, UNE Archives.