Reminiscences about Aunt SaySum

by Peter Y. Woo, 9/4/2001

  It was so generous for SaySum to invite me to stay overnight at her house when I was about 5 years old. MingGor (alias Alan Wu now) and I both did not have siblings in those days, so it was good for us to play together. He treated me like a younger brother, and took care of me quite tenderly.

  One day I touched some equipment of his father, Uncle SaySoak. Ooh, that was capital offense. Uncle shouted at me with a thunderous voice: "Go back upstairs!", i.e., to where Grandma lived, in that "big" house at Prospect Terrace. I went upstairs, crying inconsolably to my Mom, and fell asleep (according to MingGor's version). Later on I woke up, still miserable, and he came by with some toy to get me in better mood again.

  I guess I was rather cute-looking in those days, because SaySum always smiled at me. She was always so neat, even in her curlers and night gown in the mornings. Her house is always so well-organized, and I have to learn the more civilized way of eating with fork and knife, and with good manners. My own home was in Shumshuipo area, which was a segment of relatively poor people in Hong Kong, and so my schoolmates, Sunday School friends, etc., are mostly from poor families, and I got used to that environment. So it was a delight when she invited me to stay over. Eventually I went to their house, sometimes for a whole week, from time to time, until I was in high school.

  Well, whenever I went to SaySum's house, I would shift gear to my best cultured behavior, talking nicely, walk softly, be discreet in everything. My father would warn me that SaySoak is very particular about his National Geographic Magazines, so I better not even make a tiny wrinkle or splotch on any of his glossy pages, or else the consequences are too dreadful to even contemplate. I did once scrape a page of one of SaySoak's magazines into wrinkles, and my father became quite upset.

  I learned not to talk much during dinners, and chew food with my lips closed. Now come to think of it, I think SaySoak would have like us kids to chatter a little bit. I think in his best moods, he would even tell some story at dinner time, usually with a moral. SaySum will be the glue that brought a touch of feminine tenderness into the family. Later on Ah Bork was born, and he liked to chatter with delightful humor at dinner table. Can you imagine that SaySoak was a different person in his medical office? I went there only when I was sick, of course, and then he would be so kind, smiling, even talkative, touching me in a most gentle way. I love to be on his X-ray machine, and he never gave me any painful injections, only some sweet tasting and good smelling medicine in a milky emulsion.

  A few times SaySum would tell me the stories in the comics magazines, which was in English. Stories of Little Lulu, Donald Duck, Nancy and Sluggo, Mickey Mouse. MingGor would pick up English much more readily than I. I believe she taught me my first game of Monopoly, and Clue. (Clue is still our family game. Rachelle at age 5 would beat us all, i.e., Celest, me, and Gloria were no match for her. We asked her how she did it, she would say "Ah, psychology." We guess she guessed things by watching our facial expressions and body language, rather than with logic. )

  A few times she would rebuke me and MingGor, for doing reckless things, such as (later on) climbing from rock to rock along the sea-shore, while she watched helplessly from her balcony in the Repulse Bay Mansion. I never learned to swim until I rented an apartment in Los Angeles, after I graduated from HK Univ. However, I loved all these adventures. I remember climbing up to the water catchment moat on the hillside above their Mansion. (In Hong Kong, there is this omnipresent 10-foot deep ditch at about 500 feet above sea level, on every hillside, so that every raindrop falling on the hillsides above it will be directed into some reservoir, to feed the 6 million residents.)

  I vaguely remember the part of Repulse Bay west of the main beach was rocky and full of seaweeds and kelp, so people did not swim there. In the afternoon the shadows of the hills would fall over it, so it was gloomy. There was a castle-like mansion by a rich man called Yu GoongSween, with a grey wall and some tall round parapets, with a tiny window or two. You can easily imagine a pretty princess shut up there and peering out towards the sea waiting for the valiant prince to come to her rescue. Well, below that awesome castle quite a few fishing boats would pitch their anchor. For a while my father would join SaySum, sometimes with me also, walking to the rocks there and then SaySum would call with a great voice "Dai Hoe!" or "Dai Yow!". Then a roofless sampan would row towards us, and this fisherman would take us on it for an hour or so, and we would fish. Fun, fun, fun, and I did catch a small fish or two. Father would tell me how to row a boat with a single oar, some 10 foot long thing made of rather flexible lumber. In this way SaySum and Father would unload their nerves' stresses and insomnia.

  One of the prettiest picture in my mind is SaySum sitting on a couch at her balcony at Repulse Bay, with perhaps a straw hat, (she had beautiful hats), just gazing peacefully at the sunset, at the little Round Island (or "Silver Island") out there in the ocean, listening to the surf beating on the beaches below. She looked so peaceful and joyful there. The setting sun would bathe her whole backdrop into red and yellow, and I would think of the hymn "Abide With Me.". Oh, how I would think this blissful scene would last year after year. . . .

  I shall never forget the smile that is constantly on SaySum's face, even sometimes she would frown at what we kids would do. She was impeccable in her demeanor, keeping the house in neat order, smooth and waxed, and she could make everybody feel comfortable, whether it was Grandma or us kids or all the aunts in the Woo family. I remember her gentle soprano voice telling some funny incidents and her hearty, contagious, laughs. Together with Bart Gwu Jaire and my Mom, plus uncles Onward and Ng Gwu Jurng, the big house was filled with joyful sounds for many years.

  Happy Ninetieth Birthday, SaySum!