That was four times altogether including the first sweeping in the morning by Sharifah. Mooi Lan went down on her knees and picked out, one by one, the stray strands of thread where these had become entangled in the soft tufts of carpet and could not be reached by broom or vacuum cleaner. The girl picked them up patiently, rolled them into a ball, dropped these into the dustpan and resumed sweeping. Angela apologised – apologised for the old one’s untidiness. Another malady of dotage – the endless making of patchwork blankets that left trails of thread and small pieces of cloth all over the floor. She was making a patchwork blanket presumably for Wee Tiong’s son. She had made a patchwork blanket for each of her grandchildren. Crude, hideous things, thought Angela; the three patchwork blankets for her three children had lain in the camphor linen chest for years. They simply could not go with the furniture and pictures and colour scheme of the children’s bedrooms. Angela watched Mooi Lan sweeping up the tiny bits of thread and cloth, and realised that since the old one’s arrival, the girl had become less communicative, even sullen.
What do You think about The Catherine Lim Collection?
