House of Trembling Leaves, The Read Free Page A

for her baby bawled with frenzied panic.
    She thought of the schoolgirls with the hibiscus flowers in their hair, wondered if they’d been drowned. A tree came crashing down to her left, throwing clouds of spray into her eyes just as a young boy’s face, her cousin’s she was sure, appeared abruptly out of the water and disappeared just as suddenly. ‘‘I’m going to die too,’’ she told herself.
    Confusion was everywhere; she heard a desperate shout and watched as the Association headman, with his body pinned to a tall pine, raise his voice in terror. An upturned bullock, hocks stiff as glass and breaking the water surface, speared towards him. With a sickening thud the half-ton animal slammed into the headman, ripping his neck from his shoulders. A handkerchief of blood fluttered the air. The water turned fleetingly from black to red.
    A moment later the Anglican Church began to shake. Slate tiles fell from its roof, lashing the water like mortar shells. She saw her Second-aunty Doris hobble in her direction, she was shouting at her, telling her to run for it. The church organ twisted and crumpled as the torrent swept it away. And then the entire structure collapsed.

Part One
January 1936

1
    â€˜â€˜ Aiyoo , you know she’s gone completely cuckoo-clocks, don’t you?’’ Sum Sum said to a passing bird as it landed quietly on the boat’s gunwale. ‘‘Ever since she tripped over on lawn and struck her head on a stone she spending hours writing letters to herself, growing out her armpit hairs and speaking fancy-fancy English to imaginary sausage rolls. And now she’s running away from home to marry Big Ben.’’
    â€˜â€˜I can hear you,’’ said Lu See wrinkling her nose.
    â€˜â€˜Oh good,’’ Sum Sum replied. ‘‘I thought you fallen asleep standing up, lah.’’
    â€˜â€˜Will you please be quiet? I want to enjoy the sunset.’’
    Emerging from deep shadow, the low-slung tongkang followed a flock of bulbuls as they took to the air. On its teak deck, Lu See sipped water from a coconut husk and gazed into the tropical forest, at the filigrees of late afternoon sunlight filtering through the mist. The tongue of land wrinkled and folded before her eyes as the river mist rolled in, damp and thick. Lu See bounced the coconut husk in her hand a few times and then flipped it overboard; her eyes followed the bulbuls.
    â€˜â€˜My God, I’ve done it,’’ she said to herself quietly. For days a heavy thread of anxiety had sewn itself into her chest, ravelled and intertwined like the Iban sleeping mats of Sarawak. But now, slowly, the stitches were coming undone. As they drifted further and further away from her family’s rural retreat in Juru, Lu See felt the unease subside and in its place a sense of hope and excitement emerged. She was still frightened, terrified even, that her father or Uncle Big Jowl would snatch her away, but now she had made the first step she felt her spirits leap. Her future was now in the hands of the Gods.
    Â 
    Earlier in the day, just before dawn, Lu See and Sum Sum snuck away from Tamarind Hill via the servants’ quarters. Using a wheelbarrow to transport Lu See’s trunk, they carefully and quietly made their way across the back lawn. At first Lu See could not see the garden from the trees as it was so black, but when her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she half turned her head and made out the row of massive tamarinds lining the drive. That way she whispered, finding it hard to breathe, sensing her nerves getting the better of her.
    Sum Sum shuffled up beside her and they exchanged uneasy glances. Together they pushed the wheelbarrow along the dirt road. When the moon appeared from behind some clouds, they knew they would be visible against the surrounding forest so they increased their pace. Gradually, Lu See lost track of time; her world was restricted