A lot of my friends say that they have familial problems.
Have they ever seen their grandfather grip a cleaver with both hands, forehead illuminated with the shine of condensation and eyes shining with pure, calm hatred? Have they smelled the hot anger with hints of egg and spice coming out of a yelling mouth, while the eyes of said mouth blur and fly with incandescent tears? Have they ever seen their own mother and all the women in the household kneeling, clutching their grandfather's arms, eyes looking and pleading "Stop! Stop! Don't do it, [choose one: baba; (name); lao-ye; lao (surname)]!" amidst cacophony of screams and sobs, their owners lost to time as it flies away in the moment? Have they ever seen the black, round, wrinkled and pained eyes of their mother reflect off raw, emotional pain after the fabric of the two sides of her family rip and tear to individual threads of memories through her life? Afterward, have they sucked the blood off of the mysterious and quite evasive cuts on their palm after they pried their whole house's worth of sharp things from their grandparents' hands, walking to hide them in some closet--any closet, the closer the better--dodging sharp spikes of porcelain that breathed fresh air on their rough surface (in juxtaposition to how smooth their glassy and glossy their skin looks) for the first time since their making?
Have they ever, despite their unfamiliarity in the language, remembered single every word that spat remorsefully out of their owners' mouths in the span of the five minutes that the time seems to stop in-between the smashing of glittering porcelain cups?
Have they ever had to replace their cups from the Costco appliances section every few years, not because they have been loved and worn-down, but because their remains still litter the cracks of their kitchen tile? Have they ever seen their mother sigh and feign a smile as they check-out, bidding hello to a welcoming cashier that's probably seen them over and over again, oblivious to the number of cups that their mother has bought?
And a lot of my friend say that they have familial problems. And I say, here? In this economy? And I laugh, same. And they laugh back!
