The MTR is crowded with faces we can see and faces we cannot. The air conditioners blast Arctic air as we head towards the department store, looking for the new swimsuit that my teenage daughter needs. Her AirPods make her oblivious to the incursions into her personal space. I am less forgiving: flinching violently when a sweaty arm brushes against me, swearing openly when a shoulder brusquely shoves into mine. Hong Kong is indeed back: the frenetic bustle, the rabid consumerism, the gauche crowds. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long to find the swimwear and we beat a hasty retreat home, stopping for bubble tea on the way to the bus stop.
That’s when we notice for the first time the rows of police vehicles parked on both sides of the busy road. You can’t miss their silent hulks. Nor the police officers clustered at doorways regularly interspersed, their faces devoid of expression. My teen looks at me, asking with her gaze, and I remind her of today’s date. She frowns for a few minutes before it registers, and shrugging nonchalantly, resumes sucking up her tapioca pearls through the straw. Still, her eyes flicker nervously as she inches closer to me, the closest she has stood to me all day. In the Causeway Bay bus queue on a sweltering Sunday afternoon, I try to feel safe, and I try to feel happy, but I fail miserably at both.
How to cite: Tai, Maureen. “Just Another Day: Maureen Tai.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 4 Jun. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/06/04/maureen-tai.
Maureen Tai is a Malaysian-born award-winning writer of fiction primarily for children and teens, and is passionate about promoting diversity in children’s literature. She was most recently the festival manager at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2023.
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