[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997:
All Entries]
TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by Chris Song, are serialised in Cha beginning from Monday 25 September 2023.
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Intoxication
23/28
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“The five stars in red or the white sun in blue?” The boss tilted the whiskey glass in his right hand, gently swirling the liquid within as he nudged Kwong. Two flowing dresses were hung together, conjuring the illusion of a single, continuous piece of fabric, indistinguishable as separate garments. “Hurry up, they’re waiting for my answer. If we delay, they’ll find someone else.” The boss lowered his voice as he concluded. I was uncertain how to help her escape this predicament, as it was clear the boss planned to use her for his own gains.
“One should have at least a smidgen of historical knowledge before wearing such garments. I’m woefully ignorant of history; I can’t even recognise the Hong Kong flag. Why not give us a lesson first?” Before he could respond, she strode into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of red wine, a bottle of whisky, and two glasses. The whisky was decent—Johnnie Walker Black Label—but the wine was Paul Masson. No matter; we opted for the whisky. I understood her strategy and promptly chimed in, “Exactly! I got an E in my high school history exam.” A recollection from college came to mind, a course discussing the cultural and historical implications of Rouge and how the what the teacher taught us suddenly applied to this precarious situation.
“Let’s have some wine first,” Kwong insisted, pouring the wine. She was well aware that mixing drinks accelerated intoxication. “How about looking at it from an economic perspective?” I kept the conversation going with provocative questions, but once he was drunk, the boss repeated the same answers. Initially reluctant to talk, he loosened up as we accompanied him in drinking and soon forgot about history altogether. Kwong once told me about the boss’s past: a passionate young man with high ideals, he had aspired to be a high school teacher and propagate Chinese culture. However, one morning he found that his wife had taken all his savings and run away with the man next door, sending him into a spiral of emotional trauma. From then on, he vowed to get rich and win back the woman he loved. As I watched Kwong continue to ply the boss with alcohol, I imagined what would happen when he sobered up. Would the memories of Chinese history resurface, and how would they blur into his murky underlying desires to conquer women?
How to cite: Song, Chris and Mary Wong. “Intoxication.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 17 Oct. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/10/17/intoxication.
Mary Shuk-Han Wong 黃淑嫻 (author) is a Hong Kong writer. Her short story collection Surviving Central (中環人; 2013) received the “25th Secondary School Students’ Best Ten Books Award.” Her essay collections include How to Live the Sad Days (悲傷的日子如何過; 2021), Against the Grain (亂世破讀; 2017), and From Kafka (理性的遊藝：從卡夫卡談起; 2015). She has also published an online poetry collection, Cave Whispers (絕地抒情; 2022), in collaboration with Hong Kong composer and photographer. She was the co-producer and literary advisor of two literary documentaries: 1918: Liu Yichang (1918：劉以鬯紀錄片; 2015) and Boundary: Leung Ping Kwan (東西：也斯紀錄片; 2015).
Chris Song (translator) is a poet, editor, and translator from Hong Kong, and is an assistant professor in English and Chinese translation at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He won the “Extraordinary Mention” of the 2013 Nosside International Poetry Prize in Italy and the Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) of the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2019, he won the 5th Haizi Poetry Award. He is a founding councilor of the Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation, executive director of the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong, and editor-in-chief of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. He also serves as an advisor to various literary organisations.
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